The Dartmouth 01/13/2020

01.13.20

Men’s basketball faces uphill battle in upcoming conference play p. 4 Track and field teams take home victories at Dartmouth Relays p. 7 Men’s hockey ties UVM, comes back from 3-0 deficit to beat BU p. 8

Women’s basketball edges Harvard on thrilling late comeback p. 5

JUSTIN KRAMER/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

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MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2020

THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

The weekend Roundup

squash

Compiled by anna may mott and the dartmouth sports staff

m hockey Men’s hockey pulled off two gritty performances this weekend, coming back to tie the University of Vermont and defeat Boston University after falling behind early in both nonconference matchups.

The weekend games brought Dartmouth’s overall record to 8-5-3 on the year.

For most of the game Friday night at UVM, it seemed as though Dartmouth would drop its sixth-straight game to the Catamounts, despite UVM’s 3-132 record coming into the game.

The Catamounts jumped out to an early 2-0 lead with goals in the first minute and midway through the second period. Mark Gallant ’23 answered shortly after off assists from Quin Foreman ’21 and Tanner Palocsik ’23, and Jeff Losurdo ’22 knotted the score at 2-2 with under five minutes to go. Losurdo’s goal put an end to Dartmouth’s losing streak versus UVM, but the winless streak moved to seven as the game

stayed tied through overtime.

The following night, the Big Green completed a shocking comeback against BU in front of a packed home crowd, winning 5-4. The Terriers came onto the ice strong, netting three goals in the first 15 minutes. Dartmouth responded quickly, with three goals in 100 seconds to tie it, including Gallant’s third goal in four games.

Gallant also had two assists on the night, including one through Palocsik to Foreman, who tied it at 3-3 before the end of the first period. After BU’s Wilmer Skoog flipped in a goal around the net in the second period, Drew O’Connor ’22 punched in two goals in 47 seconds to regain the lead for good, giving him a team-leading 10 goals on the season.

With its nonconference slate coming to a close against BU, the Big Green hosts Clarkson University and St. Lawrence University next weekend.

NAINA BHALLA/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

A tough weekend of matches extended the squash teams’ records to 0-3 in Ivy League games this season.

Both the men’s and women’s squash teams lost their home matches this weekend.

The No. 11 men’s squash team fell to undefeated No. 4 Princeton University on Saturday. The Big Green received wins from Jack Bell ’22, James Bell ’21 and Sam Supattapone ’21. James Bell came back from being down two games to one, winning the final game decisively 11-4. Jack Bell also came back, storming back from a 2-0 deficit to win in a close 12-10 deciding game. Sunday was even tougher for Dartmouth, as No. 3 University of Pennsylvania swept 9-0, with James Bell pushing his opponent to five games to cap off his strong weekend.

The women’s squash team, also ranked No. 11,

was swept on Saturday by No. 3 Princeton. Jesse Brownell ’23 took a 2-1 lead in her match, but the Tigers’ Caroline Spahr fought back and won in five games. Ellie Gozigian ’21, Emma MacTaggart ’22 and Emma Supattapone ’23 all lost in four games.

The Big Green started well on Sunday against Penn, as Supattapone and Sandra Reiss ’21 captured the first two matches of the day, but those would be the only wins for Dartmouth, with the other seven matches going in Penn’s favor.

Both the men’s and women’s teams now stand at 1-4 overall and 0-3 in conference play, and they will look to rebound next weekend at the George Washington University.

w swimming and diving Zachary ZacharyBenjamin Benjamin’19 ’19

Debora Hyemin Han ’20 Editor-in-Chief Editor-in-Chief Editor-in-Chief

01.13.20 Vol.CLXXV CLXXVI No. 4.30.18 4.23.18 Vol. Vol. CLXXV No. No. 27 21113

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The women’s swimming and diving team fell to Yale University, 229.5 – 70.5, and the University of Pennsylvania, 170 – 130, at Saturday’s tri-meet in New Haven. The Big Green’s divers started the meet with three podium finishes. Maggie Pionzio ’20 took second place on the 1-meter board, with Isabella Lichen ’22 taking third. Pionzio took the podium again in the 3-meter board with a third-place finish.

