The Dartmouth 04/08/2019

04.08.19

Women’s rugby dominates at Harvard 7s to open spring season p. 4 Pucks in Deep: Two Leagues, One League, No Leagues p. 6

Women’s lacrosse has six-game win streak halted by Princeton p. 8

Baseball falls 21-15 in longest game in Ivy League history p. 5 MICHAEL LIN/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

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THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

The weekend Roundup

Baseball

Compiled by Eric Vaughn

M tennis After a nearly two week break, the No. 39 Big Green visited Princeton University and was defeated soundly, 6-1, in its first Ivy match of the season.

The Big Green had defeated the Tigers 4-0 in February — but in the rematch, Dartmouth was unable to win any doubles matches, and Dan Martin ’21 won the lone victory of the day in the number three singles spot with a great

straight-sets win.

On Sunday, the Big Green bounced back against No. 50 University of Pennsylvania. Dartmouth won both of the doubles matches that finished, and also won four out of six singles matches to claim the victory.

The Big Green will play at Brown University on Friday before returning home to face Yale University on Sunday.

MICHAEL LIN/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

The Big Green was swept by Penn in a high-scoring series in Hanover.

softball This weekend, Dartmouth softball (6-20, 3-6 Ivy) won two games and dropped another in a series at Yale University. The Big Green won big in both games of Saturday’s doubleheader, totaling 21 runs for the day thanks to a 10-2 victory in the first game and an 11-3 win in the second. In the first game, Dartmouth collected 15 hits and Shelby Wilkison ’21 pitched a complete game. In the

next game, the Big Green knocked 13 hits en route to a 10-run performance in just the first four innings. The Green and White could not carry its success through the weekend, however, and lost Sunday’s game 8-5 despite three hits from Micah Schroder ’20, who went 10-12 on the weekend.

The Big Green will host Harvard University next weekend for a threegame series in Hanover.

The Big Green had a tough week in the win column despite some strong offensive performances. Against the College of the Holy Cross on Wednesday, Dartmouth lost 16-10 after giving up a five-run second and six-run sixth inning. Sean Sullivan ’19 paced the way with four hits and three RBIs, but the effort was not quite enough.

This past weekend, Dartmouth took on Penn at home. The first game on Saturday was extremely memorable, as it was the longest game in all of Ivy League history, spanning 21 innings in a score of 21-15. The Big Green had great comebacks in both the ninth and 13th inning by scoring three

runs apiece with their backs to the wall, but an eight-run 21st inning by Penn put the game out of reach.

On Sunday, the Big Green again gave up runs in the double digits, losing the morning game 13-1 and the afternoon game 15-3. Matt Feinstein ’19 had the lone RBI in the morning game, drilling a single past the shortstop to drive in Trevor Johnson ’20. In the afternoon game, all three of the Big Green’s runs came in the bottom of the ninth.

Dartmouth will take on the University of Massachusetts Lowell on Tuesday at home and then will return to Ivy League play next weekend at Brown University.

track and field Zachary ZacharyBenjamin Benjamin’19 ’19

Debora Hyemin Han ’20 Editor-in-Chief Editor-in-Chief Editor-in-Chief

Hanting Hanting Guo Guo ’19 ’19

Aidan Sheinberg ’20 Publisher Publisher Publisher

Ioana IoanaSolomon Solomon’19 ’19

04.08.19 Vol.CLXXV CLXXVI No. 4.30.18 4.23.18 Vol. Vol. CLXXV No. No. 27 2111

Amanda AmandaZhou Zhou ’19 Alex Fredman ’20 ’19 Executive Editors Executive Editors Executive Editor

Luke Gitter ’21 Mark Cui ’19 Justin Kramer ’21 Justin Kramer ’21 Samantha Hussey Lili Stern ’22 ’20 Associate Sports Editor Sports Editors Sports Editors Divya DivyaKopalle Kopalle Kopalle’21 ’21 ’21 Divya Michael MichaelLin Lin Lin’21 ’21 ’21 Michael Photography PhotographyEditors Editors Editors Photography Jaclyn Jaclyn Eagle Eagle ’19 ’19 Hattie Newton ’21 Templating TemplatingEditor Editor Editor Templating

The Dartmouth men’s and women’s track and field teams competed at three different meets on Saturday. The meets were held at the University of Massachusetts, Princeton University and the University of Georgia.

