Dartmouth teams brought home Ivy League championships in women's soccer, women's hockey and men's cross country and an ECAC field hockey championship to highlight an eventful year in sports at Dartmouth. The 2001-02 academic year saw 13 Dartmouth teams nationally ranked, 34 Dartmouth athletes named to All-Ivy First Teams, and nine athletes earn First Team All-America status while representing the Big Green.
Fall
The Big Green women's soccer team was the big story of the fall season. Head coach Erica Walsh's squad, led by All-Ivy first-teamers Mary McVeigh '03 and Jamie Lang '02, shared the Ivy League title with Pennsylvania and Princeton. The title was Dartmouth's second in a row, and the third in four seasons for the Big Green. In the NCAA tournament, the Big Green advanced to the round of 16 with wins over Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Michigan before losing to the Broncos of Santa Clara, who would go on to win the NCAA title.
The men's cross country team also made headlines in the fall, winning a second straight Heptagonal championship, Dart-mouth's 12th since 1984. From there, the team went on to place second out of 36 teams at the District 1 qualifier and 24th out of 31 teams at the NCAA championships. Tom McArdle '03 was named to the All-Ivy first team by winning at Heps, and later earned All-America honors by finishing 16th at the NCAA meet. The women's cross country team, who finished fourth at Heps, also competed at the NCAA championship, finishing 29th overall. Lara Niell '02 and Jessie Allen-Young '03 were named to the All-Ivy first team.
The Big Green field hockey squad had unprecedented success in 2001, as the team notched a school-record 15 wins. The team went on to win the ECAC tournament, led by All-Americans Kirsten Anderson '02 (second team) and Carolyn Steele '03 (third team). Both Anderson and Steele were also named first team All-Ivy, and Steele was named second team All-ECAC.
In other fall sports, the Big Green football team showed promise early in the season, before a series of untimely injuries " which claimed quarterback Greg Smith '02 and captain Matt Mercer '02, among others " doomed the team to a 1-8 record. Mercer was one of four All-Ivy selections, along with Casey Cramer '04, Alex Ware '03 and incoming captain Kevin Noone '03.
The men's soccer team struggled initially under new head coach Jeff Cook, but gelled together during the season to finish with a 7-7-2 record, highlighted by upsets of No. 9 Wake Forest and No. 24 Fairfield. Ben Gebre-Medhin '02 and Damien Quinn '04 were named second team All-Ivy. The Big Green women's volleyball team finished eighth in the Ivy, as Ashley Dean '02 was named second team All-Ivy and became Dartmouth's all-time digs leader with 1,482.
Winter
In the winter, Thompson Arena was the place to be, as both the men's and women's ice hockey teams enjoyed successful seasons. The women won their second straight Ivy title en route to finishing second in the ECAC tournament, while the men made their second straight trip to the ECAC championships in Lake Placid, finishing fifth overall. Mike Maturo '02 and Trevor Byrne '03 were named to the All-Ivy men's first team, while Kristin King '02 and Carly Haggard '03 were first-teamers for the women. Haggard, the ECAC and Co-Ivy player of the year, was also selected first-team All-America.
Over in Leede Arena, the Big Green men's and women's basketball teams set several records over the course of a difficult season. While finishing tied for seventh in the Ivy, the men's team set a school record for three-pointers in a season, and point guard Flinder Boyd graduated as the only Dartmouth player (and only the fourth Ivy player) ever to reach 1,000 points, 500 assists, and 150 steals. For the women, who finished fourth in the Ancient Eight, Katharine Hanks '03 became only the second Dartmouth woman to score 500 points in a season, and enters the 2002-03 season as Dartmouth's fifth all-time leading scorer and seventh leading rebounder.
It was a difficult year for Big Green swimmers, as both teams finished 0-7 in the Ivy League and 3-9 overall. Diver Danielle Fritz '02 was a bright spot at Karl Michael Pool, breaking school records for one- and three-meter diving, and coming within one place of qualifying for the NCAA Championship.
McArdle once again led the way for Big Green runners in the winter, as the junior was named the MVP at Indoor Heps (where the men placed second and the women tied for seventh), winning the 3,000- and 5,000-meter races. McArdle went on to claim his fourth consecutive All-America honors with a seventh-place finish in the 5,000 at the NCAA Indoor Championship. Taylor Smith '02 earned All-Ivy honors in the long jump and pentathalon.
In skiing, Roger Brown '04 won the NCCA slalom to become Dartmouth's first individual titleist since 1997. He was joined as an All-American by Matt Hoisington '04 (who finished seventh in the slalom), and the team finished seventh at the NCAA Skiing Championship.
Spring
McArdle starred once again for the Big Green track team in the spring, breaking the school record in the 10,000 meters by 17 seconds en route to earning his fifth straight All-American honors with a third place finish in that event at the NCAA Outdoor Championship. He was one of three Big Green All-Americans in the spring, along with women's team members Shaina Damm '02 (eighth in the heptathalon) and Ryan Fagan '02 (ninth in the 10,000 meters).
At Scully-Fahey Field, the Big Green women's lacrosse team posted wins over No. 10 Penn State and No. 7 Duke while winning 10 games for the sixth straight season. Co-captains Jen Newittt '02 and Katy Cuneo '02 were named first-team All-Ivy, and Newitt earned first-team All-America honors. The men's team got out to a 5-0 start, the best since 1995, but finished 6-7 overall.
The Big Green baseball team posted its third straight 20-win season, highlighted by a 25-1 over Harvard that saw Scott Shirrell '04 set a Dartmouth record with 14 RBI. Shirell was named to the All-Ivy first team along with Mike Mileusenic '03 and Eddie Lucas '04. Led by All-Ivy first teamer Sarah Damon '02, the Big Green softball team was also successful, winning 26 games, the second most in school history.
In tennis, the women's team tied the school record for wins in a season with 14. Sarita Yardi '02 led the way, as she and Carly Bashleben '02 were named first team All-Ivy in doubles, and Yardi was named second-team All-Ivy as a single. For the men, Drew Dinkmeyer '04 and Borko Kereshi '04 became the sixth and seventh players in Dartmouth history to win 20 singles matches, and Dinkmeyer was an All-Ivy selection in doubles with Jeff Sloves '02.
On the golf course, Lee Birchall '02 earned first team All-Ivy honors for the fourth straight year, becoming only the sixth Ivy golfer in history "and the first Dartmouth golfer- to accomplish that feat. For the women, Kathy Birchall '04 finished 16th at the Ivy League Championships to lead her team.
It was a busy year on the water for Dartmouth, as the year in rowing was highlighted by the men's freshman and second varsity eights' victories in the petite finals at Eastern Sprints. The heavyweights defeated Syracuse to win their 12th straight Packard Cup, and the varsity lightweight eights defeated Harvard for the second time in school history. At the IRA Regatta, the varsity lightweight eight and the freshman heavyweight eight both placed sixth in the grand final. For the women, the first novice eight and the second novice eight both placed ninth at the EAWRC sprints. Elsewhere on the water, the Big Green sailing team finished eighth at the ICSA/Gill North American Dinghy championships. Also, the Dartmouth sailors won their first ever New England Dinghy, upsetting No. 1 Harvard.
With many of the athletes who starred for the Big Green last year returning to Hanover this year, the coming year in Dartmouth athletics looks to be just as eventful as the last.
