"Although we were disappointed with the final record, we felt very good about the improvement in the culture of the team, which significantly improved and became more refined," head coach Andrew Towers said. "We started to compete from start to finish a step in the right direction."
The Big Green scored a total of 131 goals and 71 assists this season. The team also scooped up 408 groundballs, including 75 by Alex Del Balso '12, and won just under half of its faceoffs. It successfully cleared the ball 78 percent of the time.
The Big Green led a broad offensive attack as well. Six players scored more than 10 goals, and Kip Dooley '12 and Nikki Dysenchuk '13 both received All-Ivy honorable mentions.
Goalie Fergus Campbell '12 gave the Big Green confidence with his .528 save percentage. He snagged 162 total saves to earn a spot on the All-Ivy Second Team.
"Our strengths were a great half-field team defense and our goalie," Towers said. "Our first midfield also was very consistent and by the second half of the season we were competing from start to finish."
Those assets, however, did not make up for significant deficiencies in the team, including a high turnover rate and a tendency to wait until the last minute to score.
In the Big Green's 14 games, the team had 272 turnovers an average of almost 20 each contest, or one every three minutes. Dartmouth scored 17 more goals after halftime than it did before the break, tallying just 57 goals in the first two quarters of its games.
Towers said the team's largest problems this season stemmed from several injuries to key players, and were exacerbated by the team's turnover troubles.
The Big Green will lose five talented seniors who have provided excellent leadership on and off the field. Adam Boardman '11, Rhett Miller '11, Jack Steele '11, Josh Etzion '11 and Mikey Whitcomb '11 all helped the program progress.
Co-captain Miller said Dartmouth played well this season, despite his disappointment over the team's overall record.
"Dartmouth lacrosse culture took a step forward this season and there will be great things in the future," he said. "We didn't always come to play for the full 60 minutes and showed up too late and started scoring with not enough time left. Our defense really started to gel and other teams complemented our zone defense. Campbell did a great job in net and we had a great group of talented guys."
Co-captain Boardman said "there has been a culture change" on the team since his freshman year.
"We concentrate on lacrosse and make sacrifices to our social lives," he said. "The program has improved drastically in my four years. We were competitive in every game on our schedule and our competitive spirit definitely has improved. I will miss the camaraderie of the teams and the underclassmen who I played with and spent so much time with."
In just over a week, the Big Green will begin strength and conditioning training that will continue until next season. The coaching staff will provide players with individual skill programs to work on.
"Our stick work needs to be significantly better to cut down on turnovers and give us a better chance to make the playoffs and Ivy tournament next year," Towers said.
