It's Saturday of Homecoming and an average Dartmouth student, battling a stubborn hangover, might arise just in time to stumble to Memorial Field for the noon kickoff of the Homecoming football game. Not only will anyone who's anyone be there, but there's always a chance that a few dauntless '09s will try and become legends--at least in their own minds--by rushing the football field at halftime.
For most, attending Saturday's Dartmouth-Columbia Homecoming showdown might be a satisfactory expression of Big Green pride, but there do exist those special students, faculty members and alums whose appetite for everything green might lead them to other fields, courts and even healthy dining options seldom confronted by the average fan. With a loaded Homecoming sports schedule, those that do wish to indulge are in luck.
The Big Green women's volleyball team will kick off the weekend in a Friday night color war against the Cornell Big Red (13-2, Ivy 5-0) at 6 p.m. in Leede Arena. Dartmouth (9-7, Ivy 2-4) has been streaky to say the least this season, following eight consecutive victories with its current four-match losing streak. The team will look to hard-hitting outside hitter Jess Thomas '09 and versatile setter/right side hitter Katie Hirsch '08 to get the team back on track. Doing so, however, will mean upending a first-place Cornell team that has dropped just a single game in five Ivy League matches. The Dartmouth volleyballers will round out the weekend with a 4 p.m. Saturday match against Columbia (4-11, Ivy 2-3).
On Saturday the sporting festivities will accelerate into high gear. While the football team smashes heads with Columbia, the field hockey team will be slapping sticks with the same Lions -- except donned in skirts and high socks. The women in green (5-7, Ivy 2-2) have lost four of their last five matches and hope to turn around their recent struggles against a squad that currently rests in the Ivy cellar, winless in three league games. The teams face off at noon at Scully-Fahey Field.
Speaking of slapping sticks, men's and women's ice hockey will compete before a home crowd for the first time this year on Saturday, when both teams play host to McGill in exhibition tune-ups at Thompson Arena. The women's team, ranked sixth in the country by the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll, seeks an astounding fourth consecutive trip to the Frozen Four. A season ago, the women in green ended a 27-8 campaign in the NCAA Semifinals, falling to eventual champion Minnesota 7-2. Senior captain and preseason All-USCHO.com Second Team member Tiffany Hagge '06 will try and lead the Green to victory against McGill at 3 p.m.
The men's team is coming off a terrific 20-win season that ended in heartbreaking fashion with a second-round loss to Vermont in the ECAHL playoffs. Led by five seniors, including captain and scoring machine Mike Oullette '06, the Big Green should return to its winning ways in the 2005-2006 season. The game is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Fans of co-ed doubleheaders have quite a weekend in store for them. A day after men's and women's hockey break in their skates, both of Dartmouth's socccer teams will take to Chase Field Sunday looking to continue their early season success against Columbia, a familiar foe for Big Green teams this weekend. The women's team (8-3-1, Ivy 2-1), fresh off of a 1-0 blanking of Penn, has dropped only one of its last eight matches and sits a single game behind Yale in the battle for the Ivy crown. Sarah Johnson '07, tied for the league lead in points (17) and goals (7), will lead Dartmouth against the Lions (7-4-1, Ivy 2-1) at noon.
Men's soccer has fared just as well as its female counterpart this season. With a 2-1 Ivy record (6-2-4 overall) the Big Green sits in second place, a game behind Ivy League leader Brown. After a five-match winning streak, however, Dartmouth is winless in its last two games, both of which extended into double-overtime and saw Dartmouth fail to score a single goal. Scheduled to begin at 2:30, Dartmouth will look to notch a win and find the goal versus a Columbia team that is winless in Ivy League play.
Big Green fans still unsatiated may check out the tennis courts, where the men's tennis team will host the ITA Eastern Regionals, a six-day preseason event that spans the weekend and concludes on Tuesday. After posting zero wins and seven losses against Ivy competition a year ago, the team hopes to make significant strides this fall in preparation for the regular season.
So with a total of nine Dartmouth teams in action at home this weekend there is certainly more to Homecoming sports than just the Homecoming football game. That doesn't mean, however, that missing the big game is at all permissible. Everyone's going to be there, after all, and someone might even rush the field.
