The Dartmouth 09/23/2019

09.23.19

Women’s rugby drops tough match to perennial foe Harvard p. 5 The Redshirt Senior: Tom Brady and the Unconventional Path to Success p. 6 Men’s soccer falls to No. 18 New Hampshire, dominates Niagara p. 8

Estrada leads football to 35-6 win in season opener at Jacksonville p. 4 TIFFANY ZHAI/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

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MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2019

THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

The weekend Roundup

football

Compiled by the Dartmouth sports staff

m cross country The Big Green finished seventh of 21 teams in the Coast-to-Coast Battle in Beantown on Friday.

The event was an 8k race, and Quinn Cooney ’20 finished in a remarkable time of 24:33, which was the seventh-best individual time in the entire meet. Owen Ritz ’21, Ben Matejka ’21, Liam Jameison ’22 and Sam Morton ’21 rounded out the team’s top five finishers,

finishing with times of 25:02, 25:05, 25:14 and 25:27, respectively.

Syracuse University won the tournament, and Harvard University finished in fourth as the only Ivy in the tournament to beat out Dartmouth.

The team now turns its focus to Oct. 5, when it travels to Lehigh University for the Paul Short Invitational.

m golf The Dartmouth men’s golf team followed up a solid road effort during the past weekend with another impressive performance on its home course. The Big Green tied for third on Saturday and placed fourth overall in the Dartmouth Invitational.

Jason Liu ’21 paced the team on both days, especially with a remarkable two under par score on the first. Will Bednarz ’20 and Charles Petrie ’22 finished with an

even par, while Sam Ohno ’22 shot a +1 on the day and Mark Turner ’22 checked in with a +2 round. On the second day, Ohno shot a 2-under, while Liu and Turner both shot a -1.

The Big Green as a team shot a -1 on the first day and a -4 on the second day.

Looking ahead, the team will conclude the fall portion of its season at the Firestone Invitational in Akron, OH, where it will play 36 holes on Sept. 30 and 18 holes the next day.

TIFFANY ZHAI/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

The football team picked up its first win of the season in the Sunshine State this weekend, winning 35-6.

The Big Green kicked off the 2019 season on a stellar note, defeating Jacksonville University handily by a score of 35-6. Defense was the name of the game for the Big Green in 2018, and the unit picked up right where it left off by stifling the Jacksonville offense throughout the day.

Quarterback Derek Kyler ’21, in his second year as a starter, picked up where he left off last season with efficient, turnover-free football. Kyler completed seven of his nine passes for 111 yards and two touchdowns, with Jared Gerbino ’20 pitching in 39 yards and a pair of touchdowns and Jake Pallotta ’21 adding 36 passing yards as well.

Drew Estrada ’20 exploded with 183 total yards and two touchdowns, both from Kyler, while tight end Joe Kramer ’22 caught two touchdowns from Gerbino.

Caylin Parker ’20 scored the season’s first touchdown on a one-yard plunge in the first quarter, giving the Big Green an early lead it wouldn’t relinquish.

With the victory, the Big Green now turns its attention to the first home game of the season against Colgate University, which takes place next Saturday at 6 p.m. After that, the team will begin its quest to win the Ivy League championship, taking on the University of Pennsylvania under the Friday night lights in Philadelphia.

field hockey Zachary Benjamin ’19 Zachary Benjamin ’19

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

Hanting Guo ’19 Hanting Guo ’19

Aidan Sheinberg ’20 Publisher Publisher Publisher

Ioana Solomon ’19 Ioana Solomon ’19

09.23.19 Vol.CLXXV CLXXVI No. 4.30.18 4.23.18 Vol. Vol. CLXXV No. No. 27 2165

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

Baily Deeter ’22 Mark Cui ’19 Lili Stern ’22 Justin Kramer ’21 Samantha Hussey ’20 Sports Editors Associate Sports Editor Sports Editors Addison Dick ’22 Associate Sports Editor Divya Kopalle ’21 Divya Kopalle ’21 Michael Lin ’21 Michael Lin ’21 Divya Kopalle ’21 Photography PhotographyEditor Editors Editors Photography Hattie Newton ’21 Jaclyn Eagle ’19 Jaclyn Eagle ’19 Templating Templating TemplatingEditor Editor Editor

The field hockey team went 1-1 at home this weekend, losing 4-3 to the University of New Hampshire on Friday in double-overtime before evening the weekend’s tally with a 4-1 victory over Merrimack College on Sunday.

