Men's basketball
After a rough 0-6 start to Ivy League play, the Dartmouth men’s basketball team (9-14, 2-6 Ivy) turned things around this weekend, and in a big way. Needing both wins to keep its slim postseason hopes alive, the Big Green erased a late eight-point deficit to Columbia University to clinch its first victory behind a buzzer-beating layup from Aaryn Rai ’21. The Big Green parlayed its energy into Saturday’s contest, swiftly emerging victorious in a 75-53 win over Cornell University.
Chris Knight ’21 had a fantastic weekend, scoring 23 points on 10-of-11 shooting versus Columbia and adding 17 more on 8-of-10 shooting in a double-double versus Cornell. Knight has not produced at this level of efficiency all season — in games where he has taken at least 10 field goal attempts, he has shot 80 percent or higher just three times, with two of those games coming on Friday and Saturday. All told, the Big Green’s offense finally picked up behind its “big three” of James Foye ’20, Rai and Knight, something head coach David McLaughlin had emphasized in recent weeks.
As Dartmouth looks to continue its burst of success, the team remains at home next weekend for what appears to be a much tougher round of matchups: versus the University of Pennsylvania on Friday and Princeton University on Saturday.
Women's basketball
The women’s basketball team traveled to New York this weekend to compete against Columbia University and Cornell University. On Friday night, Dartmouth’s struggles with foul trouble and attacking Columbia’s press led gave the Lions an early lead. The Big Green trailed throughout the game, but made a late run in the fourth quarter to cut an 18-point deficit down to eight with just under eight minutes to play. Columbia stopped Dartmouth’s surge, however, holding on to win the game 73-63. Four Big Green players put up double-digit performances in the game, including a 15-point outburst from Jimena Abejon ’22 on 7-10 shooting.
On Saturday night, Dartmouth came out of the gates strong against Cornell, earning a 17-8 first quarter lead. In the second and third quarters, Dartmouth struggled with ball security, leading to 27 turnovers overall in the contest. This sloppiness led to live-ball turnovers, allowing Cornell to score on fast break opportunities — Cornell totaled 17 points off turnovers in the second and third quarters alone. Heading into the fourth quarter, Dartmouth trailed 55-49.
The Big Red extended its lead to 10 with about seven minutes left, but Dartmouth answered with a 17-5 run of its own to close out the game. With 13 seconds left, Elle Louie ’21 hit a contested layup to give the Big Green a 67-65 lead. Cornell failed to execute on its final possession, missing the free throw on a one-and-one.
Dartmouth shot an impressive 61.4 percent from the field and 55.6 percent from the 3-point arc for the game. The scoring effort was distributed throughout the team, as five players hit double figures — however, Anna Luce ’21 led the pack with 16.
Next weekend, the Big Green will hit the road again to kick off the second round of Ivy League play against the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton University — the top two teams in the Ivy League standings.
Skiing
The ski team had a third place finish at the Williams Carnival this weekend. Dartmouth fared well in the slalom race, with Stephanie Currie ’20 finishing fourth, Abi Jewett ’22 finishing fifth and Claire Thomas ’21 finishing in seventh. In the men’s slalom, Kipling Weisel ’20 finished fifth, Drew Duffy ’21 finished seventh and James Ferri ’20 finished in 10th.
In the 3x5k freestyle relay, Abby Drach ’20, Mara McCollor ’23 and Lauren Jortberg ’20 finished in third place. In the men’s relay, Walker Bean ’21, Adam Glueck ’21 and Cameron Wolfe ’23 finished in seventh.
The team ended the carnival in third with 752 points behind University of Vermont with 843 points and Middlebury College with 855 points. The Big Green will hit the slopes once again on Feb. 28 at the Middlebury Carnival.
Women's lacrosse
The No. 21 women’s lacrosse team opened its season on Saturday with a 15-11 victory over the University of Massachusetts. In her first game as head coach of the Big Green, Alex Frank earned her debut victory in a back-and-forth game. Ellie Carson ’20 scored five goals and Sophia Turchetta ’20 tallied four scores to lead the Big Green offense.
The first half went back and forth, and UMass led by one at halftime. A four-goal run in the second half propelled Dartmouth into a comfortable lead that the Minutewomen could not break into. Goaltender Kiera Vrindten ’20 made 12 saves in the game to slow down the UMass offense, and the Big Green was able to start its season with a win.
The Big Green will host Boston University in its first home game this season next Saturday at 3 p.m. before beginning Ivy League play the following weekend at Brown University.
Men's lacrosse
The Big Green men’s lacrosse team won its season opener 13-11 on the road against Merrimack College. George Prince ’21 recorded a career-high nine points with six goals and three assists, and Tommy Rogan ’23 finished with six points in his first collegiate lacrosse game.
Trailing by one after the first quarter, the Big Green used a 4-1 run to lead 8-6 at halftime. The lead was extended to 10-7 in the third quarter, but Merrimack continued to chip away at the lead. Rogan scored three goals in the fourth quarter, and goaltender Danny Hincks ’22 came up big with 14 saves to secure the two-goal victory.
After finishing with a 2-11 record last season, The Big Green will look to match its season win total in its home opener next weekend on Saturday afternoon against Bryant University.
Men's hockey
This past weekend, Big Green men’s hockey faced off against Ivy League opponents Brown University and Yale University. Coming out on top against Brown with a final score of 5-2, Cam Strong ’20 started off the scoring in the first frame, and Daniel Warpecha ’20 kept it up, giving Dartmouth a two-goal lead going into the second period. Though Brown scored to bring it within one, Tanner Palocsik ’23 added a tally to keep the Big Green ahead by two.
