Neither el Nino nor ice storms could stop Dartmouth athletic teams from competition this year, and, as in any year, 1997-98 had its share of wins, losses and close calls. With apologies to David Letterman, from the home office in Hanover, N.H., here are the Top 15 Sports Stories of the past three terms.
Fall term
5. Men's Soccer Loses Ivy Title in Heartbreaker
One game left. There was one game left for the Ivy League Championship for the Big Green. Ranked first in both New England and the Ivy League most of the season, the Dartmouth 11 were confident about winning the league title.
All they needed was a tie against Brown.
The Green entered the game ranked 10th in the nation, their highest rank of the season. But Brown came in hot, having gone 6-0-1 with their only tie coming against the Harvard Crimson earlier in the season.
Three feet of snow accumulation made it impossible to play at Chase Field. The match, which was the season finale and the senior day, was moved to play at Yale University. The Big Green players had to ride a bus for four hours to New Haven, instead of a five minute walk to Chase Field.
The match looked like the same games Dartmouth played all season long. Although outshooting the opponents, 16-2, they couldn't find the back of the net in regulation. Even though the Ivy League has a reputation of being defensive, Dartmouth had only six scoreless games in 16 games.
The clock was winding down and it seemed like Dartmouth was going to have the third scoreless overtime-game. Only the fifth Ivy League title in school history and their first since 1992 was a few minutes away.
But Dartmouth's dream fell apart when Brown's free kick, with a few minutes left in the sudden-death overtime, went into the Dartmouth net.
Marcio, a Bear forward from Brazil who goes by a single name, pushed it past goalkeeper Matt Nyman '00. The game ended as a devastating 1-0 loss.
4. Men's Soccer in Sweet 16
They had to wait for the NCAA Selection Committee to call their name when they lost the Ivy Championship to Brown, but when they earned an at-large bid and a home game against the Boston University Terriers, they seized the opportunity.
On September 28, the Big Green and the Terriers battled to a 1-1 tie at Middlesex School in Massachusetts. The rematch was staged at a muddy Chase Field with snow serving as the boundaries around the field.
Dartmouth adjusted to the conditions well and Chris Dedicik '99 notched the first hat trick of his career to lead the Big Green to a 5-1 win to the delight of the raucous, snow-throwing crowd.
Dartmouth succumbed in the next round to the No. 3-seeded Mustangs of Southern Methodist in Houston by a score of 2-0.
During their run, they stole some national spotlight and have cemented themselves as the best team in the Northeast and one to be reckoned with in the coming years.
3. Volleyball's Run in the Ivy Championship
Four years ago, Dartmouth volleyball was not a varsity sport.
This fall, they nearly brought an Ivy League Championship back to Hanover.
Their regular season success and 5-2 record in the Ancient Eight earned them No. 3 seed at the Ivy Tournament. After they were upset by the sixth-seeded Pennsylvania Quakers in the first round, they rebounded and went on an tear knocking out four other teams, including first-seeded Harvard, in the loser's bracket to earn a date with the No. 2 Princeton Tigers in the championship.
During the regular season they had been beaten by the Tigers in New Jersey in four games, and were looking to exact some revenge on the Black and Orange.
The Big Green used their momentum to win the first two games of the match, but seemed to tire, losing the next two games rather easily. They were torched in the third game by an embarrassing score of 15-1.
In the decisive fifth game when faced with a 14-11 deficit, the Green rattled off four straight points to gain match point.
But the Tigers regrouped and used the type of smart play that had brought them from a two game deficit down, stole the next three points, the match and the title, three games to two.
Dartmouth coach Ann Marie Larese described the Green's ambiguous feelings at the end of the weekend.
"I'm too tired to even cry," she said.
The Big Green's setter Felicity Kolp '99 and their top outside hitter Janna Merryfield '00 were awarded all-tournament honors for their performance in Dartmouth's record-setting twenty-five games.
The team completed its season with a remarkable record of 24-10, with a 9-4 record against Ivy opponents.
2. Women's Cross Country captures Fourth in the Nation
"I'm in a state of disbelief."
Women's Cross Country Head Coach Ellen O' Neil tasted sweet victory as her team placed fourth in the nation behind three scholarship schools, Brigham Young University, Stanford University and the University of Colorado.
The team had won the Heps Championships on Halloween and had also placed first in their NCAA qualifier, despite being the third-highest-ranked team at the meet.