The swimmers ended the meet with four more top-three finishes for the Big Green. Sophie Smith ’20 took first in the 100 yard freestyle and second in the 50 free, just one tenth of a second behind Yale’s Isabelle Henig. A Dartmouth team took second in the 400 free relay as well.

The team will travel to Storrs next weekend to face the University of Connecticut.

MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2020

THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

w hockey

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w basketball On Saturday, the women’s basketball team opened Ivy League play with a thrilling 63-62 win over Harvard University in front of an electric crowd in Hanover.

The Big Green started off hot and carried its momentum throughout the game. Annie McKenna ’20 and Katie Douglas ’22 combined for five 3s in the opening frame to help their team secure a 25-15 lead going into the second quarter. Anna Luce ’21 picked up where McKenna and Douglas left off opened the Big Green’s second-quarter scoring with two consecutive triples to give the home team its biggest lead of the game. Then, however, Harvard clawed back and went into halftime down just three points.

The third quarter was a see-saw scramble, with no team taking a lead larger than four, but down three with less than half a minute to play, Jimena Abejon ’22 sunk a 3 to tie the game heading into the fourth. The final quarter was anyone’s game, but with a one-point advantage and the ball with 13 seconds to play, it looked like Harvard was about to seal the deal. Then, Douglas dove for the steal and tipped it to McKenna, who ran ahead for the go-ahead layup. A stout Big Green defense held Harvard in the Crimson’s last possession to secure the win.

The Big Green will aim for a regular season sweep of the Crimson when the team travels to Cambridge for a rematch on Jan. 25.

NAINA BHALLA/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

The women’s hockey team went 0-2 at home this weekend, but will look to bounce back next weekend on the road.

The women’s hockey team went 0-2 on its home ice this weekend, falling to No. 7 Princeton University 7-0 on Friday and Quinnipiac University 5-1 Saturday.

Princeton’s three goals in the first period set the tone for a convincing victory that ended the Big Green’s threegame win streak. Dartmouth split the goal tending job among Kayla Wormsbecher ’21 — who made two saves and allowed two goals — and Hannah Humphreys ’23, who allowed the remaining five goals while tallying 20 saves. The Tigers fired 29 shots to the Big Green’s 18, but the Big Green was never able to find the back of the net and ultimately fell in a shutout to an ECAC and Ivy

League rival in Princeton.

While the Big Green played Quinnipiac evenly in the first and third periods, Dartmouth lost the game in the second when Quinnipiac outscored the home team 4-0.

The Big Green’s only goal of the game came in the first period from CC Bowlby ’23 on a power play with Bailee Brekke ’20 and Lotti Odnoga ’22 each earning a point for an assist. Wormsbecher and Humphreys again split the game in goal and combined for 24 saves.

The Big Green will travel to the Empire State next weekend to face Cornell University and Colgate University.

m swimming and diving Saturday’s meet in New Haven ended in defeat for the men’s swimming and diving team. Yale University beat Dartmouth 160-140, while the University of Pennsylvania defeated the Big Green 195-105. The divers began the meet with Justin Sodokoff ’21 taking first place on the 3-meter board. Ray Neistat ’20 had Dartmouth’s highest score on the 1-meter board in fifth place.

The swimmers finished up for Dartmouth with five podium finishes. Connor LaMastra ’21 took first in the 500 and 1000 yard freestyle and finished second in the 200 butterfly. Tim Park ’23 took second place in the 200 free, while Joe Moll ’22 gave the Big Green a third-place finish in the 200 yard backstroke.

The team will race the University of Connecticut in Storrs next weekend.

w track and field Women’s track and field dominated at Leverone Field House in a commanding win this weekend, beating out second-place University of New Hampshire 211-51. This victory marks Dartmouth’s tenth consecutive Dartmouth Relays title.

