The Dartmouth men's lacrosse team lost to No. 3 Cornell 19-6 at Scully-Fahey field on Saturday. It was the Big Green's worst loss of the year.
Ari Sussman '10 led the way for the Big Green with a pair of goals and an assist. Senior co-captains Brian Koch '09 and Jonathan Livadas '09 added a goal each.
The Big Red (8-2, 4-0 Ivy) torched the Big Green (3-8, 0-3 Ivy) for six goals in the first quarter and was comfortably ahead for the rest of the game. A pair of goals from senior John Glynn, as well as one each from senior Chris Finn and freshman Rob Pannell, put Cornell up 4-0 within 12 minutes. Sussman scored with two minutes remaining in the first quarter, but Glynn quickly responded, adding his third goal of the quarter less than 30 seconds later to restore the four-goal advantage for the Big Red. Another goal 25 seconds later made the score a lopsided 6-1.
"Cornell's a really good team," Andrew Gagel '10 said. "There's a reason they're the third-best team in the nation. We didn't win enough face-offs in the first quarter and they were able to keep possession a lot."
Cornell opened the second quarter with another four consecutive goals to run the score up to 10-1, until Rhett Miller '11 put one back with a well-taken unassisted effort. Cornell scored again a minute later, but Dartmouth responded again just 15 seconds later with a goal from Jimmy Mullen '09. The Big Red scored two more goals before the end of the quarter to make the score 13-3 at the intermission.
The Big Green came out strong in the second half with consecutive goals from Josh Gillam '10 and Livadas. Cornell, however, settled down defensively and did not allow any more opportunities for the rest of the quarter. The Big Red reeled off four goals to make the score 17-5 entering the final quarter.
"Obviously we weren't looking to be down ten goals at halftime," Gagel said. "We just wanted to chip away at the lead and take it one goal at a time. We were able to do that for a bit, but they slowed the tempo down and started bleeding the clock."
Glynn opened the scoring yet again in the fourth quarter, capping off a five-goal performance. Cornell scored another before Koch deposited his 18th goal of the year on an assist from Sussman. Both teams then tightened up defensively and did not allow many scoring opportunities the rest of the way, as the game finished 19-6.
The Big Green was punished for being unable to win face-offs -- Cornell claimed 20 of the 28 over the course of the game. Dartmouth's man-down defense was also largely ineffective on the day, allowing three goals on four opportunities. And, while Cornell committed more turnovers than Dartmouth, the Big Green was not able to capitalize on the Big Red's miscues, only mustering 23 shots and forcing just seven saves.
"Their ability to keep possession is one reason they are where they are in the season," Gagel said. "They moved the ball really well and they had great perimeter movement. Also their shooters could hit the net from anywhere on the field. They were by far the best team we've faced so far this year."
Dartmouth will look to win its first Ivy League game of the season this Wednesday as the team travels to Yale. This weekend, the Big Green will travel to Charlottesville, Va., to face the No. 1 University of Virginia and former teammate Chad Gaudet '08 in non-conference play.