Both the men’s and women’s teams took second place at the Minutemen Invitational at UMass, finishing with 124 and 144.5 points respectively.

The men boasted first-place finishes in five events, while the women finished first in three events. At the Sam Howell Invitational at Princeton, the women’s squad brought home the only first place finish, and

it was a convincing victory — Julia Stevenson ’20 finished the 5000m nearly 10 seconds ahead of the next collegiate runner, crossing the finish line in 16:45.92. Dartmouth sent just one representative each from the men’s and women’s teams to the Spec Towns Invitational in Georgia. Ben Ose ’19 scored the second most points of a college competitor in the decathlon, with 7498 points.

Next weekend, Dartmouth will host a meet against the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, the University of Vermont and the University of Hartford.

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THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

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Golf

W tennis

The women’s golf team t r av e l l e d t o B r a n c h b u r g, NJ this weekend for March Madness Match Play, finishing seventh out of eight teams. On Saturday, Moon Cheong ’21 and Catharine Roddy ’19 won their early matches, while Maddie Nelson ’20 and Julianne Strauch ’21 took their matches in the consolation bracket later in the day.

Men’s golf played in the Irish Creek Intercollegiate in Kannapolis, NC this weekend and finished 11th out of 16

LORRAINE LIU/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

Racquel Lyn and Jingyi Peng recorded women’s tennis’ two points of the weekend, as the Big Green went 0-2.

The Big Green (3-14, 0-3 Ivy) dropped Saturday’s match 4-1 to No. 37 Princeton.

Dartmouth went winless in doubles, with the second position match going unfinished. In singles, the Big Green’s lone win was at the first position match, with Racquel Lyn ’20 winning in dominant straight sets.

On Sunday, Dartmouth lost 4-1 again, this time to Penn. Jingyi Peng ’22 scored the Big Green’s only point of the day in the number six singles spot.

The Green and White will look to earn its first win of Ivy competition next weekend when they take on Brown and Yale.

rowing On Saturday, the lightweight rowing team took on Princeton University, Temple University and the University of Delaware in its spring season opener.

Two boats raced for the Big Green, and the Varsity 8 finished second (6:01.9) while the Second Varsity 8 took fourth (6:23.2). Both were close races, with the Varsity 8 finishing just three seconds behind first-place Princeton, and the Second Varsity 8 finishing less than a second behind third-place Temple.

The Dartmouth heavyweight rowing team took first in each of its races at its regatta in Worcester,

MA where they competed against the College of the Holy Cross, Columbia University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Big Green had boats competing in the Varsity 8, the Second Varsity 8, the Third Varsity 8 and the Varsity 4, with the Varsity 8 boasting the Green and White’s fastest time of the day (6:02.1).

The Dartmouth heavyweights will return to the water on Saturday at Yale University for the Olympic Axe, while the Big Green lightweight rowers will compete in Hanover next Saturday against Harvard University in the Biglin Bowl.

teams. Jason Liu ’21 led the team with a two-under-par effort over two days, placing him tied for 14th overall in the standings, and James Turner ’21 wasn’t far behind with a two-over-par finish.

The men’s squad will next play two weeks from now in the Ivy League championships in Egg Harbor, NJ. With their regular season now concluded, the women will have two weeks to prepare for the Ivy League championships in Ringoes, NJ on April 19-21.

m lacrosse Men’s lacrosse played No. 5 Yale University and fell to the Bulldogs 20-8 despite being tied after the first quarter. Ben Martin ’20 led the team with a hat trick and an assist for four points, but it was not enough as the defending national champion Yale outshot

the Big Green 82-29. The loss drops Dartmouth to 2-7 (0-3 Ivy).

The Big Green will look to rebound against the University of Hartford at home on Tuesday before playing for its first Ivy win at Princeton University on Saturday.

W lacrosse O n Tu e s d ay, wo m e n’s lacrosse hosted the University of Connecticut and defeated the Huskies 18-9 after leading them 10-3 in the first half. The Big Green was led by Katie Bourque ’20 who had four goals and an assist. Bourque was one of 10 players who found the back of the net for the Big Green.