The Big Green had first and second place finishes in the 800 meters and the high jump and took the top four spots in the long jump

and the pole vault. Julia Valenti ’20 not only won the pole vault, but set the meet record, clearing 13-1.5/4.0 meters. To cap off the wins, Cha’Mia Rothwell ’20 took first in the 60m hurdles, Lily Lockhart ’21 won the shot put and the Dartmouth team finished first in the 4x400m relay.

Next week the team will face Columbia University and Yale University at home.

m track and field Men’s track and field came out of the weekend’s Dartmouth Relays with their eighth win in nine years. The stars of the meet were Myles Epstein ’23 with first place in the 60m dash and Mathieu Freeman ’21, who won the 400m dash. Max Frye ’21 and Tim Zepf ’21 followed Freeman in

the 400, finishing third and fourth respectively. The Big Green also claimed podium finishes in the shot put and the weight throw and rounded out its success with first place in the 4x400m relay.

The team will stay in Hanover next week to challenge Columbia University and Yale University.

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THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2020

Men’s basketball faces uphill battle in upcoming conference play B y DEVAN FINK

The Dartmouth Staff

Dartmouth men’s basketball might have a 7-8 record through 15 games, but the month of January brings the real action along with a clean slate.

Ivy League play tips off this month, and though the Big Green is far from being the favorite to win the conference, the chance to earn a trip to the NCAA Tournament is right in front of them, however challenging the road may be.

The path to the national tournament has become significantly less challenging in recent years. When the Ivy League became the final Division I conference to institute a postseason tournament before the 2016-17 season, four teams — rather than the singular regular season champion — were given the opportunity to earn the automatic bid. The goal, then, became much more simple: Play well enough to earn one of the top four seeds, win two games and punch your ticket to March Madness.

“Every single game now means something,” said head coach David McLaughlin. “Before the tournament, it was very hard to say that because you might know who has a chance to be the top one team, and it might be between three teams, and there might be five games left in the year. Now, it could go down to — literally, every year, it’s gone down to the last game.”

Even with this seemingly easier route, Dartmouth’s March Madness drought has continued. The Big Green has not appeared in the NCAA Tournament since 1959, a streak of 60 seasons. This is the longestactive tournament drought and the second-longest tournament drought in NCAA history, behind only Harvard University’s 65-year drought lasting from the 1946-47 season through the 2010-11 season.

“I know when I committed to Dartmouth, I loved the school, and I also wanted a chance to make history,” said guard James Foye ’20.

Thus, perhaps it is fitting that Harvard is not only the first but also the second team on Dartmouth’s schedule, with the squad opening

conference play on Saturday in Cambridge and coming home for the rematch in Hanover on Jan. 25.

Playing the same team in back-to-back games poses extra challenges for game planning, those that head coach David McLaughlin is hoping to evaluate from the get-go.

“You don’t want to necessarily change the game plan if it worked, right?” McLaughlin said. “But, they’re going to have a counter to it, so what’s going to be your counter to that counter? It’s a little bit like a chess match.”

The Crimson will provide some unique problems for Dartmouth right out of the gate. For one, three of the team’s starting five players are at least as big as the Big Green’s tallest starter, Chris Knight ’21. This length gives Harvard inherent advantages in rebounding at both ends of the court, as well as points scored inside the paint.

How Dartmouth plans to respond to those challenges will be key.

“We can have mismatches of our own,” Foye said. “If they have better size, we may have a little more quickness and the ability to exploit those matchups on the perimeter.

That’s kind of your plan on how to not let them exploit their matchup with size, but also how we can maybe isolate some of their bigger guys in situations they’re not used to.”

The Big Green has had ample time to prepare. With 16 days between Dartmouth’s loss at the University of Vermont and its Ivy opener, the team has taken the break as an extended opportunity to get ready for what is to come. According to Foye, in the team’s first week of the break, the Big Green has been focusing its energy inward — “just getting better at what we do.” The second week will be more centered around how to plan for Harvard.

