This was the first win over a ranked opponent for the Big Green men since the beginning of last season, when they defeated Colgate University. The Dartmouth men are the only team to hold the potent Tigers' offense to single digits this season.
"We played with an edge," goalkeeper Bernie Susskind '13 said. "We really wanted it and we played with great energy."
The game did not start well for the Big Green, however, as Princeton scored three goals in the first 10 minutes. The Big Green was shut out until Mike Olentine '14 netted his fifth tally of the season with four and a half minutes left in the first quarter.
The second quarter was an offensive explosion for both teams. Eight total goals were scored on 21 total shots. Each team scored four times in the frame to make the score 7-5 at the half in favor of Princeton. Chris Costabile '13 got the Big Green within one, but the Tigers answered. Just 12 seconds after the Tigers reestablished a two-goal advantage, Phil Hession '15 scored. Just over a minute later, Olentine tallied his second of the game to tie it at four.
The Tigers followed the Big Green run with a two-goal run of their own to go up back two. Olentine then capped his big day against his hometown team with his third goal of the game with just over two and a half minutes left in the half. The Tigers scored on a man-up opportunity within the final minute to stretch the lead to two at the half.
The second half scoreboard was dominated by the Big Green, who outscored the Tigers 5-2 to steal the win.
"We came out guns blazing and played our best," Susskind said. "They're obviously a great team so we had to if we wanted to compete."
The Tigers scored the first goal of the second half, establishing their second three-goal advantage of the afternoon. Just like before, however, the Big Green came back with a fury. Defenseman Eric Clemmenson '14 scored his first of the season about eight and a half minutes into the third off an expert clear from Susskind. This was the senior goaltender's first career assist. Brendan Rotanz '14 joined the scoring column with his eighth of the season just over a minute and a half later to cut the Princeton lead to one going into the final frame.
"Being down by three goals is nothing new for us," Cam Lee '16 said. "We're a resilient team and we never lost hope. I think we played with more heart than Princeton did."
The final frame was back and forth. Adam Fishman '15 scored his sixth of the season with nine minutes to go in the game to tie the contest. The Tigers responded two minutes later to go back into the lead. Nikki Dysenchuk '13 netted his 12th of the season to tie the game at nine.
With just under five minutes remaining in the game, Princeton conceded a tripping penalty, giving the Big Green a man-up advantage. The Dartmouth men did not wait around, as KC Beard '16 found Lee in front of the cage just 16 seconds into the man advantage. Lee fired and found the back of the net, giving the Big Green their first lead of the game with 4:40 left to play. The defense took over from there, closing out a big upset win for the Big Green.
"It was incredible," Lee said. "I just tried to stay in the moment. With 4:40 left in the game, we couldn't celebrate too much because of how good Princeton is. They had plenty of opportunities, but Bernie came up big."
This was the best defensive game for the Dartmouth men all season. They held the Tigers' star senior midfielder Jeff Froccaro scoreless for the first time in over 20 games and held the Tigers to single digits for the first time since a 6-5 loss to the University of Virginia in the opening round of last season's NCAA Tournament.
"The [defense] did a really good job containing their offense and offensively, we did a good job getting long possessions so they didn't have the ball," Costabile said. "We needed to keep possession as long as possible because their offense is extremely dangerous."
The shots fell in favor of the Tigers 35-33, as did the ground ball battle (29-19). The Tigers also scored two man-up goals on three opportunities. Susskind came up big between the pipes, stopping 10 shots to earn his first career Ivy League win.
The team travels to Philadelphia next Saturday to take on the No. 14 University of Pennsylvania at Franklin Field.
"This shows what we can do when we put it all together," Susskind said. "We've been able to prove that we can hang with good teams, but haven't been able to beat them before yesterday. It's nice to have some proof that we can."
