Last week, the Dartmouth Water Polo Club dropped to seventh in the nation despite a perfect record by its A team, and the Big Green were looking to prove they deserved a higher ranking this past weekend at home in the Dartmouth Invitational.
After last week's EWPA tournament where the Big Green defeated teams to the tune of 31-2 and 31-1, the team looked poised to rise in the national rankings. But both the offense and the defense had difficulties.
"As whole, the men's team had a difficult weekend," Coach Jim Wilson said. "The guys were obviously expecting to do better. But the bright side is that their difficulties came this weekend rather than at Ivies or an EWPA tournament."
Dartmouth A, now 5-2, opened the tournament Friday night against Greenwich High School, losing 12-9. Brent Boehlert '98 scored two one-point goals and another two pointer, but the Big Green faced a deficit from the first quarter on.
Even in victory, the Big Green A team had trouble. Against Phillips Exeter Academy, the Big Green fell behind 4-2 at the end of the first quarter. Howie Silverman '97 tied the game 5-5 with 2:19 left in the second quarter. Jon Kenyon '97 got the offense going scoring the go-ahead goal with 1:55 left to get the Big Green back on track going into the halftime break.
By the second half, the old A team returned, dominating on defense and offense behind seven points by Boehlert en route to the Big Green's 21-6 victory.
Dartmouth B turned in strong performances, but suffered a few tough losses mixed in with its triumphs. The Big Green's first opponent was Exeter, which quickly moved ahead in the opening minutes and upheld that lead.
Exeter took a 4-0 lead in the first quarter and maintained a 9-1 advantage at the half. The Big Green came back behind goals by Carlo Corti '98 and a two point shot by Jeff Tam Sing '98, cutting Exeter's lead to seven, but in the end, fell just short, leaving the Big Green with a 14-7 loss.
The Big Green B played Amherst next. The Big Green led most of the way before Amherst tied the game to send it into overtime. Amherst dominated the overtime period, scoring five goals in a 14-9 victory. The B team ended the tournament on a winning note, defeating Rochester 18-8.
The third Dartmouth team to take to the pool was the women, who have been playing against all men's teams for the entire season.
"The women's team performed really well this weekend." Wilson said. "They played their first all-female opponent of the year and played a strong game."
The women's team opened the tournament against the Amherst women and quickly subdued their opponent. Lara Hoffman '98 and Alyson Wilson '97 scored five goals apiece and Stephanie Adamson '98 contributed three goals in their 17-2 thumping of Amherst.
In the women's second game, the Greenwich men's team proved too strong for the Big Green women, though, as they won 18-3. And later, the women would once again be beaten out by Rochester 5-11 in their last game of the season. This weekend, the Big Green A squad will travel to Brown to compete in the Ivy League Championships, where Dartmouth will face tough competition from nationally ranked Yale Water Polo Club.
The Big Green will also look for Brown, Harvard and Princeton, all of which have varsity water polo programs, to be tough challengers.
Following the League Championships, the team will head straight to the Water Polo Association tournament at Bates College to compete on the club level.