The Crimson — projected to finish first in the Ivy League in this year’s preseason media poll — might be something of a near-lock to be playing in the Ivy tournament, though Harvard will face stiff competition from Yale University for the No. 1 seed. Per basketball statistician Ken Pomeroy’s rankings as of Sunday, Jan. 12, Yale has the 58th-highest efficiency

margin of any Division I school in the country at +12.13 points, with Harvard coming in at 97th at +7.21 points. “[Harvard and Yale] have separated themselves,” Foye said. “I’m sure that, if you ask them, they know how hard it can be to win in the league, and they know how little metrics can matter night to night, and how anything can happen.”

The postseason picture becomes significantly less clear after that. The University of Pennsylvania (+2.35, 139th) is currently the third-best team in the conference, but the fight for the fourth seed could come down to the collection of Princeton University (-1.84, 191st), Brown University (-3.96, 207th), Dartmouth (-4.18, 209th) and Columbia University (-6.43, 243rd).

The other New York Ivy, Cornell University (-10.39, 291st), appears to be more on the outside looking in.

Currently, Pomeroy projects Yale to win the conference with an 11-3 conference record, Harvard to finish in second at 10-4 and Cornell to round out the group at 4-10. The five other schools are all separated by three or fewer wins. Dartmouth is projected to tie with Brown for fifth, at 6-8, a game shy of clinching the fourth Ivy tournament bid.

That’s well within the margin of

error. Luke Benz, a Yale alumnus and current data scientist, currently projects the Big Green to have a 30.2 percent chance to earn one of the top four seeds in the conference, according to his college basketball power rankings model.

“It’s so easy for anyone to look very far ahead, and look at the other games, ‘Okay, could we win this? Could we win this? How’s this going to be?’”

McLaughlin said. “But that’s really wasted energy. What you have to do is put all of your effort and concentration as coaches and players into winning today. If you can add winning days together, all that does is — five out of six, seven out of nine — that just gets you ready to win the next game.”

Adding difficulty to the schedule is familiarity. Though the games might not be as clustered together as the first two contests versus Harvard, all the teams “know what everyone does,” Knight said. For him, the tightly-knit nature of the conference has added to his personal competitiveness, creating what he referred to as a “personal vendetta” against Brown, for example.

“Last year, during a game, I got dunked on,” Knight said. “One of the dudes posted it on Instagram, and I got tagged like a million times by people. I was just not very happy about that.”

Last season, 35.7 percent of Ivy League games were either decided by three or fewer points or went to overtime, per KenPom, the most of any conference in the nation.

“Every team in our league creates different challenges that makes it exciting,” Foye said. “Game by game, I think I’m just excited for how competitive it’s going to be, and how competitive we’re going to be, and the immense preparation that goes into every game. That makes the wins, when they come out, even more sweet.”

That competitiveness is why, according to McLaughlin, if Dartmouth is going to run the table and end its tournament drought, the team will need immense support from the student body.

“We have to make Leede Arena the toughest place to play in the Ivy League, and there’s no reason why we can’t do that,” he said. “It’s a great level of basketball. It’s easy for students to get to the game. The guys play extremely hard. They’re highcharacter guys around campus. We need the support here in the gym, so that this is a place that [teams] don’t want to come in and play because they know the environment is going to be in our favor and very hostile for them.”

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THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2020

Women’s basketball edges Harvard on thrilling late comeback B y EMILY LU

The Dartmouth Staff

Last-second heroics by Katie Douglas ’22 and Annie McKenna ’20 gave the Big Green a huge boost in its traditional Ivy opener against Harvard University, as the women’s basketball team ran away with 63-62 victory over the Crimson on Saturday.

After letting a dominant firstquarter lead slip away, the Big Green trailed by one with 17 seconds on the clock. A crucial defensive stop came when Douglas made a steal and tipped the ball to McKenna, who nailed the winning shot. Dartmouth’s defense hung on to secure the win.

