Men's basketball
The Dartmouth men’s basketball team dropped a heartbreaker at the hands of Harvard University on Saturday, losing 64-59. The sequel played out very differently from the first meeting between the two teams two weeks prior. In that first matchup, the Big Green shot 68.1 percent from the field and 52 percent from the three-point line on its way to an 81-63 victory over the Crimson. In the rematch, the team shot just 39 percent from the field, yet it was still within three points in the final seconds when Brendan Barry ’20 missed the potential tying 3-pointer. Barry had a strong day from the field, however, making four 3-pointers to contribute to his NCAA-leading three-point shooting percentage of 51.8 percent. Taurus Samuels ’22 was a bright spot for the team, scoring a team-leading 13 points off the bench.
The Big Green will return to Hanover for a weekend homestand against Brown University and Yale University, two of the top teams in the conference, as it looks to qualify for the annual Ivy League tournament as one of the conference’s top four teams.
Women's basketball
After a win against State University of New York at Binghampton on Dec. 31, the women’s basketball team faced an over three-week break before taking on Harvard in Cambridge on Jan. 19. The team got off to a rough start, getting shut out 14-0 in the first quarter and trailing 27-7 at the end of the first half. Despite a terrific third period — besting Harvard 27-12 — the Big Green were not able to follow through in the fourth quarter and lost 56-46. Paula Lenart ’20 finished the game with 12 rebounds, while Cy Lippold ’19 and Annie McKenna ’20 led the team with 11 and 10 points, respectively. This Saturday, the Big Green took on Harvard again at home, falling 73-57. Although the team had a much better start to the game this time around — outscoring Harvard 24-19 in the first quarter — the Big Green were beaten badly on the boards by a bigger Crimson team, who gradually wore Dartmouth down during the second half. A bright spot of the night was Lippold, who scored a career-high 26 points; Isalys Quinones ’19 followed suit with 13 points and nine rebounds.
The Big Green face a four-game road stand the next two weekends, taking on Brown University and Yale University next on Feb. 1 and 2.
Men's hockey
The men’s hockey team sits just two points from the top of the Eastern College Athletic Conference standings as it enters the final five weeks of conference play. On Jan. 18, the Big Green defeated Colgate University 1-0. The game marked the second straight shutout for goaltender Adrian Clark ’20. Alex Jasiek ’19 scored the lone goal with fewer than nine minutes remaining. The Big Green struggled the following day in a tough atmosphere against Cornell University. In a 5-1 loss, the team allowed five goals despite only allowing 19 shots on goal.
Dartmouth returned to Thompson Arena last weekend following a five-game road trip, in which the team went 2-2-1. The Big Green enjoyed its first game back home last Friday, defeating St. Lawrence University 4-1. Dartmouth was able to get over 50 shots on goal for the first time in almost a decade while only allowing 13 shots. The Big Green finished the weekend with a 2-0 loss to No. 10 Clarkson University. Despite outshooting the Golden Knights 31-21, Dartmouth could not capitalize on its offensive chances. Clarkson scored early in the first period and withstood a strong attack from the Big Green, especially in the final minutes of the game. The game marked just the second time this season that the team failed to score.
The Big Green (8-10-2, 7-5-1 ECAC) travel to Harvard University for a matchup next Friday at 7:30 p.m. before returning to Hanover for two games the following weekend.
Women's hockey
This weekend, the women’s hockey team hit the road for a couple of away games in New York, matching up with St. Lawrence University on Friday night and Clarkson University on Saturday. The previous weekend, the team also suffered a pair of losses against No. 7 Cornell University and No. 8 Colgate University. Against Colgate, the Big Green had a strong third period but couldn’t overcome Colgate’s four goals in the second. The Big Green continues to struggle through this season, but despite coming up empty in the win column again this weekend, the team showed signs of improvement. First, this weekend marked just the second time all season that the team has scored multiple times in back-to-back games, netting two goals in both games. For a team that has struggled offensively all year, it’s a good start to see the hard work on the ice translate to points on the scoreboard. Additionally, Clarkson is the fifth best team in the country, and Dartmouth was able to match their shots on goal total and keep the game reasonably close until the last buzzer. Competing with a team of Clarkson’s caliber shows that the Big Green certainly has what it takes to turn its season around.
Track and field
This past week, the men’s and women’s Dartmouth track teams competed at the Boston University John Thomas Terrier Classic. Although no athletes from Dartmouth competed in any field events, the Big Green was still able to make an impact at the meet. For the men, top performers included Max Fyre ’21, Reed Horton ’19, Parker Johnson ’19, Shawn Ohazuruike ’20 and Donovan Spearman ’21. Spearman ran a 6.82 in the final of the 60m, finishing only one-hundredth of second behind a professional athlete who took first. For the women, Nicole Deblasio ’19, Kathryn Laskoski ’21, Cha’Mia Rothwell ’20, Lauren Sapone ’20, Grace Thompson ’19 and Julia Valenti ’20 were all top 10 performers in their respective events. Rothwell finished fifth in the 60m hurdles with an 8.59 run, and Valenti finished second in the pole vaults after clearing 3.65 meters. At the start of next month, the teams will participate in the New England Championship in Boston before moving on to the Fastrack Invitational in Staten Island.
Skiing
The Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association took the weekend off from carnival competition, but several Big Green skiers were in action on the FIS circuit and in cross-country Super Tour racing. Kipling Weisel ’18 took second place in a FIS slalom race at Smugglers Notch, 0.76 seconds off the pace set by Middlebury’s Erik Arvidsson. At Okemo Mountain Resort, Hannah Utter ’21 took fourth in Friday’s slalom and first in the giant slalom the next day. Katharine Ogden ’21, returning to Lake Placid for the second time in the last two weeks, represented Dartmouth at the Super Tour 10-kilometer classic mass start. The defending NCAA champion took third overall, besting the rest of the collegiate field by half a minute.
