The Dartmouth 11/11/2019

11.11.19

The Weekend Roundup p. 2-3

Men’s basketball stuns Buffalo, 68-63, in seasonopener road win p. 7

Women’s rugby ends season on narrow semifinal loss to Harvard p. 8

Football gets key win over Princeton at Yankee Stadium, 27-10 p. 4-5

SAM HYSA/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

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MONDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2019

THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

The weekend Roundup

M HOCKEY

Compiled by ADDISON DICK, LILI STERN and elizabeth wilson

volleyball T his past weekend, the volleyball team hit the road for the final time this season to play Princeton University and the University of Pennsylvania.

The Big Green lost 3-0 and 3-1, respectively.

On Friday, Dartmouth took on the league-leading Tigers and lost in straight sets (2511, 25-20, 25-23). The Big Green improved as the match progressed, losing the last set by just two points after losing the first by 14. The Green and White had even offensive contributions, with Nicole Liddle ’22, Grace Wiczek ’23 and Jael Campbell ’22 each contributing six kills, and Francesca Meldrum ’22 and Emma Moffet ’22 each adding five more. Annemarie Horn ’22 led the visiting team

with 18 assists, and Bella Hedley ’22 anchored the defense with a team-leading 13 digs.

After Friday’s loss, the Big Green took to the court in Philadelphia on Saturday to play the Quakers, but the team again couldn’t find its groove and lost in four sets (25-17, 25-19, 25-22, 25-23). Liddle posted a doubledouble with 13 digs and 11 kills, putting her at second on the team in both categories for the match.

Campbell posted a career-high and team-leading 13 kills, while Hedley again led the team with 15 digs and Makenzie Arent ’23 led the team with 24 assists.

The volleyball team will finish out its season this week with home matches against Merrimack College, Columbia University and Cornell University.

ELSA ERICKSEN/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

The men’s hockey team gets to work cleaning up tennis balls after Will Graber ’20’s first goal against Princeton on Saturday.

The Big Green tied No. 15 Quinnipiac University 2-2 on Friday, and then defeated Princeton University at home on Saturday with a score of 3-1 in front of a crowd of almost 3,000 fans.

5:44 into the first period against Princeton, Will Graber ’20 scored the first goal of the game, starting the flurry of tennis balls from the crowd onto the rink, a long standing tradition in Dartmouth vs. Princeton men’s hockey games. The second period of the game

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11.11.19 Vol.CLXXV CLXXVI No. 4.30.18 4.23.18 Vol. Vol. CLXXV No. No. 27 21100

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This weekend, the women’s ice hockey team tied Quinnipiac University 1-1 and lost 2-1 to No. 7 Princeton University. Bailee Brekke ’20 had the goal for the Big Green on Friday 5:37 into the second period, and Hannah Humphreys ’23 had a career high of 33 saves in the game to hold Quinnipiac to a tie. Dartmouth was outshot 34-17 in the game.

Humphreys had another impressive performance against Princeton on Saturday, saving 29 shots in the game. Another first-year, CC Bowlby ’23, was able to score Dartmouth’s lone goal in the game. Princeton scored the first goal of the game 9:26 into the game.

Bowlby found the net with 18 seconds left in the first period, and the game was tied until early in the third period when Princeton was able to slip the puck past Humphreys again.

Dartmouth’s next four games are out of conference, starting with a double-header against Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute this weekend on the road.

went scoreless for both teams. In the third period, Graber scored the game-winning goal with 6:10 left to counter a score by Princeton, and 50 seconds later, teammate Daniel Warpecha ’20 scored again for a final score of 3-1. Other notable players in the game were Drew O’Connor ’22, who had six shots and two assists, and Quin Foreman ’21, who had three shots and one assist.

This was the Big Green’s first win of the season, giving the team a record of 1-2-1 overall and 1-1-1 in conference.

m soccer The Dartmouth men’s soccer team lost 3-1 to conference rival Cornell University this weekend.

This was the first time that the Big Green has lost to Cornell since 2013.

An impressive save by goalkeeper Alex Budnik ’22 early in the game kept it scoreless for the Big Green early on, but Cornell’s strong offensive efforts gave the team its first goal of the game in the 13th minute. Zach Kalk ’20 responded with a goal in the 19th minute, tapping in a ball crossed by teammate Kota Sakurai ’21 for the Big Green’s first and only goal of the game.

