An 8-0 scoring run by No. 14 Yale University doomed the men’s lacrosse team on Saturday, as the Bulldogs (6-3, 2-2 Ivy) pulled away from the Big Green (1-6, 0-3 Ivy) for a 16-10 win at Scully-Fahey Field.
The Big Green began the game well, opening up a 3-0 lead in the first 10 minutes on the back of goals by Brendan Rotanz ’14, KC Beard ’16 and Mike Olentine ’14. Christian Guinchard ’17 was called for tripping with 3:46 to play in the quarter. Just 15 seconds later, Yale scored its first goal of the day. The Bulldogs would add its second tally just over a minute later, cutting Dartmouth’s lead to 3-2.
“We came out really strong,” goalkeeper Blair Friedensohn ’16 said. “The offense was playing quite well and we put it in their zone. The effort was there, but the execution fell apart and they capitalized on our mistakes.”
Yale’s momentum carried into the second quarter, where the Bulldogs turned their 3-2 deficit into a 6-3 lead, thanks to a man-up goal and a perfect quarter at the faceoff.
The Bulldogs also scored the first two goals of the third quarter.
Dartmouth netted two consecutive goals at 11:01 and 9:23 in the third to end Yale’s run. The teams traded goals and the third quarter ended 10-6, in favor of the visitors.
A goal by Jack McCormick ’17 cut the Yale lead to 10-7, but the Bulldogs responded and pushed the lead to five. The Big Green could not tighten the game.
The Bulldogs picked up 14 more ground balls than did Dartmouth and enjoyed a 22-29 day at the faceoff circle, including a 5-5 second quarter and an 11-11 fourth.
The Big Green’s man-down team gave up five goals in five opportunities.
Opponents have scored on 21 of 33 man-up opportunities against the Big Green this season. The Dartmouth men are only converting on 17.9 percent of their man advantage opportunities this season, after a 1-4 afternoon on Saturday.
“They kind of just stuck all their shots on the man-up,” captain Bobby Osgood ’15 said. “Most of the time we’ll let them take the outside shots they did. Most of the time that’s a save, and we win that man-down scenario, but yesterday they just went down.”
The Big Green next travel to face the University of Hartford on Tuesday.
The Hartford game, Osgood said, will allow the team to critique its play.
“We played our best game up to date against Yale, so Hartford well be a good test for us and a good learning opportunity,” he said.