“What a day for Dartmouth women’s basketball, it’s a great way to start our Ivy League season — fresh beginnings,” said head coach Belle Koclanes. “We took incredible care of the basketball, with 17 assists and only nine turnovers. That’s team play.

This is the vision we have for DWB: gritty, a ton of heart, playing with a lot of fire and focus.”

After Harvard’s opening bucket, Elle Louie ’21 answered back with a layup of her own and forced a turnover on the next possession.

Defensive efforts quickly kicked in with steals by Paula Lenart ’20 and Louie. The lead continued to switch between the two teams until the Big Green went on a 11-0 run with three consecutive 3s by McKenna and Douglas, as well as an Anna Luce ’21 jumper to end the first quarter 25-15.

“We’ve always talked about our starts and having that energizing start really boosted our confidence,” Douglas said. “We came together as a team just to have that good offense and defense.”

In the second and third quarters, the Crimson began to find their footing and outscored the Big Green 16-9 and 17-14, respectively, to tie the game up at 48-48. While Luce sank back-to-back triples early in the second stanza to extend the Big Green’s lead to 14, the Crimson responded with their own 14-3 run and finished the half a mere three points behind Dartmouth. Harvard snatched the lead in the third quarter

with 6:46 left on the clock; despite a trio of trifectas from Douglas, Brown and Jimena Abejon ’22, the third quarter ended with the score even.

Both Douglas and Asha Taylor ’22 recorded threes early in the fourth quarter. With 3:25 on the mark, Harvard extended its lead to 62-58, but could never pull away as Douglas sank another 3-pointer to put the game within one. In the last 21 seconds, the Big Green fouled four times to stop the clock and try to regain possession. Its chance came with a clutch steal by Douglas after deflecting a Harvard pass; the ball landed in McKenna’s hands and she broke away for the game-winning layup.

“We always try to go for the ball first; [the Harvard player] didn’t see me coming,” Douglas said. “I think I [yelled] a mid-air ‘Annie!,’ dove, and just tipped it to her.”

The last 13.5 seconds of regulation proved tense, as all eyes turned to Dartmouth’s defense to protect the season-opening triumph. Continuing its gritty defensive pressure from the rest of the game, the Big Green effectively prevented Harvard from getting a last-second shot off and maintained the score for a 63-62 win.

“We had a lot of time left, and they weren’t really attacking first, which was great for us,” Lenart said. “The last baseline drive was when [Harvard was] like, ‘Okay let’s score,’ but there was no time left. We were good on rotations, everybody was on a good defensive position so that’s how we got a stop.”

Lenart was critical in keeping Harvard off the board in the last possession, as she helps to lead Dartmouth’s focus on defensive play, especially on rebounding.

“From day one we talked about the name of this season is going to be defending and rebounding, we’re going to win games thanks to [that],” Koclanes said. “[Lenart is] helping our younger players understand how important rebounding is, and what a vital role she plays for our team — she’s inspiring our younger players.”

Three players posted double-digit points during the Big Green’s first win in its last four games, including

JUSTIN KRAMER/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

The Big Green rode strong 3-point shooting to a 63-62 victory over Harvard on Saturday.

Douglas with a career-high five 3-pointers to lead the team with 19.

McKenna added 15 of her own along with five assists, and Lenart tallied 10 points. Both teams came in with a 3-point field goal percentage of .296; Dartmouth, however, shot 13-of-24 (.542) from beyond the arc and held the Crimson to 8-of-25 (.320).

A 1-0 record to open conference play is an impressive start for the Big Green, who are coming off a 6-7 record in nonconference matchups and are predicted to finish sixth in the Ivy League. The team hopes to continue its momentum from Saturday into the second game against the Crimson, which will be played on Jan. 25 in Cambridge. The overall goal, of course, is to secure the program’s 18th conference title and earn an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

“This is just one step towards our ultimate goal,” McKenna said. “We need to take every game one step at a time and just focus on each weekend.

Every game is so important for our season so can’t let any game go.”

