Fall sports come to close
Crew
The women's crew team reached the end of another fall racing season. Cold weather will soon freeze the Connecticut River and as a result the women have been forced to start training indoors.
Fall racing started off at the famous Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston. The women's eight finished 17th in the championship eight category. Coach Barb Kirch said the team's goal was to finish in the top ten.
The following weekend the women traveled to Saratoga Springs, N.Y. for the Head of the Fish Regatta, where they won the Points trophy. -- a trophy awarded to the school which scored the highest total number of points in the regatta.
The season's final race was the Princeton Chase. Although the women finished 6th they were within seconds of the first five finishers. These results give the women something on which they can set their sights as they move into winter training.
Kirch said that the most remarkable thing about the fall season was that 12 members of the team were off campus fall term. Kirch said she was glad the team "did what they did without 12 people, many of whom were from last year's Varsity boat."
Those rowers who were on campus "laid a foundation for the spring," Kirch said. She said those who were off campus will use the winter "to get up to speed."
Cross Country (3-0, 1-0 Ivy)
The Big Green women consistently proved they were the Ivy team to beat this season.
With strong performances in early duals, the Dartmouth women came together at the Heptagonals Championships where they won their second straight championship.
At the ECAC Championships, the women placed second in their district behind strong performances from Maribel Sanchez '96 and Kristin Manwaring '96
Finishing their season yesterday at the NCAAs, the Big Green proved themselves worthy of national recognition as they placed an impressive 11th.
Field Hockey (11-5, 4-2 Ivy)
The Dartmouth field hockey team finished its season last Sunday with a 13-5 record and an ECAC championship. The team ended with a 4-2 record in the Ivies, falling only to Pennsylvania and Princeton, and took second in the Ivy League standings.
Dartmouth's six seniors added the necessary parts to what proved to be an exciting season. Cynthia Roberts '96 and Allison Pell '96 made first team All-Ivy selections, finishing out the season with fourteen and eight points, respectively. Roberts also earned the MVP award for the ECAC tournament.
Seniors Amy Coughlin and Lauren Demski both made the second team All-Ivy. Coughlin finished the season with seven goals and two assists with a total of 16 points. Demski ended with a goals-against average of 1.45, and an impressive save percentage of .815.
Kathleen Hickey '96 racked up three goals and three assists, while Rebecca Oettinger '96 was a strong defender. Sarah Sedgwick '98, Kelly Hannigan '97 and Weze Shorts '99 all had highly impressive seasons and contributed to the depth and winning record for the Big Green.
After an emotional pre-season and a good share of injuries, Dartmouth never gave up hope of finishing successfully. Simply in its pursuit of what Coach Julie Dayton calls "taking one game at a time" Dartmouth field hockey became a part of history.
Golf
The Big Green golfers opened their fall season hosting the Dartmouth Invitational. With a sixth place finish, Coach Izzy Johnson and her squad were off to a good start.
"The team did well for the first tournament," Johnson said.
Dartmouth again took sixth the next weekend at the Yale Fall Invitational behind strong showings from Sarah Vogler '96 (88-89), Samantha Sommers '99 (87-86) and Meredith Johnson'98 (96-90).
With continued improvement, two weeks later, the Big Green traveled to the Mount Holyoke Invitational and placed third defeating Ivy rival yale and Harvard. Vogler shot an amazing 79, shooting under 80 for the second time only in her Dartmouth career, to place fifth tied with Sommers.
Vogler, Sommer, Johnson, Jessica Hughes '99, Jami Papa '96, Heidi Corderman '99 all shot career low rounds in the tournament.Unfortunately, the Dartmouth women ended on a somewhat sour note placing eight out of 15 teams in the ECAC Championships. With rain delays Friday and Saturday of the tournament, the women played under rushed and under poor course conditions.
The tournament was highlighted by Vogler's one round score of 75 -- the tournament low. With four birdies on the difficult par 72 course, Vogler's performance was impressive and pulled her up to place ninth.
For the Big Green the fall is more of a preparatory time to give new players experience since their main season is in the spring.
Soccer (9-7-1, 3-4 Ivy)
The women's soccer season could best be described as a roller coaster. With high expectations going in, the Big Green were somewhat disappointed with their third place finish in the Ivy League.