On Saturday, Dartmouth lost 14-12 in an extremely close affair against No. 17 Princeton University, who ended the Big Green’s six-game winning

streak. Despite trailing by four at halftime, the Big Green raced back to take a 12-11 lead before surrendering three late goals to clinch it for the Tigers. Elizabeth Mastrio ’19 paced the Big Green with six points, and Bourque continued her scoring tear with a hat trick of her own. The loss drops Dartmouth to 7-4 (3-1 Ivy).

The Big Green’s next game is on Saturday against Penn, a team that currently sits at the top of the Ivy League standings.

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THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

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Women’s rugby dominates at Harvard 7s to open spring season B y Elijah czysz The Dartmouth

There is only one Dartmouth sport undefeated this spring following a national championship season: women’s rugby.

In the fall, the Big Green bested Harvard University 19-14 to win the National Intercollegiate Rugby Association National Championship.

With the victory, the team avenged its loss to Harvard earlier in the season, its lone defeat in a 9-1 season.

Moreover, its one loss appears to have been an outlier in comparison to its overall record against the Crimson.

During the 2018-19 academic year,

Dartmouth outscored Harvard 89-49 and has gone 3-1.

The team’s success yielded significant representation in NIRA’s 2018 All-American roster announced this March. Five members of the women’s rugby team earned first-team spots: Milla Anderson ’19, Emily Henrich ’22, Idia Ihensekhien ’21, Camille Johnson ’19 and Kat Ramage ’19 — and no other school placed as many athletes on the NIRA Tier 1 All-American First Team. Harvard contributed four (plus two honorable mentions), the United States Military Academy three and Quinnipiac University two.

The Big Green has continued its

near-flawless streak into the 2019 spring season. In the spring, collegiate teams switch to a variant of rugby known as “rugby sevens.” In sevens, the number of players on the field is reduced from 15 to just seven. The time limit of the two halves of the game is also reduced from 40 minutes to seven minutes each. Due to the shorter games, teams play multiple games in a day as part of a tournament instead of playing only one game.

The team opened its season with the Harvard 7s tournament in Cambridge, MA. Dartmouth swept the tournament, going 5-0 for the day, defeating Molloy College, American International College,

Army, Quinnipiac and Harvard. The relies more on speed and possession Big Green outscored its opponents a than the more physical and territorial by total of 157-29 and shut out two fifteens, according to Ramsey. Not teams. only do these two first-years score “It’s a really good platform to so prolifically, but their speed on the build off of as we’re going into more outside also creates lanes for other important tournaments for titles,” said players when an opponent’s defense flanker Marin Pennell ’21, who had overcommits to covering them. three tries on the weekend.

When a ball is dropped in a game Once again, Harvard presented the of sevens, a ruck forms around the ball. biggest challenge for the Big Green. Typically, three players are engaged In the tournament’s final match, with opponents to win the ball, and Dartmouth defeated the Crimson the remaining four trail behind the 12-10. Ariana Ramsey ’22 contributed ruck in preparation for receiving the two tries, one of which secured their ball. This spring, Henrich and Ramsey victory in the final seconds of the have been positioned on the end of game. that trail to carry the ball quickly on “The final was a great game of the outside. Because of the major rugby and a true test of our mettle,” threat that these two first-years pose, head coach opposing defenses Katie Dowty “[Ramsey is] one of struggle to cover the said in a College Big Green’s offense. the fastest players in press release.

“I’m able to slip Ramsey has women’s collegiate through the gap in had a promising rugby. I don’t even the defense because start to her they are so focused spring season. know how you begin on really skilled Over the course to defend her.” players,” Johnson of the weekend, said. “It makes Ramsey — who it impossible for was injured for -CAMILLE JOHNSON ’19 the defense to be much of the everywhere at fall season — once.” scored 10 tries for a total of 50 points.

Looking ahead to the rest of the Not only was that the highest point spring season, women’s rugby has total from anyone on the Big Green, three more events to keep an eye on. but Ramsey also managed to put up On April 13, the Big Green points in all five of the tournament’s returns to Cambridge for the Ivy 7s games.