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From the Bleachers with Baily Deeter ’22

From the Bleachers: A Changing of the Guard in the NFL? I woke up confidently the morning of Saturday, Jan. 4, ready for a full slate of NFL playoff action.

The last time a team that played on Wild Card weekend made the Super Bowl was in 2012, but I was sure this was the year that not one, but two, of those teams would break through.

So I took to Twitter to announce my bold proclamation: I was predicting a battle between the New Orleans Saints and the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl.

So of course, the Tennessee Titans, arguably the league’s most boring team during the last few decades, decided to storm into Foxborough and become the first team to defeat the Patriots at Gillette Stadium in the playoffs since 2012.

I reluctantly revised my prediction to Ravens versus Saints. Then Kirk Cousins, who entered the game 0-347 against playoff teams, took his Minnesota Vikings to New Orleans and somehow pulled out an overtime victory. I reluctantly surrendered and accepted defeat.

Now, I am not new to having all-time bad takes. After all, I did proclaim Dan Orlovsky to be the savior of the Indianapolis Colts franchise back in 2011, which rightfully caught the attention of the popular social media account “Freezing Cold Takes.” But this misfire absolutely shocked me. As I watched the New England Patriots dominate the first seven weeks of the season, I saw what I thought was a reincarnation of their early

THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

2000s squads that claimed three Super Bowls in four years thanks to a superb defense. I thought they had the perfect championship formula, with great defense and a turnoverfree offense that magically relearns how to run the ball every January.

But Mike Vrabel had other ideas.

While I was stunned to see the Patriots bow out so early, what really hit me was the Saints finding another ridiculous way to lose a playoff game against an inferior opponent. The Saints might have been the NFC’s most talented team in each of the last three seasons, yet somehow they only made one NFC Championship and zero Super Bowls during that span. They would have had a great chance against an overrated Green Bay team and would have given Seattle or San Francisco a hard time in the NFC Championship. Instead, they played conservatively and lost to Kirk Cousins. No, Kirk, I don’t like that.

In retrospect, Wild Card weekend marked two key events. First, it marked a major hit to my Twitter credibility. But maybe even more importantly, it indicated a major changing of the guard in the NFL. Tom Brady and Drew Brees are not going to be around much longer, and both, along with Philip Rivers, could be donning different colors next season.

I grew up watching Brady and Peyton Manning duel for supremacy in the AFC, while Rivers, Ben Roethlisberger and Joe Flacco got in the mix every now and then.

Watching Manning retire in the 2016 offseason was surreal, but the amount of change that we will see this offseason will be unprecedented.

Brady could be wearing a Los Angeles Chargers baby blue uniform when Week 1 of next season rolls around. Brees might not be retained by the Saints and could take his talents somewhere else. Rivers might be brought on to fill the shoes of another fallen superstar, Andrew Luck, up north in Indianapolis.

It seems likely that these three future Hall of Famers will remain in the league for at least one more season, but it will soon be out with the old and in with the new. Even without some of the league’s biggest names taking center stage, the NFL

has held up just fine. As we look ahead to conference championship weekend, the new talent that has made this league so fun to watch this season will be on full display.

Despite a scary knee injury in Week 7, Patrick Mahomes is the league’s reigning Most Valuable Player and now sits one win away from playing in his first Super Bowl.

And the tables have certainly turned for Brady’s former backup Jimmy Garoppolo, who finds himself in charge of a San Francisco 49ers squad that resembles his old team with top-tier coaching, solid defense and a great short passing game.

Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers are still in the mix, but even they needed a new head coach and some fresh blood at running back to make it back to the final four.

And who could forget about the big names that are soon to enter the league? Joe Burrow and Tua Tagovailoa will soon find themselves tasked with the challenge of turning around struggling NFL franchises, and Trevor Lawrence, aka fast Peyton Manning, will have the same opportunity in 2021. I have my doubts about this year’s quarterback crop, but it is hard not to see at least one of those three names emerging as an elite quarterback for years to come.

