Although yesterday's men's lacrosse game between Dartmouth and UNH unequivocally settled the question of who is the best lacrosse team in the state, the question of who is New Hampshire's premiere attackman should still be chalked up as an unsolved mystery.
The Big Green easily handled the Wildcats 20-12, led by hulking attackmen Tom Scott '96 and Scott Hapgood '97. The two bookends of the Big Green offense have been scoring juggernauts throughout the season, and yesterday was no different.
The UNH goalie might have thought he was seeing double as two gigantic attackman named Scott each ripped five shots past him over the course of the afternoon. In fact the twin towers were for real, and the scoreboard was a testament to that.
Scott set the pace of the game by scoring a first quarter hat trick that helped Dartmouth establish a 5-2 lead at the end of the first period, and that was as close as the game would get.
Dartmouth put away six goals in each of the following two periods, and after amassing a 17-9 lead going into the final period, the Big Green's victory was a mere formality.
The Big Green offense clicked on all cylinders yesterday as 10 Dartmouth players found their way to the back of the goal. Tim Kennedy '96 and Scott Watts '97 each dropped a deuce of goals.
"We came out and executed well on offense today. Everyone was contributing." Hapgood said. "All the goals were set up by strong ball movement, and it was a real team effort."
Although the Dartmouth offense fulfilled its advertised size by coming up big all afternoon, UNH let down its followers with a performance that was as wild as a Wednesday night in Durham, New Hampshire.
The swarming Big Green defense led by senior co-Captain Justin Boyd crushed any attempts UNH made to kick-start its offense by continually pressuring the ball.
Goalie David Kosloff '97 embodied the spirit of this meeting of the Granite State foes by giving a rock-solid performance between the posts and sending 14 would-be UNH goal scorers away unsatisfied.
Dartmouth was able to control the pace of the game with strong play from its midfielders. The Big Green middies thwarted most Wildcat attempts to clear the ball.
John Schneider '96 gave another strong performance by tenaciously dominating the face-offs, which gave Dartmouth the edge in the battle for time of possession.
With this win Dartmouth improved to a 6-5 record, and guaranteed a .500 season. However, on Saturday, Dartmouth must face sixth-ranked Harvard in the season finale.