Friday’s heartbreaker began in the Big Green’s favor, with the home team opening the game with a goal in the second minute and then scoring its second in a row before the 14-minute mark. The Wildcats, however, answered with two goals of their own before Carmen Braceras ’20 scored her second goal of the game with just over seven minutes left in regulation. But at the 57:14 mark, UNH’s Kayla Sliz netted a goal to send the game to overtime. In the 72nd minute, Sliz scored again to

secure the win for the Wildcats despite a strong 11-save game from goalkeeper Isabella Santucci ’22.

On Sunday, the Big Green recorded its first home win of the season in dominant fashion. Sara Falkson ’22 led the Big Green’s offensive charge with two goals, with Lia Constantine ’21 and Katie Spanos ’20 adding on two more. The Big Green was on the verge of a shutout performance when the Warriors recorded their only goal with under four minutes remaining. The Big Green controlled the game, outshooting Merrimack 24-5.

The Big Green will return to Chase Field Saturday when it takes on No. 3 Princeton University to open Ivy League play.

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2019

THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

m soccer

volleyball

NAINA BHALLA/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

Men’s soccer picked up a decisive 7-1 win over Niagara on Saturday after a close 1-0 loss to No. 18 UNH Wednesday.

The men’s soccer team dropped a close 1-0 decision at No. 18 University of New Hampshire on Wednesday before returning home to dominate Niagara University on Saturday afternoon. With the week’s results, the team improves to 3-2, both losses coming against ranked opponents.

Goalkeeper Alex Budnik ’22 was tested often against New Hampshire, saving seven shots on a day in which he performed very well. However, the game’s only goal also got by him in the 68th minute, and the Big Green couldn’t manufacture an equalizer. The team only got one shot on goal during the game.

The Niagara game, however, was a completely different story. Dartmouth tacked on a quick two goals in the game’s first six minutes, with Henry Baldwin ’20 and Kota Sakurai ’21 scoring early to essentially put the game out of reach. Seven different players scored the team’s seven goals, with many scoring their first for the season. Pedro Campos ’23 scored the first goal of his Dartmouth career in the 83rd minute.

The team has a lighter week coming up, as it will travel to face the State University of New York at Albany on Tuesday before a few home games and the start of Ivy League play the following week.

w rugby In a rematch of fall 2018’s NIRA National Championship game, defending champions women’s rugby fell to Harvard University 50-34 on Saturday.

Harvard got off to a strong start that the Big Green proved unable to overcome despite a strong second half comeback.

Facing a 21-point deficit at halftime, Dartmouth went on to score 29 points in the second half. In the dramatic final eight minutes of the game, Ariana Ramsey ’22,

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Idia Ihensekhien ’21 and Ale Ada ’22 all scored tries while Lillian Johnson ’23 provided a conversion. Ramsey came through with a final try for the Big Green in the last seconds of the game and totaled 15 points overall.

Ultimately, Harvard’s early lead was enough to withstand the Big Green’s late charge.

Women’s rugby currently has an even record of 1-1 this season and takes on the United States Military Academy next at home on Oct. 5.

The Big Green got back on track at the Dog Pound Challenge this past weekend, defeating Providence College and the College of the Holy Cross in straight sets while losing to the University of Connecticut 3-1.

The Big Green now stands at 4-5 on the season.