An own goal by Dartmouth gave the Big Red the advantage again in the 22nd minute, and in the 51st minute, Cornell found the net again to bring the final score to 3-1.

Dartmouth now must wait for the outcome of other conference games to decide if the team will make it to the Ivy League championship. The Big Green’s next game is on Saturday against Brown University.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2019

THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

FOOTBALL Dartmouth football defeated Princeton University 27-10 on Saturday at Yankee Stadium, avenging the Big Green’s loss to the Tigers last season and placing Dartmouth in sole possession of first place in the Ivy League.

On Princeton’s second drive of the game, defensive end Niko Lalos ’20 caught his first interception of his career and returned it to the end zone to give the Big Green a 7-0 lead. Cornerback Isiah Swann ’20 secured another interception in the second quarter, which the Dartmouth offense turned into a one-yard touchdown run from quarterback Jared Gerbino ’20. The Tigers took advantage of a turnover late in the second quarter, scoring a touchdown with nine seconds left in the half to put the score at 17-7.

The Big Green marched downfield on its opening drive of the third quarter, resulting in a 42-yard field goal from kicker Connor Davis ’22 that inched just over the crossbar. After a Princeton field goal, the Dartmouth offense extended the lead to 17 when Gerbino scrambled for a 21-yard touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter. Gerbino, who battled an injury suffered last weekend against Harvard University, rushed for a career-high 97 yards on 16 attempts.

Dartmouth (8-0, 5-0 Ivy) can win its first outright Ivy League championship since 1996 with wins over Cornell University and Brown University in the next two weeks. The Big Green will host Cornell, which sits in seventh place in the Ivy League, on Saturday at 1:30 p.m.

w soccer This weekend, the Dartmouth women’s soccer team beat Cornell University 5-1 in its senior day game. The win marked head coach Ron Rainey’s 50th career win.

The Big Green dominated the game from the start, taking five out of the first six shots of the game. However, the team did not score its first goal of the game until the 26th minute. Grace Rorke ’22 found teammate Allie Winstanley ’23, who was able to score her first goal of Ivy competition after leading the team in goals in non-conference play. Winstanley was a leading player for the Big Green, with three shots on goal and one assist.

Bonnie Shea ’21 had a goal in the 34th minute of the game, assisted by Erin Kawakami ’21. Cornell had its first and only goal of the game in the 71st minute, scored by Liza Mariner. After this goal, the Big Green turned up the heat, with Tracey Mills ’22 and Isabella Villaflor ’23 scoring goals two minutes apart in the 74th and 76th minutes. Villaflor’s goal was the first of her career. The game ended after an own goal by Cornell in the 86th minute.

This was the last game of the season for the team, which finished with a 10-6-1 record. This win ends the Big Green’s season with a 1-5-1 record in Ivy League play.

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m tennis Charlie Broom ’20 and David Horneffer ’20 competed for the Big Green’s men’s tennis team at the ITA National Fall Championship in Newport Beach, CA. The doubles team of Broom and Horneffer dropped its opening match to Old Dominion University on Wednesday. After winning the opening set, the team lost the second set and fell in the third-set tiebreak by a score of 10-4. In the first round of consolation play on Thursday, Broom and Horneffer fell in straight sets to the University of Michigan.

Broom also competed in singles,

dropping his opening match on Wednesday to Texas A&M University by a score of 6-4, 6-3. He bounced back in his first consolation match on Thursday, defeating Jose Dugo from Georgia Gwinnett College in three sets. On Friday, he defeated a player from Mississippi State University before losing to Gabriel Decamps from the University of Central Florida in straight sets.

The rest of the Big Green competed in the Bear Invitational at Brown University to conclude its fall schedule.

field hockey The Big Green field hockey team narrowly lost its final game of the season to Cornell University by a score of 3-2.

Tatum Schultz ’21 scored a goal for Dartmouth and provided an assist on a goal from Carmen Braceras ’20, and the Big Green led 2-1 entering the fourth quarter.

