This loss extended the Dartmouth men's losing streak against top-25 opponents to eight. The last time the Big Green beat a ranked opponent was in the season opener of the 2012 campaign, when they beat No. 19 Colgate University. The team has now lost 15 of 16 past contests to the Big Red.
"We didn't really come to play yesterday," Bernie Susskind '13 said. "It was a combination of the fact that we didn't execute and they came after us really hard. They're obviously a great team and we just didn't show up."
Slow starts to both halves killed the Big Green's chances of pulling off the upset. In the first and third quarters, the Dartmouth men were outscored 13-2, outshot 26-9, and were forced into committing 13 turnovers to Cornell's six.
"We played scared and not to lose," defenseman Pat Flynn '13 said. "That type of loss is never easy for a player or a program, but we'll bounce back because we have to."
After two quick Big Red goals to start off the game, Chris Costabile '13 brought the team from Hanover within one with his 14th goal of the season at the 8:49 mark. Unfortunately for the Big Green, however, this was the closest they would get to the juggernaut Cornell team.
"We had some communication breakdowns," Susskind said. "It was better in the second and the fourth, but the first and third were not very good. We're going to work on that in practice and hopefully we can make that better for next week."
The Big Red reeled off five straight goals to push the margin to six. Cam Lee '16 got back in the scoring column with his sixth goal of the season at the 12:27 mark of the second. The goal cut the deficit to five, but by the 1:30 mark in the quarter, Cornell had opened the game up to the tune of 10-2. That's where the game would have stood at the half if not for Jeff Perkins '14. The junior attack got a feed from the Big Green's offensive MVP of the afternoon Adam Fishman '15 and found the back of the net to cut the Cornell lead to seven going into the half.
The first seven minutes of the third quarter were hard fought, with the Big Red outscoring the Big Green 3-1. Midfielder Phil Hession '15 tallied an unassisted goal for the Big Green.
"If you look at the second and fourth, it was better than the first and third, but we still were outscored 8-3, which is not good," Flynn said.
However, from the 8:00 mark of the third to the 10:30 mark of the fourth, Cornell dominated the game action, scoring nine unanswered to extinguish any lingering doubts that the game was theirs. By the time Fishman scored his fifth of the season, the score was 21-5. The last 10 and a half minutes of the game were scoreless.
"We underestimated their offensive ability to play without their star attackman Rob Pannell, who's the best player in the country," Ham Sonnenfeld '16 said. "We shut him off for the whole game, but the rest of the team really picked it up."
Statistically, the Big Green was similarly dominated on the field. In addition to the huge shot advantage for Cornell, the team from Ithaca won the ground ball battle 41-18. The Big Green did not pick up a ground ball in the final frame. Going 15-18 on clears was not good enough for the Big Green, however, as Big Red were a perfect 22-22. Dartmouth only narrowly lost the turnover battle 18-14. The face-off hurt the Big Green, as they lost 19 of 29 in the game.
"What really killed us were the face-offs," Susskind said. "It's a huge part of the game and we can't give away possessions like that, especially against a team like Cornell."
Sonnenfield said this was not as much due to the fact that Cornell was better at face-offs, but because the Big Red wing men "outworked" the Big Green midfielders for the ball.
Susskind played well between the pipes in the losing effort, turning away nine shots.
"I don't think we can look at anything from that game as positive," Flynn said. "There's nothing we can take from that game other than that is a very good team and we just didn't show up."
The Dartmouth men are back in action next Saturday, when they look to get back on track against the Yale University Bulldogs in New Haven, Conn.
"We're hungrier now," Susskind said. "A lot of people want people to prove themselves. We have to learn from this game and come ready to play Yale in New Haven next weekend."