At the NCAA Champiosnhips, the Big Green were spearheaded by the efforts of Jenna Rogers '98 and Anne Devlin '99 who finished 19th and 21st respectively. By finishing in the top 25, they both earned all-American status, a feat that no other Dartmouth pair had accomplished together.
The future also looks bright for the team as freshman phenom Erin Dromgoole finished 26th, making her the fastest runner who was not granted all-American honors. Dartmouth also placed two other runners in the top 100.
The Big Green featured another flying frosh, Kelly Keene, who finished 71st overall with a time of 17:42.
Rounding out the five Dartmouth runners in the top 100 was Bethany Crenshaw '99 who finished with a time of 18:07, which landed her in 86th place.
"Bethany has always proven to be a critical fifth runner for us, and she came through again today," O'Neil said.
"These are outstanding performances by the freshmen," she continued, "having Erin narrowly miss All-American is truly awe inspiring."
This was Dartmouth's highest finish ever in the NCAA Championships. Their climb began in 1994 with an 18th place showing and then improved to 11th two years ago and 5th last season. With the loss of only Rogers, the team has loftier aspirations for the coming year's campaign.
1. The Streak is Over -- Football Loses to Lehigh
"They kicked our butts."
Football Head Coach John Lyons could not have more aptly described the Big Green's 46-26 loss to Lehigh on October 25 which snapped Dartmouth's 22-game win streak which stretched back to
- The run Dartmouth put together was nothing short of spectacular. But Dartmouth's second-half effort was not that of champions as the team lost their composure, lost the football and lost the game.
They rode into the game with a 5-0 record and victories over league powers Pennsylvania and Cornell.
A win would have set up a battle with undefeated Harvard, and critics question whether or not the Big Green looked past the Engineers.
Dartmouth did however, lead the football game in the second half by a score of 26-20, but faltered and gave up 13 unanswered points.
The Big Green lost the following week at home against Harvard 24-0, making the total number of consecutive points scored against them 50.
This streak dated back beyond some of the careers of current Big Green players. But the seniors and juniors wanted nothing more than to keep the streak alive.
Perhaps, the way to truly measure the caliber of team that brought this streak is to look to their performance the rest of the season. The Big Green showed their championship spirit as the season drew to a close by winning three tight games and finishing the season in second place in the Ivy League at 6-1, and with a very good 8-2 overall record.
They defeated a feisty Columbia squad on the road which simply would not lay down and die late in the game, squeaked out a tight one against the dangerous Brown Bears, and defeated the Princeton Tigers in a game filled with snow, mishaps, and a Dave Regula '98 game-winning kick in overtime.
"Going 10-0 last year was great, but the way we pulled out games this year, I'm really proud of our players," Lyons said.
Maybe, just maybe, those three games are the start of something just as special as the 22-game streak that was snapped on October 25.
The count is at three.
Winter term
5. Men's Hoops shock Navy
"Wow, that feels good."
While guard P.J. Halas '98 was describing his reaction to knocking down a late three-pointer after not shooting the ball for most of the game, it could have also described the team's reaction to a huge 65-64 win on Saturday, January 24 against the Navy Midshipmen.
The Big Green did not enter the affair as favorites, as Navy had defeated several of the two teams' common opponents which Dartmouth could not. Furthermore, Navy held an undefeated conference record, a 10-7 overall mark, and were NCAA tournament qualifiers a year ago.
While all that spelled trouble for Dartmouth, they stayed close to the Middies all day and then completely shut them down in the last four-and-a-half minutes, not allowing a single point to be scored.
The game-winner was a Shaun Gee '00 leaner in the paint which banked in off the glass to give him 28 points on the evening and the Big Green their eventual single point margin of victory.
Gee fumbled for the ball on the play and with the shot clock winding down, put up a one-handed shot that found the backboard and then caromed in.
"Honestly, it was a bank all the way. I only had one hand on the ball and I was just trying to get it up there," he said.
Halas also led the team on both ends of the floor late knocking down important jumpers and making two gorgeous passes late in the contest.
Navy's attempts after the Gee shot clanged off the rim and the Green went home with a victory, much to the delight of Dartmouth head coach Dave Faucher.
The look on Faucher's face was one of both sheer joy and relief especially after the disappointment of the Vermont loss earlier this week.
The Big Green ended their season at 7-19 with their victory over Navy as one of their biggest triumphs.
4. Viele '98 wins NCAA Giant Slalom title as Dartmouth captures seventh at NCAAs
While the skies may be clear and sunny in Hanover currently, the ski team is still experiencing showers of their own in the form of NCAA awards resulting from their performance at the NCAA Skiing Championships held in Bozeman, Mont. over the break. The Big Green put together a strong team effort, finishing seventh overall in the competition.
