For Dartmouth (4-6, 1-3 Ivy), the loss might be attributed to a hangover from the beating it received from No. 1 Cornell on Saturday. The Big Green had hoped to mar the Big Red's perfect season by beating Cornell for the first time in 10 years. Instead, Cornell utilized its relentless ride and fast-paced transition offense to blow the Big Green out 17-3.
"We were certainly hoping to rebound with a win against Yale after losing to Cornell, but we didn't play our best game and came up short against a very intense team," co-captain Wilson Handler '07 said. The loss to Yale kills Dartmouth's hopes of winning the Ivy League championship.
Dartmouth's schedule is one of the toughest in all of NCAA lacrosse, and this has brought an increase in both losses and opportunity this season. The Big Green's record is not a good one - an overall record of 4-6 is not on pace for an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.
However, the possibility of securing an at-large bid with upcoming games against No. 4 University of Virginia, No. 3 Albany and No. 5 Princeton still exists.
The Big Green will have to win four out of their next five games to put themselves in position to make the tournament.
"None of our goals have changed," Handler said. "We hit a rough patch at the start of the season and we were able to rebound - we're looking to do the same now. Although a win against Yale would have made things easier, our season is very much alive and comes down to our going 4-1 in the next five games against some very good, but beatable, teams."
On Wednesday, Dartmouth slowly lost a grip on what was a winnable game. The Big Green took a 5-4 lead midway through the first period, a lead that would prove to be Dartmouth's last of the game. Yale answered with four consecutive goals, and the teams traded scores throughout the rest of the game. Every time that Dartmouth closed the margin, the Bulldogs would respond with a rally of their own.
With 10:23 remaining in the third quarter, Ari Sussman '10 dodged and scored to cut the Yale lead to 12-10. Soon after, the Bulldogs' Tom Hamilton threw an illegal body check and the Big Green had the ball and a man-up opportunity to cut the Bulldog lead to one goal. Instead, Yale's Michael Karwoski scored man down for his second goal of the game, marking the second consecutive game in which Dartmouth has allowed a goal with a man advantage.
Just over a minute later, the Bulldogs' Chris Kempner iced the win as he beat keeper Michael Novosel '10 to create a four-goal margin. Novosel finished with five saves.
Yale focused on slowing the game down in the fourth quarter, taking only one shot on goal. The Big Green outshot the Bulldogs 46-29, forcing goalie George Carafides to make 12 saves.
Next for Dartmouth is No. 3 UVA on Saturday, April 21 in Charlottesville, Va.
Handler is optimistic that Dartmouth can pull off an upset and turn its season around.
"As long as we execute our game plan and play with intensity, I like our chances against anybody in the country," he said.
