The Dartmouth Staff
In the world of sports, mediocre is the opposite of newsworthy. A decade ago, analysts were tooting Ryan Leaf's horn throughout his college career at Washington State because he was a great college quarterback. Nearly five years after his retirement, ESPN Classic still compiles clips of Leaf's pro career because he was a historically bad NFL quarterback with a historically bad temper. These days, Leaf is a golf coach at a mediocre university in West Texas, and no one talks about him anymore.
Hyperbolic introduction aside, the Dartmouth lacrosse team is by no means going to have a historically bad year in 2007. The Big Green currently holds a 4-4 overall record with a noteworthy win over No. 11 Notre Dame and was ranked as high as No. 19 in national polls.
On the other hand, last weekend's loss to Penn dropped Dartmouth's Ivy League record to 1-1, putting the Big Green in fourth place in the league.
The loss also dropped Dartmouth out of this week's national rankings.
What stands out, however, is the remaining opportunity for this year's team to be remarkable.
Due to the Big Green's bold scheduling, a March snowstorm and the strength of this year's Ivy League, Dartmouth will face four of the nation's top five teams in its next five games. These games are not out of reach for underdog Dartmouth if the team plays to its potential.
"I don't think we've played a full four quarters at our best yet this season," said Ari Sussman '10 the Big Green's leading scorer. "There's definitely parts during the season that we've played to exactly our game plan, and played to our strengths and played our best, and I think we can beat any team in the country if we play that way, in control for a long enough time."
The stretch that will make or break the Big Green's season begins with undefeated, Ivy League-leading Cornell on Saturday in Hanover. Next, Dartmouth gets something of a respite as it plays unranked Yale before duels with undefeated No. 3 Albany, No. 2 Virginia and No. 5 Princeton.
"That's our season right there," co-captain Nick Bonacci '07 said. "I think if we get out of these next five games with a winning record, we put up a great bid for the tournament. That would mean we've won two games against top five teams, and that's worthy of a tournament at-large bid, so really if we want to accomplish our goals we've got to win some games right now in the next two weeks. We have two goals for the season, to win the Ivy League championship and to get to the tournament, and then to win a [tournament] game. We've got both of those goals right in front of us."
The No. 1 Big Red comes to Hanover as the nation's top team for five consecutive weeks. Cornell (9-0, 3-0 Ivy) is well-tested, with wins over No. 4 Duke, No. 11 Notre Dame and perennial powerhouse No. 17 Syracuse.
The Big Red's success this season stems from their fast-paced, transition style of offense that tends to humble their opponents' game plans.
"Cornell does very well in transition, and they do a really good job of getting you to play their style of play," Sussman said.
"So, for us to beat them we're going to have to slow the game down a lot and win the game in the offensive end. In the defensive end, we have to make sure that we can clear the ball successfully. Cornell does a really good job of shutting down other teams' clears. They have a really good ride. That's what they do; they force you to play their game. We have to stick to our game plan and play our game."
No player on Dartmouth's current roster has ever beaten Cornell.
The recent history of the Big Red's dominance of the Big Green is in the back of players' minds, but is not a primary motivation heading into Saturday's match-up.
"It would be great to have that be part of our legacy, to break that streak ... especially while they're No. 1 in the country," Bonacci said. "As a team, though, we're just putting this in the context of our season."
Although Cornell comes in as a highly touted opponent, this could be the year for the Big Green to break their cold streak against the Big Red.
"I think we match up really well against them. If we can get them to play our style of play we can definitely win the game," Sussman said. "If we get into a run-and-gun game we're going to be in trouble. They can shoot from all over the field."
If the underdog Dartmouth team can manage to win games against top-seeded teams and also win the Ivy League, it could find itself not only with a tournament berth but a favorable seeding and possible post-season home games.
Perhaps above all, Saturday will be the first meaningful game that the Big Green will play in Hanover while classes are in session, and the team has missed the support of its home fans.
"We haven't had the feel of a home game because most of our home games were over spring break, so it would be a huge lift to have a good fan base on Saturday," Bonacci said.
Dartmouth gets its chance to knock off the nation's best team on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Scully-Fahey field.
