Riding high after their 2-0 dismantling of 24th-ranked Fairfield University Wednesday, coach Jeff Cook and the Dartmouth Big Green (6-7-2, 1-4-1 Ivy) are shaking things up this weekend to try and garner their second Ivy win of the year when they head down to Philadelphia to take on Penn.
Sophomore usuals Seth Eaton, Rob Daly and Matt LaBarre will not travel. While LaBarre is grounded because of a preponderance of yellow cards, Eaton and Daly are staying home at the behest of their coach. Cook will look to a mix of seniors and freshmen as his team strives to outplay the Quakers, who are 6-8-1 overall and 2-4 in the Ivies.
The Quakers are led by Sam Chamovitz (4g, 1a) and Alex Maasry (3g, 1a) in the scoring department, while goalkeeper Matt Haeffner gives up 1.4 goals per game. Haeffner should be challenged by crosses off the feet of Big Green midfielders Dan Markman '02 and Scott Darci '05.
It will be interesting to see who steps between the pipes for Dartmouth, as freshman netminder Wojtek Zarzycki played all ninety minutes against Fairfield and recorded his first collegiate shutout. The smart money is on Ben Gebre-Medhin '02 to get the nod as it is likely his last collegiate game.
The Big Green will say goodbye to seniors Zach Schwartz, Dave Trouille, Gebre-Medhin, and co-captain Markman. Don't expect the seniors, or anyone else in green for that matter, to go down to the Quakers without a hell of a struggle. You can bet they will all leave it on the field Saturday when the game gets underway at 1 p.m. Dartmouth has the added incentive of trying to avoid having only one Ivy League win in two of the last three seasons.