League play hits full swing this week for the men's basketball team. Dartmouth (8-8, 1-1 Ivy) goes on the road to Princeton (3-12, 0-0 Ivy)Friday. The Big Green continue their road trip Saturday at Penn (5-12, 0-0 Ivy).
Dartmouth currently stands at second place in the Ancient Eight, tied with Brown (9-7, 1-1 Ivy), Yale (8-8, 1-1 Ivy), and Harvard (6-12, 1-1 Ivy).
Brown and Yale split their two meetings this year to start conference play. Columbia sits at the bottom of the league rankings with a 0-2 league start, losing both games at the hands of league-leading Cornell (10-5, 2-0 Ivy).
Other matchups to watch around the league this weekend include Cornell's trip to Brown and Harvard's trip to Penn. Brown looks to hand Cornell its first conference loss of the year while the matchup between Harvard and Penn should give some insight into how Dartmouth could fare on Saturday.
Women's Basketball
The Dartmouth women's basketball team (4-12, 1-1 Ivy) suffered a setback in the race for the Ivy League championship last Saturday, falling 47-34 to last year's champion Harvard. The Big Green is currently in the middle of the pack with three other teams, trailing behind league-leaders Yale (4-11, 2-0 Ivy) and Princeton (4-13, 1-0 Ivy). Penn (3-13, 0-1 Ivy) and Brown (1-15, 0-2 Ivy) round out the bottom of the group.
This weekend Dartmouth will first get a crack at Princeton on Friday night, hoping to erase memories of its match-up against Harvard.
On Saturday, the Big Green will take on Penn in Hanover. The Quakers boast a 1-7 away record. These two games are must-wins for the Big Green's Ivy hopes.
In other matchups, the game of the weekend will be Yale at Cornell (9-6, 1-1 Ivy). The game is a battle between the Ancient Eight team with the best Ivy record and the team with the best overall record.
Men's Hockey
Dartmouth men's hockey (8-9-2, 3-8-1 ECAC) lost ground in the ECAC this week with a loss to fifth-ranked Harvard (7-9-3, 6-6-2 ECAC). The Big Green currently sits in 11th place.
Dartmouth matches up with the fifth-ranked Bulldogs on Friday. Clarkson (15-7-2, 10-3-1 ECAC) strengthens its hold on first place with two wins last weekend quickly pulling away from the rest of the ECAC. Yale (9-7-4, 5-4-4 ECAC) leads Dartmouth by 11 points.
Dartmouth leads only one team in the 12-team division -- Brown (1-14-4. 1-8-3 ECAC). The Big Green will face the Bears on Saturday. Brown has been winless for its last 15 games, including two dismal ECAC performances last weekend to third-ranked Cornell (9-7-3, 7-4-1 ECAC) and eighth-ranked Colgate (10-10-4, 4-5-3 ECAC). In total the Bears were outscored 9-1.
Women's Hockey
Big Green women's ice hockey will play host to Yale (9-8-4, 6-6-4 ECAC) and Brown (3-14-4, 2-8-3 ECAC) on Friday and Saturday of this weekend. Coming off a 4-0 loss to Harvard (17-1-0, 14-0-0 ECAC) on Sunday, Dartmouth looks to finish the season with a bang and wrest second place in the Ivy League from Yale.
In their meeting earlier this season, the Big Green emerged with a 4-1 victory on Saturday, Nov. 17. Yale has not defeated Dartmouth in 22 years.
Brown has had a difficult season leading up to this weekend. The Bears arrive hoping to avenge three straight losses to Dartmouth, including a 2-0 defeat at the hands of the Big Green on Friday, Nov. 16.
Men's Squash
The No. 6 Dartmouth men's squash team (11-3, 1-2 Ivy) has not had a game since its two-win performance on Saturday, but the victory against No. 9 Cornell (4-7, 2-4 Ivy) moved the Big Green up to a tie for fourth place in the Ivy League with No. 10 Penn (4-4, 1-2 Ivy) and Cornell.
Outside of the conference, in a match that almost caused an earthquake in the college squash world, No. 2 Princeton (5-1, 2-0 Ivy) failed to bring down No. 1 Trinity (9-0), eventually losing 6-3 and extending the Bantam's epic undefeated run to 176 games.
The men's squad will head to Providence to take on No. 16 Brown (1-7, 0-4 Ivy) this Saturday, hoping to even out its Ivy record.
Track and Field
Dartmouth's men's and women's track and field teams are at home this weekend for the Dartmouth Indoor Classic. This will be an opportunity for the Big Green to rest some of its key athletes in mid-season and for the younger runners to gain some experience in competition against schools in the Northeast including the University of Vermont, Williams College, and the University of Hartford.
Dartmouth is returning to action after a solid showing in Boston University's Terrier Classic last weekend.
While improving times is always a goal, the team also looks to work injured runners back into shape.
After the Dartmouth Indoor Classic, the Big Green head to Cambridge, Mass. to face Harvard University on Feb. 8. This begins a series of four events leading up to the season-ending Heptagonal Championships on March 1st.