Tournament. As always, Harvard will “She’s one of the fastest players in be a strong challenger. Dartmouth will women’s collegiate rugby,” said team also have to fend off Brown University, captain Johnson. “I don’t even know whose freshman Zyana Thomas how you begin to defend her.” earned an honorable mention in the Another promising young player is All-American Team, and Princeton Henrich, a three-sport varsity athlete University, which went 6-0 in the less in high school whose parents also competitive Ivy Rugby Conference played rugby for the Big Green. In her this past fall. first season with Dartmouth, Henrich Looking further ahead, Dartmouth led the team in tries (11) and finished will host a scimmage versus Middlebury second in points (73). Consequently, College on May 5 before heading to Henrich was one of only two first- the national championship. The USA years to be named an All-American Rugby 7s National Championship in 2018. Henrich tallied five tries in will take place from May 24-26 in the Harvard 7s tournament for 25 Tucson, Arizona. In its season opener, points.

Dartmouth bested three out of the Henrich and Ramsey’s strength seven Division I NCAA women’s lies in their ability to speed the ball rugby teams, so the Big Green has a on the outside to score tries. That solid shot at taking home two national speed is essential in sevens, which titles in a single academic year.

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THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

Baseball falls 21-15 in longest game in Ivy League history inning. After that, the two teams were scoreless for the next seven innings, The Dartmouth Staff with Jonah Jenkins ’21 pitching five The Dartmouth baseball team of those scoreless innings to keep the was scheduled to play 18 innings Big Green alive. of baseball on Saturday in a “There’s no one tougher than our doubleheader lined up against the team,” Ubaldo Lopez ’21 said. “Our University of Pennsylvania. They pitchers kept us in the game for all ended up playing 21, but not in the of extra innings, and when they fell way they expected to. behind, we picked them up.”

In the longest game in Ivy League However, in the 21st inning, baseball history, Dartmouth lost Dartmouth ran out of gas. Nathan 21-15 in 21 innings to Penn. The Skinner ’22, who had pitched two Big Green battled the entire game, stellar scoreless innings before the scoring three runs to tie the game 21st, surrendered eight runs as Penn in the bottom of the ninth, three took an insurmountable 21-13 lead. runs to tie the game in the bottom Dartmouth added two in the bottom of the 13th and two runs in the final half of the inning, but it was not inning before ultimately falling short. enough.

With the loss, Dartmouth fell to 9-15 Skinner was slated to start the overall and 3-4 in Ivy League play.

Sunday game, but head coach Bob If there is one thing to remember Whalen decided to go all in once the from this game, it’s that it did not game unexpectedly got so deep into play out as expected. The game extra innings. lasted almost six and a half hours “We decided that we were going and featured an NCAA-record 208 to push our chips to the middle of combined plate appearances, making the table and do everything we could it a long afternoon for spectators. do win,” Whalen said. “You just can’t “I was supposed to go to the let a game like that get away.” dugout and get sandwiches at [2:00 Unfortunately, the game did get p.m. when the first game ended],” away eventually. said Cole Roland ’22, who was “It was a strange day,” Whalen watching from the stands due to said. “That’s the nature of the game. injury. “I think they’d probably It can be cruel sometimes.” be pretty moldy With by now,” he said the loss, the Big a s t h e g a m e “I was supposed to go Green slipped wrapped up just to the dugout and get i n t o a t h re e before 6:00 p.m. game losing All 21 innings sandwiches at [2:00 s t r e a k . E a rl i e r were thrilling, PM when the first in the week, the but the latter game ended]. I think team dropped 12 would not its Wednesday have b e e n they’d probably be contest against possible without pretty moldy by now.” the College of Dartmouth the Holy Cross scoring three runs 16-10. After in the bottom of -COLE ROLAND ’22 taking a 3-0 firstthe ninth to tie inning lead in the game and that game, the send it to extra Big Green gave innings. Ben Rice up five runs in the ’22 hit a home run before captain bottom of the second and six more Matt Feinstein ’19 hit a game-tying in the bottom of the fifth, building two-run double. up an overwhelming deficit.

Penn scored three runs in the top Losing both games was certainly of the 13th inning, yet the Big Green disappointing, but offensively, the somehow responded by scoring three Big Green was excellent throughout of its own in the bottom half of the the week and has been in its last few

B y Baily deeter

games. Dartmouth scored doubledigit runs in both games and reached the nine-run mark for the fifth time in its last seven games, showing significant improvements from the spring break trip when it scored more than three runs only once.

Lopez and Steffen Torgersen ’19 have been especially impressive lately. Lopez reached base seven times on Saturday and had two critical diving defensive stops while Torgersen had four hits, including a triple, an RBI and a web gem of his own for a game-saving double play. Both homered in the Holy Cross game, with Lopez adding two doubles on top of his long ball.

