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The Dartmouth
March 29, 2024 | Latest Issue
The Dartmouth

The D Sports Awards: Best Female Athlete

In many ways, female athletes and women’s sports defined Dartmouth sports news during the 2014-2015 year. The women’s cross country team defended its Ivy League title, the softball team won its second consecutive Ivy League title under first-year head coach Shannon Doepking and athletic director Harry Sheehy announced the women’s rugby team’s impending elevation to varsity status for the 2015-2016 season. As those programs enjoyed exciting news, the nominees below enjoyed phenomenal success on an individual level.

Who deserves to be chosen as the best among them? Vote on our website before noon on Sunday, and we will announce the winner in the sports section on Tuesday.

Dana Giordano ’16

With three Ivy League titles and one All-American performance in her junior campaign, Dana Giordano ’16 has established herself among Dartmouth’s best female distance runners.

Giordano’s strong performances throughout the cross country season as the team’s first runner culminated in a second-place individual performance, leading the Big Green to another Ivy League Heptagonal title.

At the cross country NCAA Championship meet, she placed 45th individually. An untimely fall one kilometer into the six-kilometer race probably cost her a chance at All-American honors, which is reserved for the top 40 finishers.

Building on a strong cross country season, Giordano returned to the indoor track a force, winning both the mile and 3000-meter Ivy League titles, setting two new personal records in the process.

Her fast times and strong performances qualified her for the NCAA Championships, where she earned second-team All-American honors with a 12th-place finish in the 3000 meters. In the spring, she won her second consecutive 1,500-meter title at the Ivy League Championships.

— By Chris Shim

Katie McEachern ’16

After being chosen as the 2013 Ivy League Rookie of the Year and named to the 2013 and 2014 first team all-Ivy, Katie McEachern ’16 raised her performance to even higher levels during the 2015 season. Due to her stellar season at bat, McEachern became the second Dartmouth softball player ever to win the Ivy League Player of the Year award. All season long, she was the driving force behind the softball team’s offense, maintaining a .447 batting average, a .596 on base percentage and a .833 slugging percentage over 114 at bats.

As the leadoff hitter for the Big Green, McEachern had 51 hits, 25 walks, 11 stolen bases and 10 home runs to score 43 runs and bat 29 runs in, leading the team in all of these categories except RBIs. The impact of McEachern’s presence was felt through the disparity of the team’s performance based on her position in the lineup. When she batted leadoff, the team was 20-7 as opposed to 5-11 when she did not. She led the team to an 11-game win streak, during which she held an 18-game hitting streak against Ivy League schools.

— By Daniel Lee

Taylor Ng ’17

In her sophomore campaign, Taylor Ng ’17 put together arguably the best season ever seen from a Dartmouth women’s tennis player.

Ng went undefeated in Ivy League singles play and was named the Ivy League Player of the Year. Ng was also named to the Ivy League first team for both singles and doubles. Ng led the Big Green to its first NCAA Tournament bid in school history. Once in the tournament, the Big Green took down the College of William and Mary before falling to the second-seeded University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Ng won 42 of 46 sets in regular season singles play and only lost one singles match throughout the spring regular season. She automatically qualified for the NCAA women’s singles tournament, the first Big Green player in history to earn that honor.

Ng excelled in doubles as well this season, going 15-4 over the course of the season while paired with Kristina Mathis ’18. The duo took down all but one of their Ivy League opponents, falling only to Princeton University’s top doubles team.

— By Joe Clyne

Kristen Rumley ’15

When she graduates, Kristen Rumley ’15 will be known as the greatest Dartmouth softball pitcher to ever take the mound. She leads the program with 60 wins, 669 strikeouts and 60 complete games — 19 of which were shutouts — all through 94 games started in 661.2 innings throughout her four years playing for the Big Green.

This year, she pitched the fifth no-hitter in program history against Columbia University, striking out nine Lions over six flawless innings. In the second game that day against Columbia, Rumley did not give up much more, only allowing 2 hits.

This season, Rumley compiled a 15-12 record with a 2.14 ERA and struck out 136 batters over 163.1 innings. For her performance on the mound, she won the Ivy League Pitcher of the Year Award and became the first player in Ivy League History to win the award three times.

The softball team won the Ivy League championship and qualified for the NCAA tournament for the second consecutive year.

— By Daniel Lee

Ali Savage ’15

Ali Savage ’15 cemented her place in the Dartmouth record books with an outstanding career as a forward for the Big Green field hockey team, capped off by a dominant senior season. The first three-time consecutive unanimous All-Ivy first-team member in Dartmouth history, Savage will graduate second all-time in goals and points with 47 and 119, respectively, and fifth all-time in assists.

During the 2014 season, Savage led the field hockey team with 10 goals and 27 points, but perhaps her greatest asset was her ability to deliver for the Big Green in the clutch. In a season that saw wins come tough for Dartmouth, Savage slotted five game-winning goals — an Ivy League best — accounting for all five of the team’s wins.

As a testament to her dominance, Savage was selected as one of 38 players in the nation to compete in the National Field Hockey Coaches Association Division I Senior game.

During her senior season, Savage more than tripled the goal total of any other member of the field hockey team.

— By Henry Arndt