The biggest accolade came as Dave Viele '98 finished out his collegiate career on top by winning the giant slalom competition, giving Dartmouth their first male national champion since 1988. To capture the title, Viele had to knock off heavily favored Andrej Bachleda of Denver University, who finished in fifth place at the Winter Olympics in Nagano last month. The win also gave highly acclaimed coach Peter Dodge his first national champion since arriving in Hanover in 1990.
"The championship race was the best race of my life. I have worked extremely hard this year and when you work with a coach like Peter Dodge, it is bound to pay off," Viele said.
The awards for the Big Green men weren't limited to Viele. Andrew Pennock '99 shook off a case of tonsillitis to finish 10th, earning him the final spot on the All-American squad. Jeremy Joseph '00 just missed the All-American squad as he finished in 11th place.
Despite the obvious success of Viele and Pennock, it was the effort of the female skiers that helped propel the Big Green to seventh place. Headed by All-American Jen Collins '99, the women finished with five All-Americans as a result of their performance at the championships.
Perhaps the most inspiring story of the championships came from Gutsy Swift '01, who competed one day after tearing two ligaments in her knee.
While happy with this year's results, Pennock indicated that the Big Green wanted to raise the expectations for next year.
"With 11 out of our 12 skiers returning next year, I believe it is quite possible that we could finish in the top three," he said.
3. Tueting won gold, but lost respect of teammates
They say that actions are supposed to speak louder than words.
If that were the case, then the stellar goaltending of Sarah Tueting '98 -- who backstopped the U.S. women's hockey team to the gold medal at the Nagano Winter Olympics -- would speak volumes over anything anyone could possibly say.
But because of words spoken by Tueting herself -- words that by now have made their way into newspapers across the country -- the very people who logically should be happiest for the 21-year-old goalie, her former teammates, instead are angry with Tueting.
The ill feelings stem from comments that the Winnetka, Ill. native made regarding the Dartmouth women's hockey program that appeared in several print publications, most notably the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun-Times and the Boston Globe.
The crux of the comments were that Tueting felt that she was the only one that cared about winning, and her teammates mostly lacked the intensity it took to play the game.
As a result, Tueting was quoted as saying, she had lost her desire to play hockey, as it had stopped being fun for her.
Enter Ben Smith, the coach of the U.S. National Team, who invited Tueting for a tryout, swept her away from the little girls at Dartmouth and gave her the chance to play with some real, intense women hockey players. Or so the story goes.
Several of Tueting's former teammates contacted by The Dartmouth declined to comment for this article, saying that although they were hurt by Tueting's comments, they felt it inappropriate to respond. As one former teammate put it, "Since time has passed ... I think that maybe it is just best to let sleeping dogs lie."
But a few juniors and seniors on the Dartmouth team who played with Tueting felt strongly enough to respond to her comments, citing a desire to have their side of the story heard.
Tueting did not respond to electronic-mail messages sent to Nagano requesting interviews with The Dartmouth.
2. Men's hockey collapses
Everything seemed so right.
The Dartmouth men's hockey team had two home games against two manageable opponents to end the regular season. All the Big Green needed was a single point in either game to qualify for the playoffs. And even if the Green lost both games, they still could have gotten into the postseason based on the results of other league games.
But then everything went wrong.
Like when the stars and planets configure themselves in just the right way during a freak cosmic event, the fates conspired to rob Dartmouth of what it wanted most a playoff berth.
Dartmouth lost to Brown 4-2 and then 4-1 to Harvard. And they got no help, either.
The St. Lawrence Saints, who absolutely had to win twice to get into the playoffs, won in the most amazing fashion in beating Cornell 3-2 in overtime. The game-winner came with just one second left in the extra session, meaning Dartmouth was one second away from getting into the playoffs. Then St. Lawrence beat up on Colgate 5-3.
And the Vermont Catamounts lost their first game, but scratched out a 1-1 tie in their finale, vaulting them into the final playoff spot.
In perhaps the greatest irony of all, Dartmouth went 3-0-1 against St. Lawrence and Vermont this year, and outscored them by a combined 17-6 margin. And yet St. Lawrence and Vermont were both in the playoffs, and Dartmouth was not.
Associate Head Coach Brian McCloskey '77 said the Green, who still had one of their best seasons of the 1990s, "deserved better."