While it was certainly strange to watch a Divisional Round weekend that featured Ryan Tannehill but not Thomas Edward Patrick Brady, I strongly believe that this NFL season has been one of the most exciting that I have ever experienced. I had a sour taste in my mouth after watching the horrendous slugfest that was Super Bowl LIII, but the new stars of the NFL’s 100th season have completely washed that taste away.

I cannot help but get excited for not only the final three games of the season, but for the onslaught of news that we are going to get as free agency begins. The last big names of the NFL that five-year-old me fell in love with are about to move on to their next chapter. But the emerging superstars are creating a league that 19-year-old me will thoroughly enjoy for as long as football is deemed safe enough to play.

MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2020

MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2020

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THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

Track and field teams take home victories at Dartmouth Relays B y Gretta pickett The Dartmouth

Last Friday, Leverone Field House was filled to capacity for the 2020 Dartmouth Relays. Amid hundreds of voices and under bright fluorescent lights, the Big Green track and field teams competed against eight other schools, coming away with victories on both the men’s and women’s sides.

This competition comes early on in the indoor track and field season, offering athletes a chance to see where they stand after winter break. Several individuals laid down impressive performances, earning first place titles in their events. One of those individuals was Claire Dougherty ’20, a senior who won the women’s 800m in 2:13.55.

Dougherty said she was just excited to test her abilities in an early-season meet.

“We call it a rust buster,” Dougherty said. “Bust the rust off,

get the race under your belt, see what it feels like to race that speed again, that distance and just sort of figure things out.”

Other athletes who took home wins for the Big Green were Myles Epstein ’23 in the men’s 60m, Julia Valenti ’20 in the women’s pole vault, Lily Lockhart ’21 in the women’s shot put and Cha’Mia Rothwell ’20 in both the women’s long jump and the women’s 60m hurdles. Both the men’s and women’s 4x400 meter relays took first place. This is the tenth time in a row that the women have won the Dartmouth Relays, and the eighth time in nine years that the men have won.

When asked how she felt about her race, Dougherty replied that she felt “pretty good” about it, but that the best part was being “back on the track with [her] teammates again.”

One of Dougherty’s teammates who also performed exceptionally well was Mathieu Freeman ’21, who won the men’s 400m run. This is

Freeman first season running the 400m, and going into the race, Freeman had one goal. He wanted to finish the two laps around the unbanked indoor track in under 50 seconds, a tough goal for a flat track and an early season race. Freeman was successful, finishing the race in 49.98 seconds, the only competitor to run under 50 seconds.

“There was one guy in the first 200 who went out pretty fast, so I wasn’t really sure what to expect and how fast to go, but I kind of just stayed under control and stuck with my form and luckily I was able to catch him by the end,” Freeman said.

Another strong performance came from Camille Landon ’21 in the women’s high jump. Landon’s leap of 1.69m or 5-feet-6.5-inches earned her first place and 10 points for the team. Like Dougherty, Landon also had a goal to “knock off some of the rust” in addition to staying relaxed and jumping higher

than she did at an earlier meet.

“I really wanted to focus on staying loose, not tensing up, and especially accelerating towards the bar and being light off the ground,” Landon said.

On her goals moving forward, Landon said she wants to continue building “steady momentum” toward the Ivy League Heptagonal Indoor Track and Field Championships at the end of February.

“I want to keep getting incrementally better so I can peak at the end of the season and hopefully place at Heps,” Landon said.

Both Landon and Freeman are juniors who took their off-terms this fall. Training on an off-term can be a difficult thing, especially during the season directly before indoor track. Fall training usually contains a lot of conditioning and hard weightlifting. However, the fall is the only time that track athletes are not competing, and thus the only term available to be taken off. Distance

athletes, who often run cross-country in the fall in addition to indoor and outdoor track, sometimes opt out of sophomore summer in order to be eligible for competition during all three seasons.

On training by himself this fall, Freeman said that work and the difficulty of getting to a track made workouts more challenging.

