"We play a lot of good teams," Chris Costabile '13 said. "Most of the Ivy League is ranked, so it doesn't get any easier from here."
The team plays many ranked opponents this season and four Ivy League teams are currently ranked in the top 20.
"We don't really think about playing a hard schedule, we just want to play the toughest schedule we can," Colin Heffernan '15 said. "It helps having games against UNC and Hofstra under our belts to let us know that we can ball with the best before going into the Ivy schedule. The Ivy League is looking like it'll be among the toughest leagues in the nation along with the ACC and the Big East."
In their Ivy League opener on Saturday, Dartmouth fell behind to Harvard (4-3, 1-1 Ivy) and could not come back, losing 9-6. At the half, the Crimson led 3-2 thanks to a goal with five seconds left in the second. The Big Green never led in the game despite numerous runs in the second half. Late in the third, goals by Brendan Rotanz 14 and Costabile brought the team back to within one, but Harvard pushed their lead to three early in the fourth. Costabile once again tallied two goals in the loss.
"We've definitely improved our defense, even though we're still not close to where we want to be," Heffernan said. "We brought out a new defense against Harvard and that worked well for us. Our goalie play has really been spectacular. Bernie Susskind ['13] has been playing amazing between the pipes and keeping us in games."
The season started with a hard-fought loss against Colgate University (7-2, 2-0 Patriot) on Feb. 23. After playing to 5-4 at the half, a slow third quarter hurt the Big Green. The Raiders came out of the half on a tear, notching 16 shots and five goals in the third. The run was propelled by seven Big Green turnovers and two missed clears.
Despite outscoring the Raiders in the fourth, 4-3, the Dartmouth men were on the short end of a 13-10 defeat. Nikki Dysenchuk '13 and Cam Lee '16 spearheaded the offense, with three goals and two goals and an assist, respectively. KC Beard '16 and Billy Heidt '16 tallied their first career goals in the losing effort.
On Feb. 26, UVM (3-5, 0-0 America East) came to Hanover and opened the game on a strong note, taking a 4-2 lead into the half. The Big Green outshot the Catamounts in the first half, but was unable to consistently find the net, tallying only two goals on 23 shots. The second half was a different story. The Dartmouth men notched 11 goals to UVM's four to close out a 13-8 win over their rivals and extend their home winning streak against the Catamounts to 13 in a row.
"It's been tough for us to get into the groove of the game," Robbie Hoffman '13 said. "We often come out firing after halftime because we're frustrated at how we played in the first half."
The team's next game against the Georgetown Hoyas (3-5, 1-0 Big East) was in Dallas on March 2, as part of the Patriot Cup hosted by Southern Methodist University. This was the Big Green's closest game of the early season, but a fourth quarter comeback by the Hoyas left the team from Hanover on the short end of a 10-9 defeat. Neither team trailed by more than two goals in the contest.
The team traveled back to Hanover to take on the Robert Morris Colonials on March 9 (4-4, 0-0 Northeast) and needed another second-half comeback to prevail 11-9.
After going into the half trailing 5-2, the Big Green offense exploded for nine in the second half, closing the game with a 4-1 fourth quarter. The comeback was not easy, however, as the Colonials led 8-4 with five minutes to go in the third. From that point on, the game was all Dartmouth, with goals from Costabile, Mike Olentine '14, and Phil Hession '15, who cut the RMU lead to one going into the fourth with his first goal of the season. Fourth quarter goals by Costabile, Patrick Campbell '15, JP Garry '13, and Rotanz brought home the win for the Big Green.
Against UNC (5-3, 1-1 ACC) in Chapel Hill N.C., on March 18, a second-half slump hurt the Big Green and guided the Tar Heels to a 13-5 win. At the half, the score was 5-3 in favor of the Chapel Hill team, but the Big Green could not produce another comeback. Statistically, the Tar Heels dominated the Big Green, notching 54 shots, picking up 43 ground balls, winning 15 of 22 face-offs and forcing 23 turnovers. Costabile and Rotanz continued their hot streaks, scoring twice each in the game.
"I'm focusing on shooting and being fundamentally sound," Costabile said. "However, our record doesn't really reflect what we've all been working on so there's something more we have to do."
The next game for the Big Green is Tuesday night against No. 7 Hofstra University in Hampstead, N.Y.
"It's not going to get any easier," Hoffman said. "We can't circle any games and say they're automatic wins. We've played some good quarters and some good halves, but we haven't put together a full game yet. We need to do that moving forward."
