The Dartmouth men's lacrosse team got back on the right track with its first win in over a month on Saturday. The Big Green defeated the University of Pennsylvania at Scully-Fahey Field, 7-6, to snap an eight-game losing streak. The win propelled the Big Green to a 3-8 record (1-4 Ivy) and dropped the Quakers (3-9, 1-5 Ivy) to the bottom of the Ivy League standings. Due to the results of other games over the weekend, however, Dartmouth was eliminated from playoff contention.
"It's a huge sigh of relief after all of the work we've put in this season, especially for the seniors," Robbie Hoffman '13 said. "It was good to finally see some smiles and happy faces in the locker room after the game. We needed that."
Brendan Rotanz '14 got the Big Green rolling with a goal just under three minutes into the game. The goal marked the 11th consecutive game in which the sophomore has scored.
The rest of the first was back-and-forth, with each team having extended periods of offensive pressure. The Quakers led in shots, 12-8, but goalie Fergus Campbell '12 came up big between the pipes, making four saves in the frame. Penn also had the ground ball advantage, which started to show toward the end of the quarter. With just over three minutes left, the Quakers tied the game.
The Big Green regained the lead in the second off of a goal from Chris Costabile '13. The Dartmouth defense was stingy, forcing five turnovers in the quarter, but the offense coughed the ball up four times, which prevented the Big Green from widening its lead. The Quakers had the shot advantage in the quarter, 9-7. After holding the Quakers scoreless for the remainder of the half, Dartmouth took its first lead into halftime since an 11-10 win over Sacred Heart University on March 3.
Despite the close score, Hoffman said that the Big Green "felt like [it] dominated the first half," which gave the team confidence going into the second half.
The third quarter was statistically the Big Green's worst in all columns except for goals. Dartmouth converted on just three of six clears and turned the ball over six times, but the Big Green scored three times in the period thanks to the face-off dominance of Anthony Fulham '13, who won four of five face-offs in the frame. By the end of the period, Dartmouth held a 5-2 lead.
All three goals came in the first eight minutes of the frame. During that stretch, the Big Green offense dominated and held the ball for extended periods of time, something that the team has struggled with at times this season. The Quakers only had possession of the ball for 56 seconds during the Big Green's run.
"We really wanted to possess the ball and value our possessions," Hoffman said.
Just under five minutes into the third, Jake Weil '15 cut to his right, fading away from the cage, and fired from about 10 yards out to score his second goal of the season and re-establish the Big Green's two-goal advantage.
"Jake's goal was huge," Colin Heffernan '15 said. "It's where we picked up the momentum for the rest of the game."
Fulham won the next face-off, and the Big Green controlled play for several minutes.
At the 8:59 mark, Dartmouth gained a man-advantage thanks to a Penn holding penalty. On the resulting man-up, Drew Tunney '12 netted his 12th goal of the season from point-blank range to put the Big Green up by three.
Fulham again won the ensuing face-off, but the Big Green's attempt to speed up the offense failed. Luckily for Dartmouth, Tunney forced a Quaker turnover and, just over a minute later, Kip Dooley '12 pushed the lead to four with his 10th goal of the season.
Four is where the lead would stay until the 0:18 mark, when Penn took advantage of a Dartmouth turnover and cut the lead to three heading into the fourth. The Quakers amped up the pressure in the final frame, ripping nine shots to Dartmouth's four. Penn also dominated the ground ball game, taking 11 of 17.
Dartmouth had not played with a lead this late in the game since the win over Sacred Heart, but despite the inexperience this season, the Big Green weathered the Quaker storm and held on for the win.
Penn cut the lead to two just over two minutes into the frame, but the Big Green answered back five minutes later with a goal from Thomas Mattimore '12.
Penn won the ensuing face-off and scored on a fast break to make it 6-4, but the Big Green defense began to tighten. Penn continued to pressure the Dartmouth net after its fourth goal, but the Big Green defense held, blocking shots and keeping the Quakers away from any real scoring chance. With five minutes remaining in the game, Hoffman forced a crucial turnover and cleared the ball, setting the stage for Rotanz to score his second of the game and put the Big Green up, 7-4.
The Quakers were resilient, however, and continued to fight back. Penn's hopes improved when both Rotanz and Colin Delaney '12 were sent off at the same time for slashing and cross-checking penalties, respectively. On the resulting two-man advantage, the Quakers cut the lead to two. The Big Green did not possess the ball for the final 2:04 of the game, so the game was in the hands of Campbell and the defense.
With 1:16 left, the Quakers cut the lead to one and won the ensuing face-off. In the final 1:16, however, Penn only managed one shot, which came with 24 ticks left in the fourth. Campbell came up huge, making his only save of the frame. As the Quakers scrambled to regain control and find the net, the swarming Big Green defense closed the deal, and the final whistle sounded with the Big Green on top, 7-6.
"One of the big differences between being a good [Division-I] team and being an NCAA tournament team is being able to play with and hold a lead," Hoffman said.
Rotanz and Mattimore led the team in scoring with two goals and one goal and one assist, respectively.
"We played a complete game," Hoffman said. "The defense played very well and whenever there was a breakdown, Fergus stepped up."
Heffernan said that the offense was able to keep its composure, something it had struggled with in the past.
"We played a full 60 minutes on both sides of the ball," he said.
Despite the win, Dartmouth was eliminated from playoff contention. Dartmouth currently sits in sixth, one game behind Brown University and Harvard University for the fourth and final playoff spot. If Dartmouth beats the Bears on Saturday, both schools will finish with a 2-4 Ivy record. Harvard plays Yale University on April 28, and if the Bulldogs win, there would be a three-way tie for fourth between the Crimson, the Big Green and the Bears, leaving the final spot to be determined by tiebreakers. The first tiebreaker in a three-way tie is head-to-head record, and the Crimson beat both Brown and Dartmouth this year, so Harvard would be the fourth seed over both the Bears and the Big Green.
The Big Green travels to Burlington, Vt. to take on the University of Vermont on Tuesday night before traveling to Brown to face the Bears on Saturday.
