Football
The Big Green continued its undefeated season with a 59-24 rout of the Columbia University Lions, and is now 3-0 in Ivy League play and 6-0 overall.
An average start for both teams led to a 10-10 tie well into the first half, but the Big Green responded with a fire that led to four consecutive touchdowns. The first touchdown of the game came in the first quarter from wide receiver Drew Estrada ’20 off an 87-yard punt return, the second longest in program history. The second-quarter scoring spree was supported by a strong Dartmouth defense, with a pick-six from Isaiah Swann ’20 and a big fourth down stop that gave the offense the opportunity to capitalize and go into halftime with a 38-10 lead.
Early in the second half, Jackson Perry ’19 forced a fumble, which the Big Green capitalized on by scoring a touchdown on the next play. Quarterback Jared Gerbino ’20 scored the next touchdown on a five-yard run, bringing the score to 52-10 in favor of the home team. Columbia fought back and was able to score two touchdowns before the end of the third quarter, but nothing was enough to stop the Big Green. The final nail in the Lions’ coffin came late in the fourth quarter with a touchdown from Noah Roper ’23 — the first of his Dartmouth career.
The Big Green face Harvard University, the third-ranked team in the Ivy standings, in Cambridge this coming Saturday before its big game at Yankee Stadium against Princeton University — last year’s Ivy League champions and the only other remaining undefeated team among the Ancient Eight.
Women's rugby
Bringing home the conference banner for the fourth time, Dartmouth women’s rugby defeated Harvard University in the Ivy League championship this Saturday.
The Big Green scored first off a penalty kick from Kristin Bitter ’23 and held onto its lead for the next 20 minutes. The Crimson responded at the 26-minute mark and snagged the lead, but the visiting team came back with a try by Idia Ihensekhien ’21 and a conversion by Bitter to take the lead back, ending the half with the score 10-7.
The second half picked up speed and the Crimson quickly took the lead, but the Big Green bounced back with some slight back and forth before solidly putting some distance between the two with a 29-17 score after two tries and a conversion with 20 minutes left in the second half. From there the Big Green only pushed forward, scoring twice more to Harvard’s one, and finishing the game as Ivy League Champions with the score 41-22.
The Big Green has two weeks to prepare for the National Intercollegiate Rugby Association postseason. The team will head into the Nov. 9 semifinal with a 3-2 overall record in the fall season.
Women's hockey
The Big Green suffered a loss in its season opener against the Harvard University Crimson 7-4 this Friday in Thompson Arena.
Despite strong showings from first-year forwards CC Bowlby ’23, Currie Putrah ’23 and Catherine Trevors ’23, along with goaltender Hannah Humphreys ’23, who stood out with 21 saves, the Big Green was unable to recover from a three-goal deficit acquired in the first eight minutes of the game. Halfway into the second period, Dartmouth began to fight for the lead with Trevors scoring her first career goal for the Big Green and Jennifer Costa ’21 scoring three minutes later to bring the game within a goal. Harvard, however, scored once more with just three minutes remaining in the second period to bring the score to 4-2.
The third period was a tough frame for the Big Green, with Currie Putrah ’23 and Bowlby scoring their first career goals, but the deficit extended to 7-4 after a hat trick from Harvard’s Della Rovere.
The Big Green next faces the University of Vermont away on Tuesday and then will return home to take on Yale University on Friday and Brown University on Saturday.
Volleyball
This Friday, the women’s volleyball team beat Harvard University and the University of New Hampshire at home. This was the first time since 2009 that the Dartmouth women’s team has beaten Harvard in straight sets, and the first time that the Big Green has ever beat Harvard twice in one season.
The Big Green took the first set with a score of 25-22. Down 20-15, the Big Green went on an 11-2 run, including a nine-point streak, to take the set. Kills from Nicole Liddle ’22 and Grace Wiczek ’23 and an ace from Makenzie Arent ’23 in the second set gave Dartmouth a similar run, this time 6-1, to take the set 25-19. The final set of the game tied six times after an initial tie at 24-24, but Dartmouth eventually took the third set with a score of 32-30. Wiczek had a game-high 18 kills, including two that brought the score from 30-29 Harvard to 31-30 Dartmouth, before she shared a block with Francesca Meldrum ’22 to put the game away.
