The Dartmouth water polo club began the fall season ranked fourth in the nation. After the Eastern Water Polo Association's tournament at Dartmouth this weekend, the reasons for that ranking became clear.
"We're definitely one of the top teams in the New England Water Polo Association," Coach James Wilson said. "We have three teams in the division, an A and a B team as well as a women's team."
The tournament began with a face-off between the Dartmouth B team and the women's team. The B team moved out to a 17-2 lead at half-time en route to a 23-2 victory behind five goals by Matt Brennan '98.
Next up was the A team's debut against Bates College. Bates' only bright moment came when Dartmouth team leader, Jon Kenyon '97, was majored four minutes into the first quarter. But Howie Silverman '97 and Kenny Kriwanek '99 made up the difference by contributing eight goals apiece in the 31-1 victory.
Middlebury proved to be a tougher opponent for the Big Green, but not by much. Kriwanek and Silverman's offensive production fell to six and seven goals, respectively. But Brent Boehlert '98 picked up the slack by contributing 12 goals including a two-pointer in Dartmouth's 31-2 victory.
The B team was involved in a much closer game with Bowdoin. Bowdoin tied the game at 3-3 beforeDartmouth took the lead for good behind sophomore Carlo Corti's goal at the beginning of the second quarter. Corti contributed three more goals in the third quarter as the B team cruised to a 15-6 victory.
The women's team lost their second game to Boston University 20-1 with Lara Hoffman '98 scoring the lone Big Green goal.The team also dropped their third game to Colby 9-2 despite two goals by Alyson Wilson '97.
The B team opened the second day of the tournament with their third win against Colby, a 17-5 victory powered by Dartmouth medical student Ross Downey. The A team followed them with a 21-3 victory over Colby, behind five goals by Silverman and four by Boehlert.
In the B team's final game, Boston Universityjumped out to an early 9-4 lead. Dartmouth moved back into the game behind a pair of two-pointers byDowney and Matt Brennan '98. But Boston rallied with a two- point goal of their own and scored three goals in the last 50 seconds to hand the B team its first defeat of the season, 15-12.
The A team, now 4-0, closed the tournament with a game against the women's team. The A team jumped out to an 11-1 lead behind goals by Silverman and Kriwanek. Alyson Wilson '97 led the women with a two- point goal in the fourth quarter. Natasha Lam '97 closed the game with a goal of her own, leaving the women with a 14-5 deficit.
"All of the teams played well," Wilson said. "The A team finally had the chance to test their skills against the competition. The B played extremely well, winning three of four games against the other school's top teams. And the women played extremely well against the men's teams in the EWPA."
Next up for the club is the Dartmouth Inviational this weekend.