The Big Red stormed back, as Claire Jones scored two goals in

the final period to give Cornell its fourth Ivy League win of the season. Goalkeeper Isabella Santucci ’22 made seven saves, but Dartmouth fell just short of earning its first conference win this season.

The Big Green finished its season with a 4-13 record, including an 0-7 record in Ivy League play.

swimming & DIVING

w basketball The women’s basketball team opened its regular season last Tuesday with a 72-55 home win over the University of Vermont.

Going into halftime down three points, the Big Green came out of the locker room with new fire and outscored the Catamounts 27-13 in the third to take a commanding lead. Strong play up and down the Dartmouth lineup allowed Dartmouth to maintain control for the rest of the game and come out with a decisive victory.

Dartmouth’s explosive offense shot 50 percent from the field, and a staunch defensive effort held

the Catamounts to 35 percent. The Big Green shared the scoring responsibility with four players scoring in double digits. Anna Luce ’21 recorded a game-high 20 points, followed by Annie McKenna ’20, whose 15 points were complemented by five assists, five rebounds and two steals. Paula Lenart ’20 led the Big Green on the boards, posting four offensive and four defensive rebounds.

The Big Green play Merrimack College in Leede Arena Wednesday evening for its last home game before four consecutive matchups on the road.

Both the men’s and women’s B i g G re e n s w i m m i n g a n d diving teams opened the season against Boston College and Duke University on Friday.

The women’s team fell to both opponents, losing to Boston College by a score of 203-96 and to Duke by a score of 192-97.

Christina Cianciolo ’23 finished the 1,000-yard freestyle in third place, and Mia Leko ’22 placed second in the 200-yard freestyle.

In diving, Maggie Pionzio ’20 and Isabella Lichen ’22 both finished in the top 10 on the onemeter board. The women’s team

will host Harvard University and Cornell University on Nov. 15.

The men’s team lost to Boston College by a score of 158-139 and to Duke by a score of 185109. Tim Park ’23 finished in second place in both the 200yard and 100-yard freestyle events. Connor LaMastra ’21 won the 200-yard butterfly by more than three seconds. All four of the Big Green’s divers finished in the top 10 on the one-meter board, led by Justin Sodokoff ’21 in second place. The men’s team will host Harvard and Cornell on Nov. 16.

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THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2019

Football gets key win over Princeton at Yankee Stadium, 27-10 B y DEVAN FINK The Dartmouth

NEW YORK — No. 13 Dartmouth football (8-0, 5-0 Ivy) now controls its own destiny.

With its 27-10 victory over No. 9 Princeton University (7-1, 4-1 Ivy) on Saturday, the Big Green now finds itself in prime position to accomplish the goal set at the beginning of the season: Bring the Ivy League championship back to Hanover. If Dartmouth keeps up its hot streak with wins over Cornell University and Brown University in each of the next two weeks, that goal could be turned into reality before students go home for winter break.

But the season-defining moment for the Big Green was never going to involve Cornell or Brown. It was always about Princeton. A year ago, the Big Green and the Tigers found themselves in the exact same position. Both teams were 7-0, and the two schools dueled in a de facto Ivy League title game at Princeton. The outcome was different: Princeton knocked off Dartmouth in a defensive battle, 14-9. The Tigers went on to finish the season 10-0, winning the Ivy League title for the second time in three years.

This time around, everything was different: the play, the atmosphere, and most importantly, the result.

The two schools played this round of the heavyweight fight at Yankee Stadium, in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the first college football game in recorded history, when Princeton and Rutgers University faced off on Nov. 6, 1869.

“I’m a big believer in that life is a collection of experiences,” said head coach Buddy Teevens ’79. “The more you have, the more full your life is.

To have my guys come down, you worry about them being wide-eyed and distracted, but it’s a pretty mature bunch. They care about each other, and they hold each other accountable.

But it was fun to walk in and see their eyes all lit up looking out at Yankee Stadium.”

Early in the game, the Big Green defense set the tone for the first half.

On the Tigers’ second offensive drive, Princeton quarterback Kevin Davidson rolled to his right, looked

for a screen pass and instead found the hands of Dartmouth defensive end Niko Lalos ’20, who waltzed 22 yards into the end zone for the first score of the game. It was the first interception of Lalos’ college career.