Dartmouth won with little difficulty against the Friars, taking the first two sets by scores of 25-16 and 25-15, respectively, before winning a closer final set 25-21. Dartmouth dropped a close first set against UConn, losing 25-22, and after winning the second set, it lost the third and fourth sets by wide margins. But the team finished the weekend strong with a solid performance in the finale, winning the first two

sets against Holy Cross 25-22 and 25-21 before dominating in the third set, a 25-10 decision.

Makenzie Arent ’23 stood out with 66 assists between the three games, while Grace Wiczek ’23 had 30 kills during the weekend.

Elise Petit ’21 also performed well offensively, registering 23 kills on the weekend with a team-high nine in the Holy Cross victory.

Dartmouth now turns its attention to conference play, which opens up with a tough road slate. The Big Green will travel to Cambridge to play Harvard University on Saturday night before two more weekend road trips, and it won’t play its home conference opener until Oct. 18 against the University of Pennsylvania.

w soccer The women’s soccer team continued its amazing start to the season with a pair of nonleague victories this past week, defeating the University of Rhode Island 2-0 in Hanover before traveling to defeat Sacred Heart University 4-0.

The team improved to 7-1 with the wins.

In the Rhode Island victory, a pair of underclassmen paced the offensive attack.

Izzy Glennon ’22 and Allie Winstanley ’23 scored the team’s goals, with Glennon’s goal coming in the 25th minute and Winstanley’s insurance goal putting the game out of reach in the 54th minute.

Defensively, the team held

Rhode Island to only one shot on goal, meaning it was a light day of work for goalkeeper Mariel Gordon ’21.

The same was true for Sunday’s game, as Gordon had two saves in the shutout victory. Glennon starred once again with two goals, her fourth and fifth on the season, while Erin Kawakami ’21 scored the game’s first goal and Michael Guptill ’22 scored the final goal.

The team will now look to c ar r y its s uc c es s in to conference play. It travels to face Brown University next Saturday before a home date with Princeton University the following weekend.

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THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2019

Estrada leads football to 35-6 win in season opener at Jacksonville B y ADDISON DICK

the road.

“It was a great feeling coming away with those personal accolades, The Big Green football squad but when it comes down to it, the d o m i n a t e d o f f e n s i v e l y a n d win is more important,” Estrada defensively in its season opener on said.

Saturday en route to a 35-6 victory Tight end Joe Kramer ’22 over Jacksonville University. excelled in his varsity debut with The offense appeared nearly the Big Green, with his first two unstoppable in the first half, reaching catches of his collegiate career the end zone four times in the first going for touchdowns. Gerbino said half. Wide receiver Drew Estrada Kramer is a young, athletic tight end ’20 had a who has consistently career day, “It was a great improved in recording practices. a c a r e e r - feeling coming away “The game plan h i g h 1 0 4 with those personal was to get him in receiving for a few snaps, and accolades, but when yards and it ended up turning 2 3 5 a l l - it comes down to into a big game for p u r p o s e it, the win is more him,” Gerbino said. yards. He “That’s a great start caught 26- important.” to his career.” yard and The dual13-yard quarterback system -DREW ESTRADA ’20 t o u ch d ow n of Kyler and Gerbino passes from contributed to an quarterback efficient passing Derek Kyler ’21 in a great start to game. With Jake Pallotta ’20 his senior campaign. playing in the fourth quarter, the Quarterback Jared Gerbino ’20 three quarterbacks combined for 21 described Estrada as a pure athlete completions on 27 attempts for 186 and said the team wants the ball in yards and four touchdown throws. hands as much as possible. Even Gerbino said he was pleased with with his personal success, Estrada the play of all three quarterbacks said he was most pleased with in the season opener. starting the season with a win on “We made good decisions, which

The Dartmouth Staff

SAM HYSA/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

Big Green football, pictured here last season, opened its 2019 campaign with a big win over Jacksonville on the road.

is a big thing that our coaches stress,” he said. “Nothing was too fancy or over the edge, but we did what we needed to do and stuck to the game plan.”

The running attack was strong as well, with the Big Green averaging 6.3 yards per rush, including a 62yard jet sweep run by Estrada on the first offensive play of the season.