“We’ve been hitting fastballs better and getting good counts,” Lopez said. “We’ve also just let our talent take over. Our lineup is too good to [score only a few runs].”

Even though the offense has risen

to the occasion, the pitching and the team as a whole have struggled lately.

Dartmouth has lost five of its last six games, largely due to its pitching struggles. Dartmouth gave up 65 runs in its four games this week for an average of 12.2 per nine innings.

Just last week, the Big Green gave up 35 runs in its three-game series at Columbia University.

After two losses against Penn yesterday, the Big Green is 3-6 in league play, and will need to finish the season strong in order to qualify for the Ivy League Championship Series, which features the top two teams in the conference.

Additionally, it still has three-game series against Harvard University and Yale University, two of the top teams in the conference.

After Tuesday’s game against the University of Massachusetts Lowell, the team will travel to Providence

to take on Brown University for a three-game series. But after the team returns from Providence, it will have home-field advantage throughout the rest of the season. In other words, the Big Green will have a great shot at bouncing back and making a run at the Ivy League championship.

“We’re going to try and come out quick offensively, jump out to a lead and put them away early,” Torgersen said. “We trust our pitchers to give us a good start. We’ll be ready to play.”

Whalen agrees, as he praised his players’ resilience in his postgame speech before encouraging them to focus on the Sunday games ahead.

“I told them I’m proud of them,” he said. “We talk a lot about being tough mentally and physically. Only tough and confident teams can come back the way we did multiple times.

We just have to find a way to let this one go and go at it tomorrow.”

MICHAEL LIN/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

Steffen Torgersen was one of four Big Green hitters to smoke four hits in the 21-inning game.

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Pucks in Deep

with Sam Stockton ’19 Pucks in Deep: Two Leagues, One League, No League Two weeks ago, with a recordsetting television audience watching the game, the Calgary Inferno defeated the Les Canadiennes de Montréal 5-2 to capture the Clarkson Cup as Canadian Women’s Hockey League champions.

The game featured 17 O l y m p i a n s. B r i a n n a D e c k e r, who made headlines at this year’s National Hockey League All-Star Skills Competition by posting a better time at the Premier Passing event than any of the NHL players participating, won MVP in the championship, scoring a goal.

Unfortunately for Les Canadiennes, who boast a record four Clarkson Cup wins in the league’s 12-year history, Marie-Philip Poulin was unable to play due to an unspecified lower-body injury. Poulin, the league’s regular season MVP, can stake a legitimate claim to being the greatest player in the history of women’s hockey. Yet even without her, Les Canadiennes could still skate a team with one of the biggest stars in the game: Hilary Knight. Knight, an American forward, was recently named in an NHLPA Player Poll as the best current female hockey player.

This starpower, along with the success of Decker and Kendall Coyne Schofield at the NHL AllStar Skills Competition and the recent “Rivalry Series” between the U.S. and Canada, made this game perhaps the most heralded women’s professional hockey game

THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

ever. While the Olympics offer the sport a spotlight every four years, women’s professional leagues had never previously garnered the same attention as international competition.

L a s t S u n d a y, t h e C W H L announced that it would be closing its doors. The announcement came less than a week before the International Ice Hockey Federation Women’s World Championships would kick off in Finland, so instead of riding the sport’s recent momentum, the conversation has immediately shifted toward making sense of a murky future for women’s ice hockey.

Founded in 2007, the CWHL sought to provide the top female hockey players in North America the opportunity to continue playing their sport professionally, providing more regular competition than the international slate could offer. The league operated as a not-for-profit and did not pay its players until 2017. Even once the league started paying its players, it only offered stipends in no way approaching a living wage.

As the juxtaposition of fan interest with international and professional competition shows, getting a new league off the ground is difficult. It can take years to establish rivalries, identify star players and cultivate fan bases. The casual hockey fan may be quick to say that if a women’s league wants to succeed, it must find a way to turn a profit as men’s professional franchises have. In saying this, said casual fan misses the vital importance of financial assistance in the form of government-funded stadiums or revenue sharing checks to the success of American sports leagues.

