Dartmouth braved a 6-3 first quarter Crusaders charge, retaliating with an 11-1 run of its own through the second and third periods. A late five goal Holy Cross rally made things a bit more interesting, but it was too little too late, and the Big Green coasted through the fourth quarter to victory.
The team's co-captain, Jamie Coffin '06, said that the team did not panic when Holy Cross quickly built momentum towards its first victory of their 2006 season with an impressive first quarter.
"We didn't worry the whole game," he said. "I knew we were going to win, even when we were down. We came out a little sloppy, but we were the superior team and I have the most confidence in our defense and our offense to perform."
The win improves the Big Green's record to 7-7 overall, with a 2-3 record in the Ivy League. Coffin noted that the team did not take the Crusaders lightly despite their dismal record, as the game was an opportunity for the Big Green to improve its record to .500.
"Basically our mindset as of now is that we want to be over .500 this season," Coffin said. "So that meant beating Holy Cross and then beating Harvard on Saturday. We want to have a winning season and so we went into the game today with that in mind."
The Big Green saw contributions from the usual suspects, but a number of the team's less celebrated players also came up big. In their last home game at Dartmouth, co-captains Coffin and Brad Heritage '06 amassed seven goals and three assists between them, Nick Bonacci '07 scored three goals of his own and assisted three others, and Brian Koch '09 found the net three times and assisted two more scores.
Off of the bench, midfielder Ryan Orr '08 contributed a goal to the Big Green cause and Gavin Philips '06 set-up one of Koch's scores.
Kyle Lagratta '09 dominated the face-off "X" for most of the game, winning an impressive nine of 11 draws and snaring three ground balls. Senior Andrew Mayer '06 made his first collegiate start in net and saved a very respectable 10 out of 19 shots on net. In a nice gesture to the seniors, head coach Bill Wilson cleared the bench, allowing every healthy player in a Dartmouth uniform to check into the game.
Heritage commented on the contributions of the players that he considers to be underappreciated. "
We had the opportunity this afternoon to get a lot of the guys playing who don't normally see time. It was special because these guys are integral pieces to what makes us successful throughout the year, yet they don't always get the credit they deserve. Today was a good opportunity to get these guys on the field and they performed well, it was great to see them contribute," the co-captain said.
Dartmouth will wrap up its 2006 season on Saturday in Cambridge, as the team looks to push its overall record above the .500 mark and to balance its Ivy League record at 3-3 against Harvard.
A win would move the Big Green out of the lower half of the Ivy League standings -- the team is currently fifth out of seven teams.
Cornell has clinched a share of the Ivy League title with a record of 5-1, and Princeton can earn its share with a win over bottom-feeder Brown this Saturday. The University of Pennsylvania sits at 4-2, which is currently good for third place. At 3-2, Harvard would move into third with a win over Dartmouth, as it holds the tie-breaker over Penn, having defeated the Quakers in March.
If the Big Green were to win Saturday's match-up, Dartmouth would move into fourth and drop the Crimson into fifth place.
While the win has some ramifications for Dartmouth in terms of its final record, the decision was certainly more significant for the Crusaders. Wednesday's game in Hanover was the season finale for Holy Cross and cemented an embarrassing winless season that will affect the perception of the lacrosse program on campus and in the eyes of future recruits.
