After being on the road five of the last six weekends, the last thing the men's lacrosse team needed was another away game, but that is exactly what it faced.
Friday, the men traveled to Pennsylvania where they prepared for their first Ivy League match-up. At the start of the game, Dartmouth appeared to have been a little tired from the drive.
Having trailed the entire first half, Dartmouth's defense was somewhat sluggish, giving up nine goals. The Big Green never let the game get out of hand however and scored seven goals of their own.
"I don't think we played as well as we can," Coach Tim Nelson said. "We gave up too many goals."
The Big Green entered the fourth quarter trailing 14-13. But things were not bleak until Pennsylvania pulled ahead 16-13 with little time left. But Dartmouth scored the game's final four goals to earn the 17-16 victory.
Dartmouth's tenacity prevailed though and the Big Green stepped forward. Brian Merritt '97 stood out for the Big Green tallying four goals, while Scott Hapgood '97, John Schneider '96, Todd Smith '95 and John Whelen '98 all added two goals each for the Big Green offense.
"We were down the whole game, but they kept fighting," Nelson said. "The defense made the stop when they had to. I told them to keep working and the best team was going to win, and it did."
Dartmouth, now 5-0 battled an experienced Penn team that had nine games already under its belt. Penn, looking for its first Ivy win, had its eyes set on Dartmouth.
"I thought it would be a tough match," Nelson said. "They struggled a bit, but they are a good team and a well coached team. They only have one Ivy game left after us, so we knew they would be psyched up to get an Ivy win."
The Big Green will have Monday and Tuesday to prepare for a struggling Providence team which they will meet at 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday at Alumni Memorial Field..
"I think we just keep getting better and better every game," Nelson said.
"A few years back we would have lost a game like that, but the program had found ways to win," he said.