“Coming out, we just wanted to get as much pressure as we could on that quarterback,” Lalos said. “He can sling it, so we just wanted to get him off. I saw that flair pass, and the guy cut me, so he just kind of threw it out there. It was there for the taking, so I just tried to make a play, and it worked out for me.”

Davidson looked uncomfortable for the majority of the first half. On the very first play from scrimmage, Dartmouth linebacker Ross Andreasik ’20 sacked him for a loss of nine.

Andreasik added another sack midway through the second quarter, and Lalos tacked on one more just two plays later.

Altogether, the Big Green defense held the Tigers to just 81 yards of net offense through their first six possessions.

This defensive pressure was the story for the first 29 minutes of the game.

Davidson, the Ivy League’s leading passer, struggled to drive Princeton down the field. Coming into Saturday’s game with just three interceptions all season, Davidson threw two — one to Lalos and the other to Isiah Swann ’20 — in the first half alone. The Dartmouth offense turned Swann’s interception into seven points with a one-yard scamper from quarterback Jared Gerbino ’20 to extend the Big Green’s lead to 14 points.

“They have a terrific defense,” said Princeton head coach Bob Surace.

“Their defensive line is as good as anybody’s in the country, I’m sure. I haven’t seen anyone better — certainly in the teams I’ve seen so far. They’re very strong, they’re athletic. There’s some things we could have done better, but they did a great job.”

Though the Big Green thoroughly dominated for most of the first half, a fumble by quarterback Derek Kyler ’21 with less than two minutes to go in the second quarter allowed the Tigers to cut into Dartmouth’s lead.

Immediately following the takeaway, Davidson hit receiver Jacob Birmelin on back-to-back plays to take Princeton inside the five yard line and then

SAM HYSA/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

The Big Green brought a lot of energy to the game, holding the No. 9 Tigers to just 10 points.

connected with tight end Graham Adomitis for the three-yard score, cutting Dartmouth’s lead to 17-7 at the half.

“I think a lot of guys didn’t think that it actually put them back in the game,” Gerbino said. “I think we all were kind of set on the fact that we were going to come out after halftime and score to put the game away. We didn’t panic. There was a little slip up in the backfield, a fumble, but we just stayed true to each other, stayed true to the game plan, and came through at the end.”

The Big Green opened the third quarter with its longest drive of the game by time of possession, taking twelve plays to move 50 yards downfield in just over six minutes of gametime. A 42-yard field goal from Connor Davis ’22 gave the Big Green a 20-7 lead, but Princeton quickly responded with a short field goal off of a five-and-ahalf minute drive of its own to keep the score within 10.

Gerbino put an exclamation point on the evening with a 21-yard touchdown run on the next offensive possession. The touchdown put the Big Green up 17 points — a comfortable

lead that it would not relinquish.

And when the fourth quarter clock finally did strike zero, the football team serenaded the Dartmouth fans in attendance with a rendition of the alma mater.

“It’s really just a tribute to the Dartmouth family,” Teevens said.

“They care about what you do, football’s important to them, it was fun. Someone mentioned that the kids in the stands — 15 years of coaching Dartmouth, I swear everyone one of them was there. They look a little different now than they did, but there’s a camaraderie and cohesiveness.

The Dartmouth people, they’ll travel anywhere to watch. It was fun to see, to look at the sea of green.”

In total, the Dartmouth offensive attack relied heavily on the run game.

The Big Green put up a total of 225 rushing yards to just 68 net pass yards.

Despite his status for Saturday being unclear due to a leg injury sustained at Harvard last week, Gerbino was the team’s leading rusher — in his 16 attempts, he put up 97 yards on the ground, including the two scores.

“During the course of the week, our training staff did a phenomenal job,”

Teevens said. “It didn’t look good last Saturday, but he healed quickly.”

But the larger story of the game was the defense. Princeton’s attack became one-dimensional after getting behind early. Davidson threw the ball 43 times, a season-high, but the big plays were largely neutralized by the Big Green defense — he relied mainly on short slants, hooks and screens, and even those did not generate consistent success. His 4.9 pass yards per attempt was, by far, his season-worst mark.

Dartmouth now turns its attention to the final two games of its schedule: Cornell at home next Saturday and Brown in Providence on Nov. 23. The Big Green will be heavily favored to win both games.