Estrada said offensive coordinator Kevin Daft told him the team would be starting its opening drive of the season with that play call a few hours before the game began.

“It’s kind of a typical play for our offense,” Estrada said. “It was a good way to start the game. I was trying to get in the end zone but got caught there at the end, but it was a good play.”

Wi t h t h e o f f e n s e c r u i s i n g throughout the game, the defense dominated the Dolphins, allowing just 99 yards during the first four drives and no points through the first three quarters.

The Big Green defense played particularly well on third downs,

holding the Dolphins to just three third-down conversions on 12 attempts. The Big Green offense, meanwhile, picked up first downs on 11 of 14 third-down plays.

Time of possession was another aspect of the game in which the Big Green gained control. With the game in hand, Dartmouth ran 11 minutes off the clock over two drives, leaving the Dolphins with little opportunity to fight back into contention.

It wasn’t all positive, though. The Big Green fumbled the ball three times, which Gerbino said the team will have to clean up and look at on film.

“We had a few turnovers, but that comes with the fact that we can’t truly replicate that in practice,” he said.

Gerbino said he was happy with the team’s discipline, as the Big Green only committed two penalties for 27 yards. He said the team entered the game anxious to play another team and see game action after a long offseason.

“It definitely helps to have the first game out of the way,” Gerbino said. “We’re going to have to make some improvements.”

Saturday’s win marked the Big Green’s 10th consecutive seasonopening victory and the team’s 14th straight non-conference win. The Big Green will play its home opener against Colgate University at 6 p.m. on Saturday at Memorial Field.

The Raiders boast the top scoring defense in the FCS from a season ago, which Estrada will present a challenge for the Big Green.

“They have a solid defense,” he said. “It will be our first home game, a night game, so I’m looking forward to this Saturday. It should be a good game.”

Despite the Raiders’ 0-4 start, the team was picked to repeat as Patriot League champions. Gerbino said it will be another test on the schedule and an opportunity to get better before Ivy League play begins the following week with a Friday night road test at the University of Pennsylvania.

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THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2019

Women’s rugby drops tough match to perennial foe Harvard B y Kaitlyn LEES

The Dartmouth Staff

Women’s rugby fell to Harvard University 50-34 Saturday afternoon despite a strong second-half charge.

The Harvard-Dartmouth matchup has proven to be a tough test for both teams in recent years and is shaping up to be similarly challenging in the 2019-20 season. In Oct. 2018, Harvard bested the Big Green at the Ivy Rugby Championship. The next month, Dartmouth struck back and beat the Crimson to win the National Intercollegiate Rugby Association title. This season’s NIRA preseason rankings picked the Big Green to repeat as national champions with Harvard again as runner up.

After a dominating 52-17 win over Brown University in its first game of the season, the Big Green worked on staying connected on defense to pressure the opposition’s attack and putting together quick phases when on attack themselves.

“We were working and talking about not letting the expectation of being the reigning champions get to us,” said head coach Katie Dowty about going into the Harvard match.

“It’s really easy to say and hard to do.”

T h e wo m e n’s r u g by t e a m certainly has a right to high expectations. Last year, in addition to winning the NIRA National Championship, they boasted five NIRA All-Americans, came second in the spring Collegiate 7s National Tournament, and Emily Henrich ’22 was named the top women’s college player in the country.

Currently, the team has two players training with the US 7s National Team hoping to make the US team for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

The Harvard game started off strong for the Big Green, which got on the board first with a try from Idia Ihensekhien ’21. However, Harvard hit back at the end of the first half with four tries and three conversions to bring the game to 26-5. Dartmouth struggled to regain control after halftime, and the Big Green found itself down 50-12 with

less than ten minutes left.

“Our minds weren’t there,” said Ariana Ramsey ’22 of the first half of the game. “My mind wasn’t there.”

Then the Big Green demonstrated the form that has made it one of the best college rugby programs in the country over the past few years. Ihensekhien described the difference in the second half as a “burst of energy,” as the team was able to capitalize on momentum and feed off each other.

