Football
On Senior Day this past Saturday, the Big Green lost a heartbreaking game to Cornell University 20-17, spoiling Dartmouth’s undefeated season. A win would have clinched a share of the Ivy League title for the Big Green.
The Big Green’s offense was slow coming out of the gate — it did not score until there were fewer than two minutes left in the first half, when Derek Kyler ’21 connected with Hunter Hagdorn ’20 for a 30-yard touchdown. In the first quarter, however, the defense picked up the slack as Isiah Swann ’20 had a pick-six with just 37 seconds left to play. Between the offensive and defensive scores and a relinquished field goal in the first quarter and another with six seconds left in the half, the Big Green went into halftime up 14-6.
On the second play of the second half, Cornell scored a 74-yard rushing touchdown and then was unsuccessful in its two-point conversion attempt. The score brought the Big Red within two, and the score remained 14-12 until Connor Davis ’22 knocked in a 34-yard field goal in the fourth quarter to put the Big Green up by five. On the next drive, however, the Big Red scored a touchdown and had a successful two-point conversion to take a 20-17 lead. The Big Green took the ball back with 5:32 to play, but one unsuccessful drive and an interception later, Dartmouth found itself on the losing side of a matchup with the seventh-place team in the Ivy League.
The Big Green will take the field against last-place Brown University in Providence next weekend to again try to clinch a share of the Ivy title.
Men's basketball
In a week packed full with games, the men’s basketball team went 3-1, including a 2-1 finish in the River Hawk Invitational at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell.
Last Monday, the Big Green played Florida Gulf Coast University at home and beat the Eagles 55-49. After entering halftime knotted at 29-29, the Big Green outplayed the visitors in the second to secure a six-point win. Chris Knight ’21 led the Big Green with 13 points.
Over the weekend, the Big Green traveled south to compete in a tournament at UMass Lowell. Dartmouth started off the weekend strong with a 55-46 victory over Merrimack College in which Knight again led the Big Green with 13 points. After trailing for the entire first half and entering the intermission down by six, the Warriors scored just one bucket in the first 10 minutes of the second half. The Warriors’ drought allowed the Big Green to get back on its feet and take a lead as large as ten points. The Big Green would hold onto its lead for the rest of the game.
The Big Green recorded its only loss of the week and its first of the season on Saturday against Jacksonville University. The Dolphins beat Dartmouth convincingly, outscoring the Big Green 57-37. Trevon Ary-Turner ’22 was the only Dartmouth player to score more than seven points — he led the Big Green with 13.
Dartmouth revived its offense for Sunday’s game against UMass Lowell, when the Big Green beat the River Hawks 80-75 in overtime. Ian Sistare ’20 led the Big Green’s offense with 15 points, and was joined by Knight, James Foye ’20 and Aaryn Rai ’21 in putting up double figures. After going into halftime up 14 points, the Big Green let its comfortable lead slip away in the second half, giving up 42 points in the second half. In overtime, however, the Big Green was able to pull away to secure the win and improve the team’s overall record to 4-1.
Dartmouth will be on its home court again Tuesday as the team takes on Thomas College before hitting the road for five games.
Women's basketball
The women’s basketball team extended its undefeated record to 3-0 this week with narrow wins over Merrimack College and Fairfield University.
On Wednesday, the Big Green hosted Merrimack and scraped by with a win after dominating for most of the game. Dartmouth held a commanding 20-point lead with less than five minutes remaining before the Warriors went on a 20-2 run. The Big Green held just a 54-52 lead with 1:07 to play, but was able to hold on to escape with a 57-52 win. Annie McKenna ’20 led the Big Green with 14 points, while Paula Lenart ’20 and Elle Louie ’21 each neared double-doubles — Lenart recorded 10 points and eight rebounds and Louie had nine points and 11 rebounds.
The Big Green played its first road game of the season at Fairfield on Sunday and edged out the Stags, 52-51, in a back-and-forth thriller. After entering halftime down 29-25, the Big Green gave up an 8-2 run to open the third. Soon after, however, the Dartmouth women clawed back and went on a 14-2 run of their own. McKenna again led the way for the Big Green with 14 points and six assists. Lenart mirrored her Wednesday performance with another 10 points and eight rebounds, while Asha Taylor ’22 scored a career-high 10 points.
The Fairfield game marks the beginning of a four-game road stand. The Big Green will be back on the court at Manhattan College on Dec. 1.
Men's hockey
The men’s hockey team defeated Yale University and Brown University on the road this weekend to improve to 3-2-1. The wins were the Big Green’s first on the road this season.
On Friday in New Haven, the Big Green downed the Bulldogs 4-3. The two teams played evenly for the first 58 minutes of play before Will Graber ’20 scored the game-winning goal with 1:25 left in regulation. Graber was joined by Drew O’Connor ’22, Matt Baker ’21 and Quin Foreman ’21 in the goal-scoring.