One major barrier for the CWHL was the presence of a competing league, the National Women’s Hockey League, whose founding as a for-profit business in 2015 helped spark the CWHL to pay its athletes. Everyone from players to journalists affiliated with both leagues acknowledged that a two-league system is far from ideal. Even prior to the shocking announcement of the CWHL’s closure, both sides believed the

eventual formation of one league was the only solution.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman had repeatedly stated that he does not want to heavily invest the NHL in women’s hockey as long as two leagues existed. The NHL eventually invested in both leagues (more on this in a moment), but Bettman claimed that he did not want to be perceived as forcing his own preferred solution into existence.

With the CWHL folded, the women’s game has arrived at a crossroads, and the NHL is the most significant power broker in determining the sport’s new d i re c t i o n . I n t h e i m m e d i at e aftermath of the announcement, the NWHL announced that it would begin the process of expanding to Montreal and Toronto and that the league expects the NHL to increase its investment for the upcoming season. Out of this announcement, The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun reported that the NHL would go from investing $50,000 in each women’s league to $100,000 in the NWHL. The simple fact of the CWHL’s closing is that the number of jobs available for women’s hockey players was effectively lopped in half. Star players like Knight, Decker and Poulin will undoubtedly find new homes in the NWHL, but depth players for CWHL teams will likely be unable to do the same.

Likewise, the arrival of CWHL stars means that NWHL depth players will, in many cases, find themselves out of work as well.

Even with this sudden spike in unemployment, LeBrun’s report is perhaps the most devastating news of all. In 2018-19, the minimum annual salary for an NHL player was $650,000, yet the league offered just 1/13 of that figure to each of these two women’s leagues as they fight an uphill battle to establish themselves. The NHL could easily have saved the CWHL if it had wanted to while bearing a microscopic impact on its own bottom line, but the league chose not to.

Though I am often skeptical of Bettman and the league’s decision making, I do not wish to suggest that

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this decision was inexplicable. If the NHL truly believed that it could or should not intervene heavily with two existing leagues, I can see why they would not want to bail out a league that had stumbled upon financial hardship. The league did provide the CWHL with $100,000 this week to ensure that it would be able to pay the stipends and bonuses owed to its players.

However, the decision to watch the CWHL fold puts an immediate onus on the NHL to lay the groundwork for the one-league solution everybody wanted all along. There has never been more momentum surrounding the women’s game than there is right now, and the NHL would be utterly foolish to ignore that. Leaving aside the obvious issues of gender inequality that currently prevail throughout American sports, a robust women’s league will only help increase fan interest in the sport of hockey.

Now is the time for the league to announce a fir m financial commitment to the long-ter m success of a sing le women’s professional hockey league. As to the question of whether that should be the NWHL or some new NHL-founded league, I cannot comprehend why the NHL would feel the need to begin its

own women’s league rather than use the existing NWHL. I do not see a reason to undo the difficult work that the league has already undertaken in generating fan interest and establishing itself in America’s biggest hockey markets.

A newfound commitment to the growth of the women’s game does not have to mean creating a 30-team league immediately. Development will be a deliberate process.

Commitment means helping forge strong connections between NHL franchises and women’s ones, including sharing practice facilities and training staffs to help women’s teams with their costs. It means providing players with a wage sufficient for them to be full-time hockey players unburdened by the day jobs required to afford to participate. The NHL easily has the funds to make this happen, and it should feel obliged to do so after sitting idly by as many players lost their lifelong dream of playing professional hockey. In the end, that was the mission of the CWHL from its founding — to provide women with the same opportunity to chase their hockey-playing dreams as men have. Ultimately, the league simply did not have the cash to complete that design, but the NHL does.

Now it is up to Bettman to create a sustainable women’s league.

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Call rides to second place in Dartmouth cycling-hosted event B y LUKE GITTER

The Dartmouth Senior Staff

The Dartmouth cycling team has quite a rich history; founded in 1961

by Dan Dimancescu ’64, who helped the University of Connecticut win a national championsip in 1961 before transferring to Dartmouth, the team has won six national championships and had five individual champions since its inception. Of course, as there was limited competition at the college level back then, bikes were made of steel, clothes were made from wool and helmets were optional.

Over a half decade later, the same cannot be said, as college athletes from all across the east coast lined up on frat row in their spandex uniforms and sleek carbon fiber bikes. Dartmouth hosted two races this weekend, the first of which was an individual time trial, as well as its annual criterion, the L’Enfer du Nord — a short circuit race sponsored by the East Collegiate Cycling Conference. The ECCC — one of 11 college cycling conferences— comprises over 70 east coast schools ranging from McGill University in Canada down to the University of Delaware. This race is of particular importance to the competitors because it counts towards qualifying for the collegiate cycling nationals.

