Since by this time almost all spring Dartmouth teams have finished their seasons, it is about time for a recap. In case you missed it, Dartmouth's athletes have been busy during and before spring term taking the field/track/water/course/court and challenging their opponents.
Dartmouth Softball
The Dartmouth softball team was just 16-24, but more importantly was 11-9 in the Ivy League. The team won eight consecutive league games toward the end of its season to give them a shot at the Ivy League Northern Division title. Unfortunately, the Big Green fell just short, losing the second game of a doubleheader on May 1 to allow Harvard to clinch the title. Also, the softball team has only one senior, so it should only be better next year (and unlike this year, it will have more than two pitchers, as Angela Megaw '08 and Stephanie Trudeau '09 had to throw 245.2 of the Big Green's 254.2 innings). Megaw and Trudeau pitched 31 complete games in 37 starts, recording 7 shutouts. Needless to say, they had quite a workload this season.
Baseball
Disappointing is one way to describe the Big Green baseball team's season. Lackluster would be another. The Big Green ended up 8-29-1 on the year, 5-15 in Ivy League play. In the team's defense, they played very few home games all year, since Hanover's wintery weather patterns kept the squad off the field. The Big Green started and ended its season quite well, beginning the year 3-1-1, and ending it 2-2 (which means in between Dartmouth went 5-26). It appears that a lot of the Big Green's problems came from weak pitching. Dartmouth hit .260 as a team, but its opponents hit .338. The only starting pitcher on the team with an ERA under 6.00 was Russell Young '08, who finished the season with a 4.03 ERA in nine starts (and threw four complete games). Special mention must also go to Kyle Zeis '08, who threw 26.1 relief innings and recorded the team's only two saves of the season while posting a 4.10 ERA.
Men's Lacrosse
Men's lacrosse is one sport that we typically count on to do well, but this year was another down year for the team. Finishing 5-10, and 1-5 in the Ivy League, men's lacrosse never really got on track. However, they did feature a four-game winning streak in the middle of the season, but this was surrounded by a three-game losing streak beforehand and a six-game losing streak afterwards. Hopefully next year we can get a little more consistency out of the men, and a better record on the road. This year, Dartmouth men's lacrosse team was 4-3 at home, and just 1-7 on the road. There is certainly hope for next year. The team's leading scorer was freshman Ari Sussman '10, with 33 goals and 17 assists in the team's 15 games, and the team's No. 2 and No. 4 scorers on the year, Brian Koch '09 and Jonathan Livadas '09, both have two years of eligibility left. The future appears bright for Dartmouth men's lacrosse.
Women's Lacrosse
Dartmouth women's lacrosse, an NCAA finalist last year, found it hard to improve upon its impressive results of last season. Like the men's team, the women were very streaky, especially early on in the season. The team started its season with three straight wins, then followed that with three straight losses before a four-game winning streak. It was a moderately successful season, but not one up to the standards of the program.
The Lady Green featured some scoring depth at the top, but then a quick fall off. Five players recorded over 40 points on the year, but the No. 6 scorer was at 23 points and the No. 7 scorer was down at nine points. Since four of the top six scorers are seniors scheduled to graduate this coming spring (including three-time Big Green scoring leader and someone sure to receive her third unanimous All-Ivy honor this year, Whitney Douthett '07), the women's lacrosse team is going to need either some underclassmen to step up, or some big contributions from next year's freshman.
Next week we will return with the second half of the spring recap, including looks at sports like men's tennis, women's tennis, men's and women's golf, and sailing. Because just because a sport is contested primarily by individuals or in boats does not mean we won't cover it.