Ramsey, Ihensekhien and Ale Ada ’22 all came through big with tries while Lillian Johnson ’23 provided a conversion. Ramsey switched positions from outside center to wing during the second half.

“We started speeding the game up and then actually getting the ball out wide [in the second half],” Ramsey said.

In the final seconds, Ramsey secured her third try of the game to bring the final score to 50-34.

Ramsey — who competed this summer in for the US 7s team in the Pan American games — and 2018 NIRA All American Ihensekhien have proved to be key scorers for the Big Green so far this season.

“By the end, we managed to flip the switch and check back in mentally and we scored four tries in 10 minutes, which is what we are capable of doing,” Dowty said.

Staying in the moment and focusing on day to day improvement appears to be a central theme for the team this year. Rather than focusing on the obvious ultimate goal of a national championship, Dowty said she prefers to prioritize the long term process and small steps that can make the Big Green a competitive force in the league each year.

“You can’t just hope to win the national championship, you really have to get better every day,” she said.

Both Dowty and Ramsey spoke of needing to work more on the mental side of game going forward in addition to some improving technical skills.

“It’s getting out of those tough

DOUG AUSTIN/COURTESY OF THE DARTMOUTH ATHLETICS DEPARTMENT

A late comeback effort by Ariana Ramsey ’22 and the Big Green was not enough to close the gap with Harvard.

situations when you know you’re down by a lot and you still have to keep your head up,” Ramsey said.

The team is also adjusting to a new dynamic after graduating of a strong class of seniors in the spring and the absence of a few key players for the season, including

Henrich. Only two games in, Dowty is optimistic that with more games, the team can figure out the best combinations, particularly in the midfield, to highlight the Big Green’s strengths this year.

Ihensekhien changed position from forward to center back this year as

part of that experimentation.

The Big Green returns to action at home on Oct. 5 against the United States Military Academy. The matchup should provide another good, early test for the team, as West Point defeated Harvard 34-10 earlier this month.

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The Redshirt Senior with Evan Griffith ’18

The Redshirt Senior: Tom Brady and the Unconventional Path to Success Happy job-hunting season! If anyone turned to the sports section to try to get away from resume reviews and cover letter writing, you’re out of luck because I’m writing this to put off doing the same thing. In the spirit of the season, I wanted to take a look at some of the players in the National Football League who had a nonstandard career path and found success in the league. The path to success is not a straight line and your self-worth is not related to the perceived success of others.

First, I would be remiss to not talk about *clenches teeth* the greatest quarterback to ever play the game, Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr. As everyone surely knows by this point, Brady was the 199th pick in the 2000 NFL draft, drafted in the sixth round. To put Brady’s career into context, this is every other quarterback drafted ahead of Brady in 2000: Chad Pennington — Pick 18, New York Jets: played in the NFL for 11 years; 2002 NFL Passer Rating Leader; 2006 and 2008 NFL Comeback Player of the Year.

Giovanni Carmazzi — Pick 65, San Francisco 49ers: Backup quarterback, played two seasons in the NFL. Chris Redman — Pick 75, Baltimore Ravens: Backed up the Ravens for four seasons, alternated

THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

between backup and starter with Atlanta between 2007 and 2011.

Tee Martin — Pick 163, Pittsburgh Steeler s: Career backup, four NFL seasons.

Marc Bulger — Pick 168, New Orleans Saints: 2003 and 2006 Pro Bowl Participant, 95 career starts with the St. Louis Rams.

Spergon Wynn — Pick 183, Cleveland Browns: Three NFL starts, four-year Canadian Football League career.

Among that group of quarterbacks, only Pennington and Bulger had any sort of sustained NFL success, and even then, that group only combined for two Pro Bowls. For context, Brady has 14 Pro Bowls to his name, in addition to five All-Pro nods, three NFL MVPs, nine Super Bowl appearances with six Super Bowl championships and four Super Bowl MVPs. Brady, whenever he retires, will go down as the best to ever do it — especially considering where he came from.

