The Dartmouth men's lacrosse team outlasted Harvard in a war of attrition on Saturday. Pitted against a top-notch team in front of 1,300 Crimson fans, the Big Green's seniors rose to the occasion and laid the groundwork for a triumphant departure. It was the team's freshmen, however, who pushed the Big Green men's lacrosse team over the edge to victory, as Dartmouth outlasted Harvard 14-13 in triple overtime.
Co-captain Jamie Coffin '06 viewed the win as perfect closure to his career as a Dartmouth athlete. "With our given situation it could not have been a better way to end my Dartmouth lacrosse career," he said. "I couldn't be more proud and happy of all the seniors that I have battled with for four years. It was a great way to put closure on an incredible four years." The Big Green jumped out to a 9-5 halftime lead, with seven of its nine first-half goals coming from seniors.
Co-captains Coffin and Brad Heritage '06 had two scores each, while fellow co-captain Alec Hufnagel '06 and Ryan Danehy '06 added scores of their own. Gavin Phillips '06 scored his first goal of the season and the second of his career to punctuate the contributions of the seniors in the first half.
Heritage would add another score in the second half, his 31st of the season, falling short of the team's scoring title by one. Coffin claimed the team's 2006 scoring mark with his first half goals, his 31st and 32nd of the season.
On the whole, the Dartmouth scoring flurries were quieted in the second half. The team scored four goals in the second half, a small sum compared to its first-half prosperity.
The Crimson outscored the Big Green 8-4 in the second half of play, and with 8:42 remaining in the fourth quarter, managed to tie the game for the first time since the early goings of the first quarter.
With the game tied, the Big Green freshmen provided the extra push. Doug Rendall '09 scored an unassisted goal at a crucial juncture of the game. Rendall's second goal of the season gave Dartmouth a one-goal lead with 7:57 remaining.
In a final push, Harvard managed to tie the game once again. With 2:29 remaining, Crimson midfielder Jake Samuelson fired a shot that was deflected by Big Green goalie Patrick Marshall '09. Following Samuelson's shot, Evan Calvert found himself in the right place at the right time. Calvert controlled the rebound and put the ball in the back of the Dartmouth net with 2:22 remaining.
Calvert's third goal of the game would send the game to overtime, as neither team would score again in regulation.
The first four-minute overtime period was controlled by Harvard. The Crimson controlled the opening overtime draw and held the ball in the Big Green zone until the 1:40 mark, firing three unsuccessful shots towards the Dartmouth net.
With 1:38 remaining in the overtime, Dartmouth managed to have an offensive possession of its own. Coffin was able to get free and put a shot on net, but Harvard goalkeeper Joe Pike blocked the attempt to notch one of his 12 saves in the game.
The second overtime played to a similar tune, with Harvard controlling possession of the ball but unable to score. The Crimson took three more shots in the period for an astounding game total of 73 attempted shots. In the third overtime period, however, Harvard would not have any shots -- the team would not even touch the ball.
Longstick middle Ben Lovejoy '07 won the opening face-off of the third overtime, only Dartmouth's fifth win of the game. Lovejoy controlled the ensuing ground ball for long enough to allow the coaching staff to call time out.
After the restart, the Big Green worked the ball around the perimeter of the Harvard zone until Heritage fired a shot with 3:35 remaining. Heritage's shot was caught up in the clutter of players in front of the net, but was scooped by Brian Koch '09 and quickly fired into the Harvard goal for the sudden-death game-winner.
In addition to Rendall's fourth quarter score and Koch's game-winner, Marshall finished with a season-high 23 saves as the freshmen were difference makers in Dartmouth's season finale.
For Dartmouth, the win cements a winning overall record at 8-7, and a .500 mark in the Ivy League with a final conference record of 3-3. The win also drops Harvard to 3-3 in the Ivy League and awards Dartmouth the tie-breaker, bumping the Big Green ahead of the Crimson and into fourth place in the final Ivy League standings.
Heritage is proud of where the program has gone during his tenure, and is confident that it will continue to make strides in the coming seasons.
"The future for the Dartmouth lacrosse program is bright," he said. "Since [the class of 2006] arrived in Hanover, we've seen the program rise to become a national contender...the team has a good core group of players returning, and joined by a strong recruiting class next year, they should have the ability to compete with anyone."