On Saturday night, the team took to its home court again and beat the University of New Hampshire 3-1, losing the first set 21-25, and taking the last three 25-20, 25-14 and 25-23. Wiczek was a key performer in this game again, leading the Big Green with 12 kills.
The Big Green will play two home games next weekend, taking on Yale University and Brown University on Friday and Saturday, respectively.
Field hockey
Dartmouth field hockey faced off against the Columbia University Lions this weekend in a nail-biter of a game which eventually fell in the Lions’ favor, 4-3, after a heartbreaking overtime goal.
Columbia scored the lone goal of the first half, but the Big Green came up big in the second half with three huge goals. With her seventh goal of the season, captain Katie Spanos ’20 made it a tie game on a corner play early in the third quarter. The next two Big Green goals came from Holley Cromwell ’23 and Myah Pease ’23, the latter on a penalty stroke. The Lions pulled their goalie in a last minute attempt to tie the 3-1 game, and were successful after Columbia’s Ellie Decker scored two consecutive goals, the tie goal coming with only two seconds remaining in the game. Decker also scored Columbia’s winning goal only 59 seconds into overtime, completing her hat trick and ending the game in favor of the visiting team.
The Big Green face Harvard University and the University of Vermont away from its home turf next weekend.
Cross Country
This weekend, the men’s and women’s cross country teams traveled to New Britain, CT, to compete in the Central Connecticut State University Mini Meet.
The women’s team came in 9th out of 16 teams at the meet with 191 points. Leading the women was Isabella Chao ’22, who came in 19th with a time of 10:31.6 on the 3k course. One second behind her was her teammate Claudia Lane ’23, who came in 20th overall.
The men’s team came in third at the meet out of 13 teams, posting 85 points. James Lawrence ’23 was the top finisher for the men on the 5k course with a time of 15:09.5. Behind him, in 11th and 12th overall with times of 15:10.2 and 15:11.1 were Brendan Balthis ’23 and Thomas Lingard ’22.
Next Friday, the teams head to New York’s Van Cortlandt Park to compete in the Ivy League Heptagonal Championships.
Women's soccer
The women’s soccer team tied Columbia University 1-1 in a double-overtime match this weekend.
Columbia had a strong offensive start to the game. In the 14th minute, Emily Koe of the Lions put the team’s third shot of the game into the Big Green’s net on a cross. The remainder of the first half saw shots from Dartmouth and Columbia, as well as a yellow card on Columbia’s Taylor Penn.
Seven minutes into the second half, Dartmouth tied the game. Hayley Soriano ’20 put the ball into the net, assisted by Mollie McGorisk ’20. In the first overtime period, each team had a shot blocked by their opponents, and in the second, each team had a shot go wide.
The tie, with a 5-0 victory over the University of Southern Illinois on Tuesday, gives the Big Green a record of 9-5-1 for the season, and 0-4-1 in conference play. Dartmouth takes on Harvard next on Saturday.
Men's soccer
This weekend, the men’s soccer team tied 0-0 with its conference rival Columbia University.
Columbia outshot the Dartmouth team 17-9, with the Lions making seven shots on goal and the Big Green three. However, exceptional performances from the Dartmouth defense and another shutout for Alex Budnik ’22 allowed the Big Green to keep the game scoreless. Budnik tied his career high for saves in a game, stopping five shots in the first half and two in the second. Kota Sakurai ’21 led the Big Green’s offensive efforts with three shots and one on goal.
In the 25th minute of the game, Matthew Swain of Columbia was called for a foul, giving the Big Green its best opportunity of the game to score: a penalty kick. Braden Salvati ’20 missed, however, and the game remained scoreless.
After this game, the Big Green is now tied for second place in the Ivy League with the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton University with a 2-1-1 record in conference play. Next Saturday, the team plays at Harvard University.