Aiko Takata ’21 spoke to the team’s hard work in preparation for this race.

“Everyone’s pretty dedicated, everyone rides inside,” he said. “They all have trainers for their bike on or they go to the gym and go on a spin bike, so the season really is never over.”

The hard work paid off, as the team saw strong performances in each category. Ethan Call, a fifth year Thayer student, tied for second this year in the Men’s A category. Clyde Logue ’22 had an impressive outing as well, finishing tied for eighth overall in the Men’s A category.

Other notable performances came from Alexander Pelton ’19 and Katharine Ogden ’21 who took first and second respectively in the Men’s B and Women’s B categories. Finally, Catherine Rocchi ’19, competing in her first ever criterion, finished

second in the Women’s D category.

Unlike most college sports, where athletes compete exclusively as a team or as an individual, cyclists race for both individual and team points to win their conference and qualify for nationals in addition to winning their own individual categories.

Dartmouth cyclist Zachary Berkow ’20 described this dynamic succinctly.

“It’s an individual sport that can’t be won without a team,” he said.

Cycling also is not recognized by the NCAA and is instead run through USA Cycling. Berkow said that this allows for a best of both worlds situation in which, while the commitment and intensity levels may not be quite as high, it opens the door for a greater breadth of athletes from all skill levels to race and work towards competing in the A category and ultimately qualify for nationals. Berkow explained how this makes the sport more inclusive.

“You could come to the cycling team, show up with a bike, and say, ‘I want to come race tomorrow,’ and you could race,” he said.

Takata, who placed second in the Women’s C race, spoke to the team’s hard work in preparing for this weekend’s race.

“Everyone on the team trains almost every single day,” she said.

“Usually in the winter time, we have team spin two times a week where we have a trainer who writes us some plans, a professional, and then everyone does their own thing on all the other days.”

Berkow described how the team prepares for its spring season.

“For spring break, we do a twoweek training trip where we race mountains in North Carolina, and in those two weeks we’ll do anywhere between 550 to 700 miles over 10 to 14 days,” he said.

The Dartmouth cycling team’s dedication to the sport shows on and off the race track, as Takata explained the behind-the-scenes work that goes into putting on a race.

“It involves a lot of work with the town, because we need a lot of permits to be able to even have the race, and then it requires cooperation

from [Hanover Police] and the school for shutting down half the streets and everything and Safety and Security,” he said. “And then we’ve also had a lot of community members involved in the race, so that means all the people that are working are volunteering and it’s all day. There’s a lot, a lot of planning and the hardest part is working with the town.”

The cycling team looks to build off its strong performance as it shifts its focus toward the Shippensburg Scur r y in Pennsylvania next weekend, followed by the ECCC Championships on April 27. Those who qualify for nationals will compete the weekend of May 9.

EVAN MORGAN/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

Dartmouth cycling hosted the L’Enfer du Nord criterion on Saturday.

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SPORTS

Women’s lacrosse has six-game win streak halted by Princeton B y addison dick

The Dartmouth Staff

Following a dominant victory over the University of Connecticut on Tuesday, the No. 20 women’s lacrosse team’s six-game winning streak came to an end Saturday when the Big Green’s second-half comeback against No. 17 Princeton University fell short. The 14-12 loss marked the first home defeat in six games at Scully-Fahey Field for Dartmouth.

The Big Green, ranked No. 25 in the country at the time, received goals from 10 players to defeat UConn 18-9 on Tuesday and elevate them to a No. 20 ranking. The game was rescheduled from March 6 due to weather conditions. The Big Green, which boasts the Ivy League’s top-scoring offense, had no trouble scoring against the Huskies. The 10 different goal scorers set a new season high for Dartmouth, and the Big Green also controlled the game by outshooting the Huskies 31-18.

Goaltender Kiera Vrindten ’20 credited the win to the team’s play on both ends of the field as well as the team’s motivation to not let up its intensity when it gained a comfortable lead.

“We go in every week with a set of goals on offense and defense that we either carry on from previous weeks or focus on to get better,” she said. “Against UConn, we had a set of goals, and we were focused and clicked in on making sure to capitalize on them. The attack played really well and was cohesive, and the defense was gritty and determined.”