Dartmouth finished the season at 11-13-5 overall, with a league record of 7-12-3. The Big Green's 17 league points put them in 11th place in the final ECAC standings, just a point behind both SLU and Vermont and two points behind 8th place Cornell.
The Green may still be far from the great team they were in the late 1970s, but this year they may have taken one giant step closer. For the returning players next year, that could very well be this cloud's silver lining.
1. Women's Hockey grabs Ivy title
At every practice this year, the women's hockey team made a list of their top priorities for the season. First on that list -- the Ivy League title.
Check that one off the list and move on to number two.
The women's hockey team (18-7-1 overall, 8-0-1 in the Ivies) claimed that title as their own, the 1998 Ivy League Champions.
"I would rather win with that group than win a gold over there in Japan," Dartmouth Head Coach George Crowe said. "I really would. That's our gold medal."
"I'm so excited," Kathleen O'Keefe '99 said. "I've been waiting for this since I got here. Everything else is just a bonus."
A 5-2 battle with Harvard clinched the title for the Big Green, sending them on to bigger and better things for the remainder of the season.
Spring term
5. Sailing takes second at national championships
The Dartmouth College women's sailing team finished second at the national championships.
The second-place finish marked an improvement at this event for the Big Green, a program that has quietly become one of the most powerful in the nation under outgoing coach Brian Doyle. Dartmouth placed third in 1994, 1995 and 1996 and was fourth last year.
Dartmouth, which spent much of the year ranked No. 1 in the national collegiate poll by Sailing World magazine, saw this year's run for a title dismantled by Brown. The Bears -- runner-up here a year ago --cruised to the national title by more than 30 points.
Brown's overall score for the competition was 112 points. Dartmouth finished with 142 points, while Connecticut College was third with 174.
The Big Green's highlight came in B Division, where senior Leigh Lucas and sophomore Erin Myers finished first out of 16 boats by a wide margin. The duo's 49 points far outshone the second-place competitors, who scored 74.
"Winning B Division felt great because this was my fourth try, and we finally did it," Lucas said.
The Bears clinched the victory in the A Division, however, where the pairing of Katie McDowell and Ciara Knudsen collected a mere 38 points. The Big Green scored 93 points to place fourth in the division.
The Big Green tried all possible lineup combinations in the A division to give them the advantage, but never could find the perfect combination. Casey Hogan '99, Shannon Law '00 and Shannon Laughlin '98 were among those used in the top division.
4. Greg Johnston '99 wins IC4A decathlon
Towards the end of their season, members of the Big Green track squads noted that the IC4A and ECAC championships for men and women respectively were merely meets to showcase individual talent rather than team efforts. At the end of May, George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., nobody did more to deserve the individual spotlight than the Big Green's decathalete, Greg Johnston '99.
Johnston broke free from the pack on Thursday afternoon by capturing four of the day's five events and used a strong effort on Friday to seal the victory for the Big Green with a school-record effort. It would be the only event either the Dartmouth men or women would capture over the weekend as the teams were unable to build on the strong performances at the New England Championships a week before.
Thursday got off to a quick start for Johnston as he broke out of the starting blocks to record a victory in the 100m, the opening of the 10-event decathalon, with a time of 11.08 seconds. Johnston was not done on the track, also bringing home a victory in the 400m with a time of 50.33.
The field events, more specifically the jumping, were just as pleasing for the junior decathalete. He captured the high jump with a jump of six feet, eight inches and then left the rest of the field behind in the long jump, recording a jump of 23.5 feet into the sand. Johnston's only loss on the first afternoon came in the shotput, where he finished second overall, giving him a strong lead heading into the second day.
As it turns out, Johnston may not have needed that lead, as he posted victories in both the 110m hurdles and the long-distance event, the 1500m. Johnston was assured the victory after picking up second-place in the javelin toss. Johnston finished with a Big Green record 7,358 points.
The victory allowed Johnston to provisionally qualify for the NCAA championships. Johnston was not the only Big Green member with a strong performance in the decathalon. Sophomore Adam Horst finished eighth with 6,288 points.
3. Walz, Lee head to the NFL
Zack Walz '98 is one senior who didn't visit Career Services this spring. Walz, the Big Green's starting outside linebacker the past three seasons, was drafted by the Arizona Cardinals in the sixth round of yesterday's NFL draft. Walz was the 158th player taken in the two-day draft held at Madison Square Garden in New York City. His selection marks the first time a Dartmouth player has been drafted since Gregg Robinson '78 was drafted in 1978 as a defensive lineman by the New York Jets. Like Walz, Robinson was a sixth-round draft choice.