On Saturday, Dartmouth beat Brown in decisive fashion by a score of 4-1. O’Connor led the Big Green’s offense with two goals and an assist, while Graber contributed his second goal of the weekend. Brendan Less ’21 found the back of the net for the first time this season. Goalkeeper Adrian Clark ’20 was a staunch backstop, stopping 23 shots and letting just one in. Brown’s only goal came in the second frame, cutting into the Big Green’s 3-0 lead before Dartmouth sealed the deal when O’Connor scored again with fewer than two seconds left in the final period on an empty-netter.
The Big Green hosts Colgate University and Cornell University in three weeks to try to continue its four-game unbeaten streak.
Women's hockey
The women’s hockey team split the weekend against the Rochester Institute of Technology, losing to the Tigers 4-3 on Friday before beating them on their home ice on Saturday, 2-1.
In Friday’s game, Sara McClanahan ’22 led the Big Green with two goals. Her first was the first of the game, but the Tigers answered to tie things up at one goal apiece. McClanahan tallied another goal before the end of the first period to put the Big Green up 2-1 heading into the second. In the first minute of the second, Celine Pietraszek ’23 netted yet another goal for the Big Green to give the visitors a two-goal lead. The rest of the period remained scoreless, but in the third period, the Tigers stormed back and scored three goals to secure their 4-3 win.
On Saturday, the Big Green came back to RIT’s ice and successfully avenged Friday’s loss. The Big Green let up a goal in the first period before Jess Forcey ’22 answered in the second with her first career goal to tie the game 1-1. A scoreless third period sent the game to overtime, when team captain Christina Rombaut ’20 scored the game-winning goal.
The Big Green will play consecutive home games against the University of Maine in two weeks.
Swimming and diving
The men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams competed against Harvard University and Cornell University in Hanover on Saturday. The men lost to both Harvard (193-105) and Cornell (166.5-133.5), while the women beat Cornell (169-131) but fell to Harvard (191-101).
The Big Green men finished the meet with three individual wins. Connor LaMastra ’21 won the 1000m freestyle in 9:23.84, Justin Sodokoff ’21 won on the three-meter diving board with a score of 346.70, and Tim Park ’23 posted a meet-best 46.21 finish in the 100m freestyle. The Big Green also posted several third-place individual finishes in events including the 500m freestyle, the 200m freestyle, the 200m backstroke and the 400m freestyle relay.
Christina Cianciolo ’23 led the women’s team with two individual victories in the 500m and 1000m freestyle. Maggie Deppe-Walker ’21 rounded out the Big Green’s first-place finishes with a win in the 100m breaststroke. The Big Green finished off the meet with a victory in the 400m freestyle relay with a team made up of Mia Leko ’22, Ashley Post ’22, Sophie Smith ’20 and Eleanor Zwart ’22.
Both the men’s and women’s teams will continue their seasons at the Big Al Invitational at Princeton University three weeks from now.
Women's rowing
This weekend, the women’s rowing team returned to Cambridge, MA to close out its fall season at the Foot of the Charles regatta.
The Big Green brought five boats and raced three in the Varsity 8 race and two in the Novice 8+ race. In the Varsity 8 race, Dartmouth’s A boat finished in eighth place of 16, with the Big Green’s B boat coming in 12th and its C boat bringing up the rear in 16th. In the Novice 8+ race, Dartmouth’s A boat took first place in a four-team race by a hefty 1:40 margin. The B team narrowly missed third, coming in just five seconds behind Boston University.
The Big Green will be back on the water in April.
Volleyball
On senior weekend, the Big Green volleyball team recorded its first weekend sweep of the season. Dartmouth took down Columbia University and Cornell University in Hanover to finish off the season strong.
In Friday’s match against Columbia, the visiting Lions started with the edge before the Big Green came back from a 2-0 deficit to take the 3-2 win (21-25, 32-34, 25-17, 25-18, 15-12). The Big Green’s offensive weapons were in full force, with four players recording double-digit kills and three recording double-doubles. Nicole Liddle ’22 led the pack with 16 kills and added a team-high 15 digs, while Elise Petit ’21 put up 12 kills and 11 digs. Makenzie Arent ’23 rounded out the double-double trio by recording 12 digs and a staggering 51 assists — a career high for the freshman — to propel the Big Green to victory.
On Saturday, the volleyball team took to Leede Arena for senior day and beat Cornell in four sets (25-18, 20-25, 25-21, 25-20). Liddle and Arent again led the Big Green’s stat line, with Liddle putting down a season-high 20 kills along with 13 digs and Arent recording 36 assists. The Big Green will have both of these playmakers back when the team returns to the court next season.
The Big Green concludes its season with a 10-15 record, 4-8 in conference play.
Men's soccer
The men’s soccer team finished off its season with a 2-1 loss to Brown University in Providence, RI.
While the Big Green fired off five shots on goal to the Bears’ three, Zach Kalk ’20 was the only member of the Dartmouth team to find the back of the net. He did so in the 33rd minute on a penalty kick, netting his fourth goal of the season in the final game of his career. The goal put the Big Green up 1-0, but after that, the team’s offense was stagnant — the visitors took a total of just three shots in the entire second half. The Bears scored in the 45th minute and then again in the 79th for what would be the game-winning goal.
The Big Green team finishes its season 3-3-1 in Ivy League play, which is good for fourth place in the Ivy League standings.