Yet the Big Green had key wins throughout the season, including an upset victory over at the time number three nationally ranked Hartford.
Despite some struggling in the latter part of the season, the Big Green did earn a bid into the ECAC Championship, in which they defeated rival Brown before falling to Cornell in the semifinals.
The end of the year recognition the Dartmouth women received demonstrated the deep talent on the team.
Melissa McBean '97 earned first team All-Ivy honors for the third year in a row and was joined by Jenna Kurowski '97 who received this honor for her first year. Second team honors went to Holly Thomas '97, Betsy Dobbin '98 and Suzanne Eastman '99.
McBean was also named to the first team All-New England, while Thomas, Dobbin and Kurowski received second team honors.
Tennis (1-5, 0-0 Ivy)
Despite its losing record, the Dartmouth women's tennis team was optimistic after its short fall season recognizing that many of the close losses came against top ranked regional teams.
Coach Christine Kerr said the team played in the "best tournaments all term" and that overall, "the team effort was excellent. We did as good a job as we could ... a better fall than last year," she said.
Kerr said senior Trudy Muller, Katie Kirkmire '98 and Sarah Anderson '99 were singles players who deserved mention along with doubles players Courtney Dill '99, Tara Pennington '99 and Carrie Lucas '99.
Anderson and Kirkmire were among the "newer team members [who] have made some nice contributions," Kerr said.
With the fall season over, Kerr said the team is looking forward to the spring Ivy League competition which begins after spring break. Kerr believes the Ivy League will be competitive from top to bottom.
Volleyball (16-11, 2-5 Ivy)
The Big Green volleyball team can best be described as youthful. Led by five freshmen, the Dartmouth women set a new school record for wins in a season, illustrating just how much improvement the program has made from its last year 2-18 record.
These five freshmen recruits, Erin Clarke, Emily Hallenbeck, Danra Kazenski, Felicity Kolp and Alison McKinley, along with Captain Carmen Schmitt '97 and senior Kai Enos, created a basis for the team to thrive off of, improving in every aspect of the game.
Serving and serve-receive proved to be two of Dartmouth's strengths this season. It was in the games when these two aspects were strong that Dartmouth played its best games.
Dartmouth demonstrated power in both offense and defense. McKinley and Hallenbeck led the team in kills, tallying 376 and 287, respectively. These two also excelled at defense. McKinley had 445 digs on the season, while Hallenbeck had 344.
On defense, Enos and Kazenski led the team in blocking. Enos had a total of 59 blocks, including both solo blocks and block assists. Kazenski posted 66 blocks.
The team also showed a force in serving. Schmitt, Hallenbeck, Kolp and McKinley held the team highs in service aces, with 38, 36, 34 and 33, respectively.
The future can only look bright for the team who will hold onto five of its six starters for three more years.
Women's Rugby (7-2)
The 1995 Fall season began with a quick start for the women ruggers. After a successful pre-season and a victorious game against McGill in Montreal, the Big Green returned home to kick off their season at the Beantown tournament.
Not knowing what to expect from a young Dartmouth squad with only four returning seniors, the team pulled together and played as a unit in defeating three teams to capture the tournament championship for the first time in team history.
Looking to defend their New England championship, the Big Green headed into the league season as the team to beat in Division I rugby. After a strong 35-0 victory over Brown, Dartmouth suddenly dropped two straight to Boston College and Radcliffe in close, hard fought games.
With two games left in the season, the leadership of the experienced players was crucial in turning the team's momentum around against two of the Big Green's more bitter rivals. Dartmouth travelled to the University of Connecticut during homecoming to defeat UConn 8-0 in the driving rain.
In the final game of the season, Dartmouth faced Amherst at home. Knowing that this would be a closely contested match against a tenacious Amherst team, Dartmouth fought back with teamwork and aggression to secure a 10-7 victory.
After growing to a final size of over 60 players, the largest in Dartmouth history, the Big Green look forward to drawing on the experience young players gained throughout the fall when Dartmouth reorganizes for its spring season and looks to battle for its sixth consecutive Ivy Championship.