"This is better than a dream come true," Walz said. "I can't even describe what this means to me. Going to Arizona is perfect, I couldn't have asked for anything more."
Walz certainly has the credentials to move onto the next level, finishing his career with the Big Green as the third-leading tackler in school history. Among those ahead of him is Reggie Williams '76, who went on to have an AllPro career with the Cinicinnati Bengals.
Aside from the achievement, Walz will most likely become the highest-paid member of the class of 1998 next year. Walz can expect to earn $158,000, the league minimum, in his first season if he makes the roster. His second year salary will rise to $186,000 and to $216,000 in his third year. Add those figures to a projected $50,000 signing bonus, and the former Big Green star should haul in just about $600,000 from a three-year contract.
"I just love playing football, and the money is secondary to me. I'm not going to say it's not a great benefit, but it's not the driving force for me," Walz said.
Though he went undrafted, the news was also good for safety Lloyd Lee '98, who signed a free agent contract with the San Diego Chargers.
According to General Manager Bobby Beathard, the Chargers had Lee rated as one of their top safeties in the draft and had been interested in Lee since January.
"It was disappointing not being drafted, but I have to put that behind me and realize that I have a good opportunity to make the team in San Diego," Lee said.
Although Lee signed as a free-agent, San Diego has a history of playing low picks and free agents. Combine that knowledge with the fact that the Chargers are unsettled at the strong safety position, and the future bodes well for Lee.
2. Baseball collects largest win total in 10 seasons
On a day that saw the members of the winningest senior class in Dartmouth history play their final game, the Big Green baseball team also saw a glimpse of the future. In the end, everybody was celebrating as the Big Green finished their season with a 5-0 shutout of twin-state rival Middlebury at Red Rolfe Field.
The win raised Dartmouth's record to 23-18 on the season, the most wins since 1988 and the most wins in Head Coach Bob Whalen's nine years. While the win total may not ease the pain of a mediocre 7-13 Ivy League campaign, it allowed the four senior members of the pitching staff to graduate as the winningest class in school history.
Closer Dan Godfrey '98 was the only member of the Class of 1998 to appear in the yesterday's game against the Panthers, an appearance that was guaranteed by Whalen.
"Everybody knew that Danny [Godfrey] was going to pitch the ninth, it only seemed appropriate that he finished out our season and his career closing out the ninth inning," Whalen said.
As it turned out, with Dartmouth in command 5-0 heading into the top of the ninth, Godfrey's outing was purely ceremonial. Regardless, Godfrey ended on a positive note, giving up no hits and striking out a batter. The appearance, the 56th of his career, allowed Godfrey to tie the Big Green career appearance record, having already set the season appearance record in a previous game against Harvard.
1. Women's Lacrosse falls in NCAA Semifinals
"It was a game of momentum."
Virginia lacrosse star Peggy Boutilier could not have more aptly described the Cavaliers 10-7 defeat of the Big Green women's lacrosse squad in the national semifinals in Baltimore, Md.
The turning point in the contest occurred with just over 21 minutes in the game when Kate Graw '00 had seemingly knotted the game at 6 after finding a seam in the Cavalier defense and launching a shot past Virginia senior netminder Heather Castle. But Graw's follow-through drilled a Cavalier defender, and Graw was whistled for a dangerous play, and the goal was disallowed.
The momentum that Boutilier was speaking of shifted as the Cavaliers scored three unanswered goals to catapult them to a four-goal lead and an eventual 10-7 triumph.
"UVA played a great game and their tournament experience really showed as they took us out of their game," head coach Amy Patton said. "We looked scared as they came to goal. Our double teams came late which is a sign of nerves."
Virginia moved to 17-2 with their twelfth consecutive victory but fell 11-5 to Maryland in the championship as the Terrapins claimed their fourth consecutive NCAA title. Maryland defeated North Carolina 14-9 in the semifinals.
"We put our backs against the wall and tried to climb out of it, and you can't do that against a team like UVA," Patton said.
Dartmouth ended its season with a record 13 wins to go along with its three losses.
Dartmouth's future looks solid with only three players graduating. Further optimism can be drawn from the sophomore class which scored six of the Green's seven goals. Combined with the efforts of Ellie Leahy '01 in net, who stopped all three shots she faced, and noteworthy performances from Gretchen Bell '01, Suzy Gibbons '01 and Amy Zimmer '01, the future looks bright for Dartmouth.
Jeff Beyer, Kevin Demoff and Erika Tower contributed to this article.