“The next two ball games we just have to — repeating myself — finish,” Teevens said. “I think with the maturity of our team, they know what a letdown can be. We’re as good as we play, not as people might say, and that’s it. Enjoy the bus ride tonight, and get back to work tomorrow.”

With a huge win on Saturday, the road to the Ivy League championship will run through Hanover. Dartmouth controls its own destiny.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2019

THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

SAM HYSA/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

Drew Estrada ’20 makes the catch during a punt return.

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SAM HYSA/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

Quarterback Jared Gerbino ’20 battled an injury to lead the team in rushing.

SAM HYSA/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

The game was a hard-fought matchup between the top two teams in the Ivy League.

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The Redshirt Senior

with Evan Griffith ’18 Th’20 The Redshirt Senior: Opening Salvos in the College Basketball Season Nov. 5 marked the start of the college basketball season, objectively the greatest sports season in America.

The NCAA is already out swinging its ban hammer at the start of the season by investigating the University of Memphis’ basketball team. It was reported that the NCAA ruled Memphis freshman and projected top pick in the NBA

THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

draft James Wiseman ineligible, finding that Memphis coach Penny Hardaway financially assisted Wiseman’s family in their move from Nashville to Memphis in 2018 with a payment of $11,500. Hardaway and Wiseman appeared in court asking the NCAA for a temporary injunction on Nov. 8 — one hour before Memphis was supposed to play the University of IllinoisChicago (Wiseman played for 25 minutes and scored 17 points with 9 rebounds). Now all we can do is wait while the NCAA spins its wheel of punishment.

By the way, did you hear that the NCAA only punished Seton Hall University’s head coach for two games for tampering with one of Syracuse University’s players to get him to go to Seton Hall? Funny world we live in, isn’t it?

In Ivy League news, remember how I said earlier that Harvard University was going to be AP top-25 good? Yeah, the Crimson just lost to Northeastern University on the road this past weekend. It doesn’t help that Harvard lost one of its three senior stars in Seth Towns, who is currently rehabbing a knee injury.

Northeastern controlled the game

from the start, going on a 12-2 run to lead Harvard at halftime 44-27.

Harvard would go on an 18-3 run to open up the second half and pull within six, but Northeastern would hold on to win 84-79. It’s early enough in the season where it’s not sensible to overreact, and Harvard will most likely be fine, but the dreams of a multi-bid Ivy League to the NCAA tournament might have come crashing down to Earth.

S p e a k i n g o f ove r re a c t i n g, Dartmouth is without a doubt winning the Ivy League this season.

Even after losing Brendan Barry ’20 to injury this season, Dartmouth came out and upset a University of Buffalo team just one year removed from reaching the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Chris Knight ’21 led the way in scoring for the Big Green with 18 points as well as notching 11 rebounds for a double-double. Taurus Samuels ’22 also stepped up in a big way into the starting role vacated by Barry, making 16 buckets and going 5-for-5 on his free throws. Although Buffalo is one year removed from the NCAA tournament, the team lost most of its starting roster and

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2019

its head coach, Nate Oats, to the University of Alabama (a team which curiously lost to the University of Pennsylvania in its season opener), Buffalo is still one of the strongest opponents on Dartmouth’s non-conference schedule — and getting a win over the Bulls is a great confidence builder for a team expected to finish in the middle of the Ivy League.

The remaining difficult games on Dartmouth’s non-conference schedule include visits to Bowling G re e n S t at e U n i ve r s i t y, t h e Univer sity of South F lorida and a home matchup with the perennial America East powerhouse University of Vermont. If the Big Green can win the games the team is supposed to win, the team can definitely become a contender in the Ivy League this season.

In major conference news, the first night of conference play featured the top four teams in the AP Poll facing up in the Champion’s Classic at Madison Square Garden.

In the first of these games, Duke University beat the University of Kansas 68-66. This was a game in which neither team in particular wanted to shoot the ball well —

Kansas shot 46 percent from the field while Duke shot even more poorly at 36 percent. Tre Jones led the way in scoring for Duke with 15 points while also notching six rebounds and seven assists. I’m not taking too much stock in this game moving forward, as many teams come across as flat in their first games. (Syracuse University scored 34 points in its first game. 34! That’s as many as Cole Anthony of the University of North Carolina just scored in one game!)