Brady is probably the best quarterback who was drafted in the late rounds in the modern era, but there are still quarterbacks who were drafted in the late rounds who achieved success. In 1956, Bart Starr was drafted in the 17th (!) round by the Green Bay Packers, and he went on to form the equivalent of Brady and Belichick with head coach Vince Lombardi.

Starr led the Packers to five NFL championships and victories in the first two Super Bowls with Lombardi. He also was the Super Bowl MVP twice and was named to the Pro Bowl four times. There was also Roger Staubach of the Dallas Cowboys, who was drafted in the 10th round in 1964. Even though he was drafted that year, Staubach didn’t play until 1969 due to fulfilling his military commitment with the Navy. How’s that for a non-traditional career path? Staubach led the Cowboys to two Super Bowl wins, winning one Super Bowl MVP in the process, and he made the Pro Bowl six times during his tenure as a Cowboy.

Staying on the offensive side of

the ball, Bo Jackson was another player whose career path wasn’t super straight. Jackson won the Heisman Trophy at Aubur n University before being drafted first overall by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1986. Before the draft, Jackson said he would never play for Tampa due to the front office lying about a visit Jackson took to Tampa not affecting his NCAA eligibility. Jackson, after refusing to play football in 1986, decided to play baseball for the Kansas City Royals that year. The next year, the Oakland Raiders spent a seventh-round pick on Jackson in the hope that he would return to football. Jackson only played in four NFL seasons, and he only played at most 11 games in those seasons due to the MLB season, but he was one of the most electrifying players in the league during that time, rushing for just under 2,800 yards during his career. That’s an average of roughly 700 yards per season, which is impressive considering Jackson never played more than 11 games in a season. Jackson would

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2019

probably have gone on to have an even more successful career if he hadn’t suffered a season ending hip injury in 1990.

Another late round player who had a bit of an entrepreneurial kick was Deacon Jones. Jones was drafted by the Los Angeles Rams in the 14th round of the 1961 draft and became a part of the “Fearsome Foursome” defensive line of the Rams during the ’60s. I mention Jones acted as an entrepreneur since he’s the one credited with coining the term “sack.” The NFL didn’t officially record sacks until 1982, but Jones retired as the all-time “sack” leader in the NFL with 194.5 at the time of his retirement. Jones also managed to put up 50 sacks over two seasons, recording 24 and 26 sacks over that time span. Jones also made the Pro Bowl eight times during his career.

So the point is, if you’re stressed out over the job hunt, you can still do great things — even if your career post-Dartmouth isn’t everything you initially wanted it to be.

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2019

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THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

Men’s cross country wins home meet, finishes strong at Boston B y ELIJAH CZYSZ

The Dartmouth Staff

The men’s cross country team began the 2019 season on Sept.

7 like it does most seasons: by winning its home meet. The Big Green was then met with a much greater test of its strength in the form of the Boston College Coastto-Coast Invitational. There, it placed seventh among a competitive group of 21 schools. After a strong but imperfect meet, the team is optimistic for the remainder of the fall season.

The Big Green beat out Brown University, the University of Hartford and the University of Maine at its race in Hanover earlier this month. Dartmouth typically begins its season in this fashion to allow the incoming freshman class to ease its way into college cross country.

“The most important thing about the meet is to give our first-year runners a chance to see what a college race is going to feel like,” said head coach Barry Harwick. “We can kind of control the environment to a certain extent since it’s our home meet. So, I thought that went very well for us. We won easily, [it was a] beautiful day, had a lot of family and alums up there, so that was very

successful for us.”

A little under two weeks later, the team traveled to Boston for the Coast-to-Coast Invitational. There, the team beat out Ivy competitors University of Pennsylvania and Brown University as well as large programs like The Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of New Hampshire to earn its seventh place finish. However, the Big Green did not overtake the likes of Syracuse University, which won the meet, or Ivy League foe Harvard University. “[It’s] much more challenging [against] nationally ranked teams, other Ivy League schools,” Harwick said. “I would say we had a good result, not a great result.”

