The Big Green's performance over the past three weekends has all but eliminated the team from Ivy League championship contention. Dartmouth has dropped all six games, including two home games last weekend against Columbia (12-11, 5-3 Ivy) and Cornell (16-5, 8-0 Ivy), the Big Green (8-14, 1-7 Ivy) has been forced to face the facts: Cornell looks poised to run away with the conference and Dartmouth has dug a hole at the bottom of the Ancient Eight standings.
Cornell faces its closest Ivy competitor, Brown (14-8, 6-2 Ivy), at home on Saturday, though the Big Red defeated Brown earlier this season.
The Big Green looks to gather up a few wins at home this weekend, against Penn (9-15, 4-3 Ivy) on Friday night and Princeton (5-17, 2-5 Ivy) on Saturday.
Women's basketball
Dartmouth slipped from a tie for first place in the Ivy League to a tie for third place last weekend. The Big Green (8-14, 5-3 Ivy) lost 58-55 to Columbia (8-14, 5-3 Ivy) and 50-43 to Cornell (15-6, 6-1 Ivy) on a heartbreaking road trip.
Dartmouth has fallen back to the middle of the pack in the Ancient Eight standings. Since the team with the best Ivy record receives an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament, and another Ivy team is not likely to obtain an at-large berth, last weekend's losses have cast a shadow of doubt on the Big Green's playoff chances.
Cornell, ranked first in the preseason polls, is currently at the top of the league, followed closely by second place Harvard (13-9, 6-2 Ivy). Yale (6-15, 4-4 Ivy) follows Dartmouth and Columbia (8-14, 5-3 Ivy) at a close fifth. Princeton (5-18, 2-5 Ivy), Penn (4-18, 1-6 Ivy), and Brown (2-20, 1-7 Ivy) continue to struggle.
The Big Green looks to assert itself this weekend at Penn and Princeton. Dartmouth will most likely have to sweep and hope that Yale can upset Cornell to keep hopes of a Dartmouth Ivy Championship alive.
Skiing
After rebounding to win the Dartmouth Carnival, the Big Green ski team won again at the Williams College Carnival. The team won the carnival by nine points with a score of 617 over Middlebury's 608 point total.
Dartmouth's cross-country skiers swept both the men's and women's classic sprint relay.In addition, Susan Dunklee '08 led Dartmouth to a 1-2 finish in the 5k freestyle race finishing ahead of Elsa Sargent '08. Dakota Blackhorse Von-Jess '08 led the men's team with an eighth place finish in the 10k freestyle race.
For the alpine team, Michelanne Shields '08 got her first top-three finish of the season in the giant slalom race.
Courtney Hammond '11 won the slalom event, giving her back-to-back wins at Dartmouth and Williams in the event. Rusty Heise '09 led the Big Green men in the slalom finishing eighth and Francis Fortin-Houle '10 led the in the giant slalom event, finishing tenth.
The Big Green ski team will be back in action for its last competition of the regular season at the Middlebury Carnival this weekend, a contest that will determine the team's seeding at the NCAA National Championship event.
Women's squash
The Dartmouth women's squash team (10-6, 2-4 Ivy) will head to Princeton, N.J., this weekend to compete in the A Division of College Squash Association Nationals, or the Howe Cup.
The Big Green is ranked No. 6 in the country, which means it will face No. 3 Yale (11-2, 4-2 Ivy) today in the first round of the tournament. The Dartmouth squad fell to the Bulldogs 8-1 in the regular season, with its only win coming from Maura Doherty '11 at the No. 7 spot on the team ladder.
Barring any upsets, Dartmouth will face No. 7 Brown (6-7, 1-5 Ivy) in its second game of the weekend on Saturday, looking to repeat its regular season win against the Bears.
The Big Green beat Brown on the Bears' home courts in a close 5-4 match on Saturday, Feb. 2.
Women's Hockey
Women's hockey heads into its final two games of the regular season this weekend at Cornell (12-13-1, 9-10-1 ECAC) on Friday, Feb. 23 and Colgate (12-13-5, 9-7-4 ECAC) on Saturday Feb. 24.
Though the Big Green (14-7-6, 11-5-4 ECAC) has long since secured a postseason bid, these final matches will prove crucial in determining which teams receive home-ice advantage during the playoffs.
The Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference hockey league awards home-ice to the top four teams at the end of the regular season. Clarkson (21-6-5, 12-5-3 ECAC) and Dartmouth are currently battling for third place, while Harvard (25-1-0, 20-0-0 ECAC) and St. Lawrence (23-8-1, 16-3-1 ECAC) have clinched first and second.
Heading into the weekend, Clarkson holds a narrow lead over the Big Green. The Golden Knights will also play their final two games on Friday and Saturday. Should Dartmouth emerge victorious in both of its contests and Clarkson lose once, the Big Green will secure third place in the conference.
This weekend's games will be the second contest this season in both match-ups. The Big Green earned a dominant 8-0 victory over Cornell and fell 1-2 in overtime to Colgate in early January.
Men's Hockey
Dartmouth men's hockey (9-12-4, 4-11-3 ECAC) saw mixed results this past weekend against two nationally ranked opponents. The Big Green beat up on No. 19 Quinnipiac (17-9-4, 9-5-4 ECAC) 7-2 but could not compete with No. 17 Princeton (15-10-0, 12-6-0 ECAC), falling by a score of 5-2.
The Big Green, which has 11 points in the conference standings, is currently in a three-way tie for last place in the conference with Brown (4-17-4, 4-11-3 ECAC)and Rensselaer (9-19-4, 4-11-3 ECAC).
Leading the league is No. 12 Clarkson (17-10-3, 12-4-2 ECAC), with 26 points. Elsewhere Cornell (12-10-3, 10-7-1 ECAC), currently in fourth place, has two major contests this weekend as the Big Red travels to third-place Quinnipiac (17-9-4, 9-5-4 Ivy) on Friday and second-place Princeton on Saturday.
This weekend, the Big Green will compete in its final two home games of the season. On Friday Dartmouth will take on Brown and on Saturday, the team will take on Yale (12-9-4, 8-6-4 ECAC).