The second game was a matchup of Michigan State University and the University of Kentucky. Cassius Winston played like the preseason all-American he’s touted to be, scoring 21 points with four assists, but the rest of the Spartans didn’t really feel like showing up that night.

No other Spartan scored more than eight points, and Michigan State would go on to lose the game 69-62. The highlight of this game was definitely the play of Kentucky freshman Tyrese Maxey, who came off the bench to score 26 points on 7-of-12 shooting, making three 3-pointers in the process. If this freshman can keep it up, he might be able to take over the starting role at some point later in the season.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2019

THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

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Men’s basketball stuns Buffalo, 68-63, in season-opener road win B y EMILY LU

Reinvigorated after halftime, the Big Green came out storming with a The Dartmouth 12-2 run to produce its largest gap of Breaking a 32-year drought of the night with a 17-point lead. Scoring season-opener road wins and ending came from five different players to put an opponent’s 26-game home win the score at 47-30, starting with wing streak is one way to start the season. Aaryn Rai ’21 from beyond the arc With its first season-opening road win and rounded out by another threein more than three decades, the Big point play from Ian Sistare ’20.

Green men’s basketball team came Buffalo quickly retaliated with out on top against the University of 12 unanswered points before a Rai Buffalo, 68-63. While a 17-point lead layup ended Dartmouth’s scoring fell to one in the second half, the Big drought. With 6:03 left to play, a Green kept its composure to hold the single point separated the Bulls and advantage against the Bulls. the Big Green. Rai and forward Chris Last season’s matchup between the Knight ’21 each tacked on buckets in Big Green and the Bulls ended in a the paint to extend the score to 60-55.

110-71 blowout in favor of the Bulls. However, with 1:39 left in the game, Buffalo went on to advance to the the Big Green again found itself second round of up by just one. the 2019 NCAA This time, Samuels “Instead of breaking tournament. stepped up with six T h e B u l l s ’ down defensively or consecutive points, s u c c e s s l a s t forgetting plays, we all grabbing rebounds season did not and earning fouls deter the Big stayed together and to shoot — and Green, which stayed in the groove.” score — from the shot 27-for-59 line. overall to break “Instead of Buffalo’s home -TAURUS SAMUELS ’22 breaking down win streak — the d e f e n s i ve l y o r second-longest forgetting plays, streak in the country. we all stayed together and stayed in “Nobody thought we would win, the groove,” Samuels said. “That’s just except for the guys in our circle and a big improvement from last year; I on our coaching staff,” said guard think our composure was really high Taurus Samuels ’22. “Going in, we and our focus was really high as well.” were locked in and we were ready.

As the team’s leading returning Especially against a team like Buffalo, scorer, Knight recorded 18 points and especially going on last year losing and 11 rebounds for his fourth career the way we did, to come back this year double-double. Samuels followed and to get a win is just special.” closely behind with 16 points, and Defense from both teams proved Sistare set a career-high with 13 dominant early as neither team got rebounds in the opening game. on the board until the third minute.

The Big Green will look to Guard Trevon Ary-Turner ’22 made continue its early momentum during a strong debut after sitting out last its home opener against Florida Gulf year as a transfer from Weber State Coast University at Leede Arena on University, scoring the first points Monday night. After finishing 11-19 of the season on a three-point play last year with 11 games lost by five with a layup and ensuing free throw. or fewer points, the team’s opening Samuels extended the lead to 5-0 victory sets a higher expectation with a jumper before the Bulls were moving forward. able to score. The Big Green found “A lot of games we’ve been in its highest lead of the first half with have been really tight, and it was just 5:25 left, doubling Buffalo up 28-14 a really good feeling to finally come after Samuels’ own three-point play. away with a win,” Knight said. “[Now However, the 14-point advantage was the] goal is to go and play and to make cut in half by the break. it to the Ivy League tournament.”

ALEX FREDMAN/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

Ian Sistare, picture here last season, recorded a career-high 13 rebounds in the Big Green’s season opener against Buffalo Saturday.