The seventh-place finish in Boston was fueled by an impressive showing from team captain Quinn Cooney ’19 TH ’20.

“Quinn Cooney had a pretty phenomenal race — he did a great job,” Harwick said. “He finished seventh in a field of almost 200 runners. That was a very strong race for him.”

Due to injuries and missed seasons earlier in his career, Cooney has been able to maintain his place on the roster as he finishes his bachelor of engineering at the Thayer School of Engineering.

“ I f eel rea l l y g o o d ab o u t [Friday],” Cooney said. “It’s definitely a big step for me, making the leap up to the top group of that meet. It’s pretty promising for me and definitely really exciting.”

As a fifth-year student, Cooney has been able to use his experience to lead the squad. Although Cooney was humble in describing his position as captain as “making sure people don’t get lost in the forest sometimes,” his coach emphasized his role as a leader on the team.

“His experience and his leadership — he had a phenomenal summer of training — I think has set a very strong example for the other guys on the team,” Harwick said.

Harwick was able to take all healthy Dartmouth runners to Boston, since the meet had an open 5k race. But there were only ten slots for the championship level 8k race. From the Class of 2023, Jake Winslow ’23 competed in the 8-kilometer race Friday — an impressive accomplishment for a first-year student. Two other firstyears, Brendan Balthis ’23 and James Lawrence ’23 have been running well too according to Harwick.

In addition to the value added by Cooney and the Class of 2023, the

Big Green was led by runners like Owen Ritz ’21, Benjamin Matejka ’21 and Liam Jamieson ’22. Each of the runners competed in the 8k race Friday, with Ritz placing 32nd, Matejka 37th and Jamieson 42nd.

While the talent is certainly there, a bout of injuries has plagued the team, delaying the appearances of some of its top runners. However, next to none of the injuries will end those runners’ seasons.

“We tend to take a more cautious approach … even if somebody is banged up a little bit, we’re not going to take a chance and have them race right now,” Harwick said. “Because now we have another two weeks before we race again, and while two weeks is not an enormous amount of time, I think that should be enough for at least some of the guys to get back there. It is kind of a tradeoff.

Are you willing to be patient now to get some people healthier for later on?”

According to Harwick, the team’s goal this year is to be on the starting line of the NCAA Regional Championship with the goal of qualifying for the NCAA Championships.

Last season, the team placed fourth in the NCAA Northeast Regional Championships, but failed to qualify for the National

Championships. According to both Harwick and Cooney, Cooney was just seconds short of qualifying to go to the National Championship individually. This year, Cooney has certainly progressed, and his chances for individual qualification look better than ever.

“I’m in a really good position to run well at those later meets,” he said. “I’m coming off a really big block of training over the last six weeks.”

To achieve that goal, Cooney and the team are starting to transition their training strategies.

In the summer and the start of the season, the team’s workouts mainly consist of attaining volume — long distances at slower-than-race pace.

But as the season progresses, the team will reduce its weekly mileage and focus more on speed.

O ve r a l l , t h e r u n n e r s a r e optimistic for the season coming up.

“Once we do a little more speed work and we get some of our guys back, we’ll be really firing in a few weeks,” Cooney said.

The Big Green’s next race is the Paul Short Invitational at Lehigh University on Oct. 5. Other notable dates for the team are the Nov. 1 Ivy League Heptagonal Championship and the NCAA Northeast Regional Meet on Nov. 15.

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MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2019

THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

SPORTS

Men’s soccer falls to No. 18 New Hampshire, dominates Niagara B y ANNA MAY MOTT The Dartmouth Staff

After a tough 1-0 loss at the No. 18 University of New Hampshire last Wednesday, the men’s soccer team came back home with a point to make on Saturday. The Big Green dominated play for 90 minutes and defeated Niagara University 7-1.

