A midweek match-up against the University of Vermont turned out to be just what the doctor ordered for the men's lacrosse team. The Big Green traveled up I-89 to snap a four-game losing streak and returned to its winning ways.
Fueled by five goals from Scott Roslyn '03, the Big Green surged past the Catamounts 15-10 to improve to 6-5 on the season. It was perfect timing to resuscitate the Dartmouth corpse as the team now prepares for tomorrow's contest against perennial Ivy League powerhouse, Princeton (6-4, 3-1 Ivy).
Wednesday afternoon in Burlington, Dartmouth finally put together the four quarters of good lacrosse it had been searching for in the past four games as the Big Green led from start to finish against the Catamounts.
The Big Green got off to yet another fast start when Roslyn netted his first goal of the afternoon just two minutes after the opening face-off. At the midway point of the first quarter, Darren Yulfo '04 found the back of the net to put Dartmouth up 2-0.
The rest of the quarter started to follow the haunting formula that has plagued Dartmouth for the last month. Vermont got two quick goals to level the score before the teams traded goals to end the quarter with the score tied at four.
On this afternoon, however, it would be Dartmouth that made a run and took control of the game. The Big Green rattled off three goals in the final six minutes of the half to cap a 4-0 quarter and head into the intermission with an 8-4 advantage.
Roslyn tallied his second of the afternoon on extra man offense followed by freshman Ben Grinnell's goal to put the boys from Hanover up 7-4. Co-captain Connor Price '02 capped of the scoring in the first half with his first goal of the afternoon with just 27 seconds remaining in the quarter.
The second half saw the Big Green play well at both ends of the field. While the defense, led by goalie Mike Gault '03 and defenseman Anatole Wedmid '02, protected the lead, the offense kept the scoring going. The Catamounts played Dartmouth almost evenly in the second, but the lead was never threatened and the Big Green cruised to a 15-10 result.
Besides Roslyn's five-goal effort, the Big Green was helped by Price, who added a goal and three assists to Dartmouth's offense. Darren Yulfo '04 notched a hat trick for the second consecutive game while Dave Farber '03 chipped in with two second-half goals.
The cats get a whole lot bigger and a lot nastier this Saturday at Scully-Fahey Field. After taking care of the Catamounts, the Big Green must now turn its attention to the Tigers of Princeton. After an early slip-up against Yale, the defending national champions are back on track and rolling through Ivy League competition.
Last weekend, Princeton knocked off fifth-ranked Cornell and now control their own destiny in terms of the league race. It was the first time since 1990 that Princeton entered an Ivy League game as the lower ranked team, but after five goals in three minutes at the beginning of the second half, the Tigers quickly reasserted their dominance en route to a 12-7 win.
Princeton has won four games in a row since the Yale upset, including a non-league victory over Duke. The Cornell game also marked Coach Bill Tierney's 200th career win as a head coach. If the Tigers win out against Dartmouth and Brown, they will win their eighth consecutive Ivy League crown and secure the league's automatic bid for the NCAA tournament.
There are no weak spots in the Tigers' arsenal as they are solid from top to bottom. On the offensive side, senior B.J. Prager leads the Tigers. With 104 career goals, Prager is the fifth leading scorer in Tiger history. At the other end of the field, Scott Farrell anchors the defense and was selected as the current Ivy League Player of the Week.
Against a team with talent and experience like Princeton, there is little doubt that the Big Green will need a solid performance for 60 minutes. The good news for Dartmouth is that after the Vermont game, the Big Green proved that it is capable of putting together such an effort.
The Tigers, however, are more ferocious cats, and the question remains whether that effort can be duplicated and raised to a new level in order to knock off a highly touted Princeton squad.
