Yesterday's 10-7 win over the University of Vermont meant a lot of things for the men's lacrosse team. For starters, it ended the Big Green's two-game losing streak.
"We had two tough losses last week [to Yale and Brown], and we needed to get back on track today," Brendan Bowler '94 said.
For another, the victory raised the Big Green's record to 8-3 overall (2-2 Ivy League) and, with only three games left in the season, assured the team of its first winning season since 1982.
But most importantly, yesterday's win is "a sign of where our program is now," Coach Tim Nelson said. "We didn't play well but still beat a good team."
Vermont certainly is no slouch. Ranked as high as 18th nationally this year, the Catamounts (8-3 overall) were riding a four-game winning streak coming into yesterday's game.
But Dartmouth wasn't about to let that streak continue. The Big Green struck quickly, using back-to-back goals by Todd Smith '95 to take a 2-0 lead in the first four minutes of the game. Vermont knotted the score at two early in the second quarter.
A cross-checking penalty by the Catamounts led to a goal by Dave Fivek '94 with 5:27 left in the half. But sloppy offensive play by the Big Green in the final seconds of the half allowed Vermont to tie the score at three with only five seconds left.
"We came out pretty flat in the first half," Bowler said. "The captains got us real fired up at halftime and gave us a good pep talk, though."
The talk obviously had the desired effect. Like so many other times this season, Dartmouth's offense exploded in the third quarter. Bowler, Brian White '95, Eric Welsh '95 and Brian Merritt '97 each scored to put the Big Green up 7-5 at the end of the quarter.
But the best was yet to come. The Big Green put on a clinic during the first five minutes of the fourth period, and two terrific goals by Bowler in that span put the game out of reach. He put the finishing touches on an outstanding individual effort by scoring his fourth goal of the afternoon with only 1:39 left in the game.
Smith added two assists to go along with his two goals, and Welsh and White each had a goal and an assist.
Co-captain Andy Ruckh '94 and Dave Hehir '95 led the stingy Dartmouth defense in front of goalie Ned Hazard '96, who had 14 saves, 12 in the second half.
