The men’s lacrosse team (1-8, 0-4 Ivy) dropped its sixth consecutive game on Saturday, a 13-10 loss to No. 17 Princeton University. Last season, the team upset the Tigers 10-9, but this time around, the Tigers (7-4, 2-2 Ivy) came out firing, ripping 31 shots in the first half en route to 53 in the game.
In a season where the Big Green has struggled, the game against Princeton marked a positive outcome, despite the disappointing result, Phil Hession ’15 said.
“Our biggest improvement this season has been our decision making on the field,” he said.
Injuries and lack of experience hindered the team earlier this season, but the team has grown, Hession said.
After the Tigers took an early 1-0 lead, the Big Green answered back with two goals in 1:20.
The Tigers responded with their own 3-0 run over the rest of the first quarter to take a 4-2 lead.
After Jake Weil ’15 stopped the bleeding with his first of four goals of the game, the Tigers pushed their lead back to four with another 3-0 run over the next five minutes.
Weil scored again with 5:39 left, but a goal by Princeton with just 32 seconds left pushed the Dartmouth deficit to 8-4 at the half. Despite being outshot 21-4 in the second, the Big Green defense and goalkeeper Blair Friedensohn ’16 held the Tigers to just four goals.
The teams traded goals in the third quarter, as Mike Olentine ’14 and KC Beard ’16 found the back of the net for the Big Green.
Despite outscoring the Tigers 4-3 in the fourth, the team could never get closer than three thanks to timely scoring by the home team to end Big Green runs. Weil opened the scoring in the final frame, but two Princeton goals in 11 seconds pushed the Tigers’ lead to five.
Jack McCormick ’17 and Weil then went back-to-back, trimming the deficit to 12-9, but another Tigers goal just 16 seconds after Weil’s fourth distanced the home team. Billy Heidt ’16 scored with 1:19 to play, but it was too little, too late for the Big Green, as the Tigers held on for the 13-10 win.
Friedensohn turned aside 12 shots during the game. Man-up opportunities continued to plague the Big Green, as it went 1-5 with the extra man.
The Dartmouth men have consistently struggled with their man-down defense, but they shut the Tigers on their only opportunity Saturday afternoon.
The ground ball battle and turnovers were relatively even. The Big Green failed to turn the Tigers over on any clear attempts, as the home team finished with a perfect 19-19.
“I thought we played to the best of our abilities for four consecutive quarters,” Jibran Ahmad ’16 said. “We’ve been struggling to do that consistently all year. We played well and fought hard, and it is unfortunate that we came up short.”
Dartmouth hopes to come back this weekend at Scully-Fahey field, facing No. 11 University of Pennsylvania at 1 p.m. Saturday. The team will honor its nine seniors at the game.
Five athletes contacted by The Dartmouth Saturday and Sunday did not respond to requests for comment by press time.