Landon agreed with Freeman that training on an off-term was challenging, but said that it offered some good time for reflection.

“It’s tough not having anyone to hold you accountable, but it does offer some really nice reflection and alone time, and I think it made me appreciate the act of lifting weights,” Landon said. “It was really pleasant solitude that was different from the raucous atmosphere that the weight room normally is.”

Next Friday, Dartmouth will host the DYC (Dartmouth, Yale, Columbia) meet in Leverone Field House.

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THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2020

SPORTS

Men’s hockey ties UVM, comes back from 3-0 deficit to beat BU B y OLIVIA MORTON The Dartmouth

The Dartmouth men’s hockey team played in two thrilling games this past weekend to conclude nonconference play for the season. The Big Green capitalized on two comebacks to earn a tie on the road against University of Vermont and a huge home win over Boston University.

Up in Burlington on Friday, Dartmouth fell behind early after a Catamount tally just 29 seconds into the game. UVM doubled its lead 13 minutes into the second period.

Immediately after the deficit grew to two, however, is when the Big Green began to kick it into high gear.

Three minutes after the Catamounts’ second tally of the game, a holding penalty on UVM’s Owen Grant gave the Big Green its fourth power play of the game, which Mark Gallant ’23 quickly took advantage of with the help of Tanner Palocsik ’23 and Quin Foreman ’21 only six seconds in to bring the score to 2-1.

Power plays continued to play a large role in the progress of the game, with UVM committing seven penalties, one of which was a five-minute major on Carter Long for head contact. The last Catamount penalty, a tripping call on Riley McCutcheon, allowed for a late power-play goal from Jeff Losurdo ’22 that tied the game at two, a score that would hold through the five-minute overtime period.

Goaltender Adrian Clark ’20 played a big role in the team’s success, keeping the Catamounts out of the back of the net for the final 26 minutes and giving his teammates the opportunity to make a comeback.

“I thought we played really well against Vermont; I thought it was one of our better games in terms of puck

possession and opportunities,” said head coach Bob Gaudet ’81. “They’re a good rival, their goaltender was just fabulous. I think on another night it might have been a 5-2 win for us, but he was just spectacular. And our guy, Adrian Clark, played incredibly well too.”

Twenty-four hours later, the Big Green returned to Thompson Arena to take on the BU Terriers. BU got to work quickly after having Friday night off, scoring just over two minutes in and twice more at 5:25 and 13:19 in the first period. Dartmouth immediately fought back, however, and a rebound goal from Gallant off a shot by Palocsik kickstarted a three-goal run for the Big Green, all within a span of one minute and 30 seconds.

“They just came out on fire, they really really had a lot of energy, a lot of jump early in the game, they have an incredible amount of speed and skill on their team,” Gaudet said of the Terriers. “I was really proud of our guys, because we found a way to score a great power-play goal.”

The Big Green has especially benefited from an even scoring attack, seeing goals coming from some of its bottom-line players.

“One of the things we’ve been able to have is secondary scoring, we have had a lot of people contributing which has been great,” said forward Matt Baker ’21.

Going into the middle frame, BU quickly regained the lead after completing a play deemed “The Michigan.” But just 10 minutes later, Drew O’Connor ’22 scored twice in the span of one minute, giving the Big Green its first lead of the game. A potential Terriers goal was thought to tie the game late in the second period was waved off due to goalie interference.

The Big Green finished out the game

JUSTIN KRAMER/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

The Big Green celebrates after defeating Boston University 5-4 on Saturday.

keeping the Terriers away from the net and held onto its one-goal lead.

“I like the fact that we were able to be really resilient, bounce back after things went against us with some good play from the opposition both nights, we were able to fight back and really play some good hockey all weekend long,” Gaudet said.

As the Big Green enters the second half of the season, a slate of 13 highstakes conference games remain. The team hosts conference leader Clarkson University on Friday night before playing Saint Lawrence University, which currently sits in last place in the Eastern College Athletic Conference standings, on Saturday.