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THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

SPORTS

Women’s rugby ends season on narrow semifinal loss to Harvard B y KAITLYN LEES

“We knew our game and the potential level we could play at, which is what we did when we beat Harvard,” In a rematch of last year’s national Bitter said. “We knew we had to play to championship final, Harvard University that standard, which I thought we did edged Dartmouth women’s rugby out yesterday.” of a chance to defend its 2018 title by Head coach Katie Dowty felt that a single point on Saturday afternoon the team’s increase “rugby IQ” was the in Cambridge. highest it had been all season going into The National Intercollegiate Rugby this final faceoff against Harvard — but Association semifinal was a competitive that would ultimately not prove enough matchup between the No. 2 Crimson for the team to overcome the Crimson. and the No. 3 Big Green, marking the Dartmouth had the lead up until third time the two the final minute teams have faced “We knew our game of the game, off this season. In when Harvard the last matchup, and the potential was able to come D a r t m o u t h level we could play back to pull off the handily defeated win. The game at, which is what we Harvard 41-22 to started with eight take team’s fourth did when we beat scoreless minutes, the Ivy Rugby Harvard. We knew before Harvard championship. capitalized on a With the loss 23-22 we had to play to penalty kick to loss on Saturday, that standard, which take the lead Dartmouth’s fall by three. After I thought we did r u g by s e a s o n being held up at comes to a close yesterday.” the try line, Idia with an overall Ihensekhien ’21 even record of scored a try to -KRISTIN BITTER ’23 3-3. give Dartmouth Going into the its first lead of the game, the team game at 5-3. The continued the same processes they Big Green maintained this two-point have been working on all season that advantage until the 33-minute mark, lead them to victory a few weeks ago when Ihensekhien scored her second against Harvard and focused on fine- try of the game and Bitter provided a tuning the little things. Kristin Bitter conversion to put the Big Green ahead ’23 said she felt that the team was able by nine. Before half time, Harvard to accomplish its mental goal prior to scored its first try of the game to cut the game Saturday and had firmly Dartmouth’s lead to five, and the first established the unity and connection half concluded with Dartmouth up that they felt had been lacking earlier in 12-8. the season. She added that the team had Just one minute into the second half, seen significant improvement over the another score from Harvard gave the season since its first scrimmage against Crimson a one-point advantage.

Concordia College and the first loss to Dartmouth came back strong, Harvard. though, with Ihensekhien assisting The Dartmouth Staff

DOUG AUSTIN/COURTESY OF THE DARTMOUTH ATHLETICS DEPARTMENT

Ariana Ramsey scored two tries in the game, but the Big Green fell just short.

Ariana Ramsey ’22’s first try of the game to regain a four point lead.

Ihensekhien and Ramsey teamed up again for Ramsey’s second try, which put the Big Green ahead by nine.

Dowty would note after the game that she was particularly proud of how the team was able to beat Harvard several times at the scrum.

Dartmouth’s strong defense, led by Becca Jane Rosko ’20, kept Harvard scoreless for over 20 minutes. However, the Crimson were eventually able to narrow the score to 22-20. With only a minute left in the game, Harvard took advantage of the fortunate location of a penalty call against Dartmouth. The penalty gave Harvard the option to kick

for three points, which they successfully executed. In the end, it came down to time to take a one point lead, 23-22.

With the clock running down, the Big Green was unable to mount a comeback effort, but fell just short of victory as time ran out.

Both Bitter and Dowty identified penalties as a critical factor in the game.

“They really did everything that we had planned to do but we were really on the wrong side of the penalty count, 13 to four,” Dowty said. “It’s tough to win a game when you’re down in the penalty count by that much.”

Although the season did not end the way the Big Green had hoped, the team can still able to take positives from the

fall campaign. In addition to regaining the title of Ivy League champions, the Big Green remains one of the top ranked rugby programs in the country.

Bitter, Ihensekhien and Ramsey all came through big for the Dartmouth in providing points offensively throughout the season. But the team, Bitter said, felt impact of missing injured players as well as Lily Durbin ’20 and Emily Henrich ’22, who missed the season for training to make the 2020 Olympics team.

“Aside from scoreboard, the season taught us that it’s just really important to be proud of your performance,” Dowty said. “We felt really proud of ours and the growth we’ve experienced this season.”