Midfielder Katie Bourque ’20 scored a team-high four goals for Dartmouth. She said Tuesday’s game was one of the biggest wins of the Big Green’s season so far.

“A lot of different people were contributing to the scoring and causing turnovers, and the offense and defense were working well together,” Bourque said. “It was a huge team win.”

The Big Green entered Saturday’s showdown with Princeton undefeated in Ivy League play and in all of its five home games this year. The team emphasizes defending Scully-Fahey Field and finds an extra spark of energy when it plays its home games.

“We kind of have this underlying idea of Scully-Fahey as our home,” Vrindten said. “Our job is to protect it. We take pride in where we practice and where we spend time every day with the team.”

The Dartmouth players knew they had a tough task heading into Saturday’s matchup with the Tigers.

Princeton was looking for revenge after the Big Green earned a narrow victory over the Tigers last season.

Princeton ended the first half on a 5-0 run and led 9-5 at halftime, but Dartmouth fought back in the second half. The Big Green regained the lead at 12-11 in the second half, in large part due to the success on the draw from Kathryn Giroux ’19.

She won 11 draws, tying her for 13th all-time in NCAA history with 362 successful draws.

Despite the Big Green’s strong play to start the second half, Princeton went on a late run and scored the last three goals of the game in the final eight minutes, dropping Dartmouth 1412. Bourque and Elizabeth Mastrio ’19 combined for seven goals in the game, and Mastrio tied her career high with six points.

Its undefeated records at home and in Ivy League competition have ended, but the team is still happy with its success to this point and wants

to keep fighting for the Ivy League championship.

“We’ve been playing really well together as a team,” Vrindten said.

“In the Ivy League, every game is so important, and we only have so many teams to compete against. There’s always that kind of fire to win against an Ivy League team. It really comes down to who is the tougher team in the 60 minutes. It doesn’t matter who is better on paper.”

Vrindten said the team is a tightknit group and is motivated to make a postseason run. Following last year’s devastating 16-14 loss to the University of Pennsylvania in the Ivy League Tournament semifinals, the Big Green is resolved to go further in this year’s competition.

“We’re all very determined with how our season ended last year,” Vrindten said. “We were able to make it into the Ivy League tournament for the first time in a while as a program, and we left on a bitter note. We were really close to winning, and we are all on the same level in terms of what our goals are for this season: We want to make it back to the Ivy tournament, and we want to win an Ivy championship.”

Bourque echoed Vrindten and said that the team feels confident because everybody is working well together.

“We are finding success working off of other people’s plays,” Bourque said. “No one on this team wants to stop playing come May. We want to see our season extend as far as it can.”

The Big Green has benefitted from the goalkeeping of Vrindten, who made the First Team All-Ivy League and was named Ivy League Goalkeeper of the Year last season.

She continued her great play at the start of this season, but missed two

weeks due to injury. In her return to action against Harvard University on March 30, she stopped eight shots and earned Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week honors.

Vrindten said watching from the sidelines while she was injured helped her appreciate just how hard her teammates work, which helped her in her return to action.

“It was inspiring to see our team come out with wins, especially when I was on the sideline,” she said. “I am really grateful to get back to where I was before I was injured. Winning Defensive Player of the Week was great, but I don’t try to hold on to those things too much because that was for previous games. Now, we’re focusing on another game, and my job is just to save the ball and put in my work.”

Vrindten was the third straight Dartmouth player to win Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week, joining Giroux and Claire Marshall ’21. Bourque noted the importance of the defense’s success this season

and how it has helped the team’s offense.

“The defense has been so important and crucial because if we can’t make those stops and cause turnovers, the offense won’t have the ball,” she said. “I credit a lot of our success on offense to turnovers that the defense creates. This year, we have one of the best clearing percentages because our defenders handle the ball really well under pressure.”

The players hope the team’s combination of offensive and defensive prowess will translate into success for the remainder of the regular season as well as the postseason. The Big Green’s record now sits at 7-4 overall with a 3-1 mark in Ivy League play, including a 5-1 record at home. Next Saturday, the Dartmouth players will travel to Philadelphia with revenge on their minds, as the matchup against Penn will be the first time the teams have played each other since last year’s Ivy League Tournament semifinal.

LORRAINE LIU/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

The team nearly completed a late comeback, but Princeton proved too strong.