A single goal in the second half proved to be the game winner for the Wildcats in the contest against UNH. Dartmouth struggled to maintain possession on Wednesday, forcing the team to play defense against one of the top teams in the country. The Wildcats out shot the Big Green 16-3, but the back line and goalkeeper Alex Budnik ’22 kept Dartmouth in the game, with Budnik posting a career high of seven saves.

Wednesday’s game was also the team’s first of the season on a turf field. The ball rolls and bounces differently on turf and grass, so the Wildcats’ familiarity with the surface gave them an advantage. However, head coach Bo Oshoniyi said the team doesn’t make excuses about the fields they play on.

“We like to put our team in a position to win anywhere — whether it’s on turf, grass, at home or away,” Oshoniyi said.

On Wednesday, Dartmouth was coming off of a big win at home against Michigan State University, and before that, the Big Green had shut out the University of Massachusetts. The hard-fought loss to in-state rival UNH, then, serves as a reminder of the level of effort needed to stay on top in the competitive field of men’s soccer.

“I think [Wednesday’s game] really is refocusing us and letting us know that the little details are really

important,” said co-captain Zach Kalk ’20. “We can’t take any day off.”

Going into Saturday’s game, according to Kalk and Oshoniyi, the team was looking to clean up some technical errors, maintain solid possession and capitalize on the motivation the UNH game gave them. Dartmouth was ready to send a message.

“We’re a resilient group, and the guys are excited to get back out at Burnham, and play in front of our home fans, and really show the kind of team we are,” Oshoniyi said, adding, “I don’t think [Wednesday’s] game showed the true identity of our team.”

The Big Green has not been defeated on Burnham Field since 2016, and Saturday was no exception.

The team dominated possession throughout 90 minutes of play, consistently pressuring the opposing net. Dartmouth opened scoring early and doubled its number of goals on the season in just the first half of the game. The team was able to use their depth, with seven different goal scorers, with four of them finding the back of the net for the first time in their careers.

Co-captain Henry Baldwin ’20 notched his first goal of the season inside the first three minutes of the game off an in-swinging corner kick

by Dawson McCartney ’21. These corner kicks would prove dangerous for Niagara more than once in the contest. Less than three minutes later, Kota Sakurai ’21 claimed Dartmouth’s second goal, which would be the game-winner, with an assist from Kalk and David Alino ’23 — who saw his first start in Saturday’s game. Around the 25-minute mark, Dartmouth capitalized on a corner

NAINA BHALLA/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

After dropping a close match to UNH, the men’s soccer team came back big to beat Niagara University 7-1.

kick again when Mothibi PennKekana ’22 headed in his first career goal. To finish up the first half, Alino gathered his second assist of the game, sending the ball across the net for McCartney to drive home.

With a 4-0 lead going into the second half, the team was able to give its less experienced athletes some playing time, but still the Big Green didn’t let up on pressuring the net. Aron Rudich ’21 scored the first goal of his career off assists from Eric Sachleben ’23 and Jesse Scanlon ’20. Niagara scored its only goal of the game after a free kick, but Pedro Campos ’23 restored the five-goal lead with a free kick of his own a few

minutes later, making the first goal of his career in the first game of his career. To put a cap on the contest, former goalkeeper Aaron Schwartz ’21 broke away with a pass from Sachleben and beat the buzzer for his first career goal.

Not only did this victory make a statement about Dartmouth’s intentions for the year, but it also showcased the talent among the team’s newer members. Alino, as an example, made sure to make his presence known when he joined the starting lineup on the field last weekend. He tallied two assists and contributed to playmaking throughout the contest. Sachleben

also had a two-point game, and Campos notched his first goal. These performances bode well for the future.

The team has set a tone for the rest of the season with its games this week —responding to its defeat at UNH by correcting mistakes and taking control in the next game.

“Motivated is the biggest word for us,” Kalk said. “We realize what it takes and what kind of game you have to play to be a top team.”

Looking forward, Dartmouth will play the State University of New York at Albany away this Tuesday, then return home to face the University of Connecticut next week.