The third frame brought three more tallies, two for the Big Green and one for the Bears. Collin Rutherford ’21 and Drew O’Connor ’22 rounded out the scoring for the night, the latter scoring his 14th goal of the season.
On Saturday night the team took on Yale, and ultimately fell to the Bulldogs at the end of a very close game. Will Graber ’20 kicked off the scoring midway into the first period, and the game following continued to be very back and forth, with Dartmouth taking back the lead until the third period, when Yale scored twice to bring the score to 4-2. Netminder Adrian Clark ’20 had an incredible cross crease glove save, and made 31 stops to hold the Bulldogs back. In the final minutes of the game, Clark was pulled in order for an extra attacker to take the ice, and Graber added his second tally of the night, bringing Dartmouth within one point of a tie game. Unfortunately for the Big Green, the buzzer sounded with the score still 4-3 in favor of Yale.
Next weekend, the Big Green will take to the road to face off against St. Lawrence University on Friday and No. 5 Clarkson University on Saturday night.
Women's hockey
The women’s hockey team swept in New York this weekend, where it faced off against Union College and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. In Schenectady on Friday, Jennifer Costa ’21 opened up scoring with an unassisted goal in the first period. Catherine Trevors ’23 followed with a second unassisted goal early in the second. The Big Green won 2-0, putting the team at 6-2-2 in its last 10 match-ups against the Dutchwomen.
On Saturday, the team took the ice in Troy. Currie Putrah ’23 put the Big Green on the board nearly halfway through the second period with assists from Emily McLaughlin ’21 and Sydney Hill ’20. CC Bowlby ’23 found the back of the net less than four minutes later with assists from Megan Cornell ’21 and Trevors before scoring once again on a power play in the third with assists from Lotti Odnoga ’22 and Sara McClanahan ’22. While Rensselaer got one goal past Kayla Wormsbecher ’21 on 34 shots, Trevors sealed the win for Dartmouth by scoring an unassisted goal with a little over two minutes of play left in the game.
The Big Green will host St. Lawrence University and Clarkson University in Hanover next weekend.
Men's tennis
Dartmouth men’s tennis saw its undefeated winter come to an end this weekend, as the team placed fourth at the Eastern College Athletic Conference Indoor Championship in Ithaca, NY.
The Big Green — the No. 2 seed in the tournament — charged past No. 7 Yale University in the first round, winning 4-1 despite dropping the first doubles match. Pierce Widdecombe ’22 convincingly won his singles match 6-2, 6-1 to reassert himself after losing in doubles. Juniors Dan Martin ’21 and Peter Conklin ’21 won their matches in two sets, and Anders Gibbons ’23 squeaked by in his second-set tiebreaker, winning his match 6-3, 7-6(4) and securing the 4-1 win for the Big Green.
Dartmouth had its championship hopes squashed in the semifinals for the second straight year, as No. 3 Cornell University flipped the score on the Big Green and won 4-1. Martin won his second match of the weekend, 6-1, 6-4. Widdecombe also showed promise, as he bounced back from a 6-0 first set to force a tiebreaker in the second.
On Sunday, the Big Green faced Princeton University in a rematch of last year’s third-place battle. Dominik Pauli ’23 dominated in a 6-1, 6-1 win, but as Charlie Broom ’20 and Dan Martin ’21 both fell 6-3 in their third sets, the Tigers stole the bronze by winning 4-1 overall.
Dartmouth’s schedule thins out over the next month, with two weeks off before a match at Indiana University on Feb. 29 another two-week hiatus before the team heads to Tennessee over spring break.
Track and field
The men’s and women’s track and field teams traveled to Boston this weekend for the BU Valentine Invitational.
For the men’s team, Max Frye ’21 placed third in the 500m dash, Myles Epstein ’23 placed 10th of 230 competitors in the 200m dash, and Tim Zepf ’21 placed ninth in the 800m run in an even larger field. The 4x400m relay team of MJ Farber ’21, Frye, Julian Martelly ’23 and Charlie Wade ’22 finished fourth.
In the women’s 500m dash, Kate Laskoski ’21 placed 16th and Arianna Gragg ’22 placed 18th. Claire Dougherty ’20 placed 20th in the 800m run, and Anya Hirschfeld ’23 placed 21st in the 1000m run. The 4x400m relay team of and Laskoski, Michelle Quinn ’23, Danielle Okonta ’20 and Caroline Walter ’21 placed 11th.
The men’s and women’s teams will be competing again at the Ivy League Heptagonal Championships in Ithaca, NY on Feb. 29 through March 1.
Women's golf
Last week, the women’s golf team traveled to sunny Boca Raton, FL to kick off the spring season at the Florida Atlantic University Winter Warmup. In a field of 14 teams, the Big Green finished fourth with a 31-over 895. The Big Green’s efforts were led by Angela Zhang ’23, who finished the tournament at an even par. Her performance was good for third in a field of 81, and it marked the first time in history that a Dartmouth women’s golfer has finished a three-round tournament at even par. Kaitlyn Lees ’22 had the Big Green’s next best performance, finishing in 12th place just six shots over par.
Dartmouth was one of four Ivy League teams to compete in the tournament, and Yale University was the only one to finish ahead of the Big Green. The Bulldogs finished in third place, six points under the Big Green, while Arkansas State University took the tournament title. The Big Green has more than a month before its next tournament in Gulf Shores, AL on March 20-22.
Kaitlyn Lees is a member of The Dartmouth staff.