Squash
The No. 6 men’s squash team faced a tough stretch over the past two weeks, falling 8-1 to No. 4 Trinity College on Jan. 19 and then falling 9-0 to No. 2 University of Rochester this Saturday. Only Matt Giegerich ’19 was able to secure a match win against Trinity, while Jack Bell ’22 dropped a hard-fought match after falling 21-19 on the fifth game. The Big Green bounced back yesterday with a 5-4 win at No. 11 St. Lawrence University, with Jack Bell ’22 and Drew Monroe ’20 sweeping their matches.
Meanwhile, the No. 9 women’s squash team had a mixed weekend, falling 8-1 to No. 3 Trinity on Jan. 19 while bouncing back yesterday for a 9-0 trouncing of No. 27 St. Lawrence University. Caroline Mollenkopf ’22 was the lone bright spot in the Trinity match, scoring an 11-6, 11-4 and 11-4 sweep against her opponent. But at St. Lawrence in Canton, New York, all nine members of the Big Green swept their matches, with Mollenkopf and Ellie Gozigian ’21 coming away with 11-0 game wins.
The 4-4 women’s team will look to improve their record against Ivy League opponents with matches at the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton University next weekend, while the 7-3 men’s team will attempt to bolster their 2-2 road record against the same opponents.
Men's tennis
No. 27 Charlie Broom ’20 and the men’s tennis team hit the ground running in its first two weekends as they won three of four matches, including a victory over the University of Kentucky on Intercollegiate Tennis Association kickoff weekend. The lone blemish on Dartmouth’s schedule came Sunday at the hands of Columbia University, the No. 14 team in the nation.
The Big Green opened the 2019 season on the weekend of Martin Luther King Jr. Day with home wins over Indiana University and Bryant University. Facing the Hoosiers, Dartmouth never trailed, taking the doubles point and then getting wins from David Horneffer ’20 at No. 3 and Dan Martin ’21 at No. 2, who beat 96th ranked Bennett Crane. Peter Conklin ’21 brought the match home with a straight-set win at No. 4. Later that day, Dartmouth coasted to victory over Bryant. None of the deciding sets even went to seven games as the Big Green won the doubles point, then Casey Ross ’21, Sid Chari ’22 and Horneffer closed out the match with singles wins.
The team battled back from a 3-0 deficit to beat the Wildcats 4-3 on Saturday. Kentucky won the doubles point and had the Big Green on the brink with singles wins at No. 1 and No. 5. But Conklin, Horneffer and Chari won to power Dartmouth back to a 3-3 tie, and Martin downed Kentucky’s Enzo Wallert 6-4, 7-5 to give Dartmouth the win. The Big Green drew a tougher opponent the next day in the No. 14 Lions. Columbia scooped up the doubles point and ran out to a 3-0 lead. Broom grabbed a point with a convincing 6-2, 6-2 win over No. 40 Jack Lin, but Martin lost at No. 2 to give Columbia the win.
Women's tennis
Women’s tennis lost its season opener for the first time since the 2015-16 season but bounced back the next weekend by splitting a pair of home matches against the University of Iowa and the University of Connecticut.
In the season-opener, Dartmouth fell to Boston College for the second straight year. The Eagles won the doubles point and got wins against Racquel Lyn ’20, Catherine Cable ’20 and Abigail Chiu ’21. The lone win in the 6-1 defeat came from Jingyi Peng ’22, who took down BC’s Elene Tsokilauri 7-6, 6-4. Iowa dealt Dartmouth a second defeat this Saturday. Chuyang Guan ’20 won 6-0, 6-3 at the No. 6 position, and the Big Green took several matches to three sets, but the Hawkeyes came out with the 6-1 win. Dartmouth enjoyed a better outing the next day in a 7-0 triumph over the University of Connecticut. After winning the doubles point, the Big Green swept the Huskies in straight sets during singles play.
Swimming and diving
For the second time in the two years since Dartmouth’s home meet was renamed the Tate Ramsden Invitational, the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams picked up home wins. For the men’s team, the win over the University of Massachusetts was its first victory of the season.
Connor LaMastra ’21 broke pool and meet records left and right on both Friday and Saturday. He started by taking down the meet record in the 500-yard freestyle by more than two seconds (4:31.04). On Saturday, he broke the pool record in the 400-yard IM by four seconds (3:51.49) and later broke the meet record in the 1,650-yard freestyle by 25 seconds (15:26.76). Justin Sodokoff ’21 led the way for the Dartmouth divers on the 1-meter and 3-meter boards, breaking the meet record in the latter. Elsewhere, Joe Moll ’22 won the 200-yard IM, J.P. Mortenson ’21 touched first in the 100-yard butterfly and Dartmouth also got wins in four other events.
Meanwhile, the women’s team took down UMass 193-142. Big Green swimmers won three events on Friday as Mia Leko ’22 touched first in the 500-yard freestyle (4:58.66), Ashley Post ’22 did the same in the 200-yard IM and the A team won the 200-yard freestyle relay. The next day, Dartmouth notched seven more event wins as Leko won the 200-yard freestyle (1:52.69) and the 200-yard butterfly (2:06.06), Connie Zhang ’22 won the 100-yard backstroke and Mackenzie Stumpf ’21won the 200-yard breaststroke (2:08.61). Dartmouth went 1-2-3 in the 200-yard breaststroke, Sarah Minnigh ’22 won the 1,650-yard freestyle (17:23.38) and the Big Green won the 400-yard freestyle relay to close the meet.
