The men’s lacrosse team’s 17-12 defeat of the College of the Holy Cross finished its season on a triumphant note on Scully-Fahey Field. The Big Green (2-10, 0-6 Ivy) rode a record-setting individual performance from Mike Olentine ’14 to the five-goal victory in the final game of the season on Tuesday.
Olentine scored 10 times in the afternoon, breaking a program record of nine goals last set in 1979. The 10-goal effort was just one short of the Ivy League record set most recently in 1993 by Brown University’s Oliver Marti.
The senior also tallied an assist to rack up 11 points in the game. That was good for fifth-best in League history, just two points behind the prior Dartmouth record, set by John Walters ’62.
The cool, blustery day in Hanover brought a high-scoring game, as both teams shot the ball over 50 times. The Crusaders held a small advantage here, shooting the ball 55 times to Dartmouth’s 54.
The fact that the Crusaders could only score 12 goals stems from the efforts of goalkeeper Blair Friedensohn ’16. The goalie saved the ball 21 times, a career high, including seven in the fourth quarter. His previous career best was 14 saves, achieved in each of the last two games.
“Sometimes as a goalie you have days where everything just clicks, and I think Tuesday was one of those days,” he said. “Before the game, our coach pulled me aside and told me this is for next year. As a sophomore goalie, there’s so much I can build on. I really viewed the game yesterday as a way to improve for the future, and I think I definitely did that.”
The scoring started fast and early for the Big Green. Wiley Osborne ’17 rocketed a low underhand shot past the goalie less than four minutes into the game to start a Dartmouth scoring barrage. The Big Green would open up a 6-1 lead by the end of the first quarter, scoring the first six goals of the game.
Dartmouth would stretch this to a 9-2 lead midway through the second quarter, including a series of transition opportunities where selfless ball distribution resulted in a number of easy looks directly in front of the goal.
“The real difference was our transition game,” Olentine said. “Our defense and long pole middies did a really great job of pushing the ball up the field and creating opportunities for the attack.”
Holy Cross showed resilience throughout the day and Dartmouth, despite seemingly scoring at will, could not pull away to seal the victory. The Crusaders would get within four goals five times over the course of the game but could get no closer to the Big Green. Neither defense could dominate as the offensives controlled the entire game.
In the end, Friedensohn’s performance in goal and seven saves in the fourth secured the Big Green’s victory.
Five other Dartmouth players recorded a goal and two, Osborne and Jack McCormick ’17, had multipoint games.
“All of our freshmen show a lot of promise,” Olentine said. “They’re all really good individually, and it will be huge to see them develop together over four years.”
The Big Green dealt with injuries and relative inexperience for much of the season.
“The real silver lining in this season is that more than half of our starters are either freshmen or sophomores,” Friedensohn said. “It was definitely not the best season, but I think yesterday you could really start to see us mesh together as a team.”
Don Stephan ’17, who scored Tuesday, said the seniors inspired the younger players throughout the season.
As a tough season ends, optimism can be hard to find. With no League wins and just two overall victories, the record certainly was not what the Big Green expected. Despite this, the entire team maintained a positive attitude after the exciting final victory.
“Coming into Dartmouth, I never could have imagined having a day like that,” Olentine said, “and it’s really all due to my teammates. Throughout the whole season, which has been tough, everyone has really stuck together and kept a great attitude.”
The All-Ivy teams were also announced on Wednesday and defenseman Robert Osgood ’15 received an honorable mention. It was Osgood’s first award, and he was the only Dartmouth player to be named to the teams.
