The Dartmouth 02/17/2020

02.17.20

Women’s basketball splits weekend against Columbia and Cornell p. 5 Men’s tennis takes fourth place at ECAC indoor championship p. 7 Men’s hockey defeats Brown but drops close game to Yale at home p. 8

Men’s basketball gets first Ivy wins on buzzer beater and blowout p. 4 LONA GIRARDIN/THE DARTMOUTH

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MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2020

THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

The weekend Roundup Compiled by caitlyn mcgovern and the Dartmouth Sports staff

w basketball The women’s basketball team traveled to New York this weekend to compete against Columbia University and Cornell University.

On Friday night, Dartmouth’s struggles with foul trouble and attacking Columbia’s press led gave the Lions an early lead. The Big Green trailed throughout the game, but made a late run in the fourth quarter to cut an 18-point deficit down to eight with just under eight minutes to play. Columbia stopped Dartmouth’s surge, however, holding on to win the game 73-63. Four Big Green players put up double-digit performances in the game, including a 15-point outburst from Jimena Abejon ’22 on 7-10 shooting.

On Saturday night, Dartmouth came out of the gates strong against Cornell, earning a 17-8 first quarter lead. In the second and third quarters, Dartmouth struggled with ball security, leading to 27 turnovers overall in the contest. This sloppiness led to live-ball turnovers, allowing Cornell to score on fast break opportunities — Cornell totaled 17

points off turnovers in the second and third quarters alone. Heading into the fourth quarter, Dartmouth trailed 55-49.

The Big Red extended its lead to 10 with about seven minutes left, but Dartmouth answered with a 17-5 run of its own to close out the game. With 13 seconds left, Elle Louie ’21 hit a contested layup to give the Big Green a 67-65 lead.

Cornell failed to execute on its final possession, missing the free throw on a one-and-one.

Dartmouth shot an impressive 61.4 percent from the field and 55.6 percent from the 3-point arc for the game. The scoring effort was distributed throughout the team, as five players hit double figures — however, Anna Luce ’21 led the pack with 16.

Next weekend, the Big Green will hit the road again to kick off the second round of Ivy League play against the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton University — the top two teams in the Ivy League standings.

skiing The ski team had a third place finish at the Williams Carnival this weekend. Dartmouth fared well in the slalom race, with Stephanie Currie ’20 finishing fourth, Abi Jewett ’22 finishing fifth and Claire Thomas ’21 finishing in seventh. In the men’s slalom, Kipling Weisel ’20 finished fifth, Drew Duffy ’21 finished seventh and James Ferri ’20 finished in 10th.

In the 3x5k freestyle relay, Abby Drach ’20, Mara

McCollor ’23 and Lauren Jortberg ’20 finished in third place. In the men’s relay, Walker Bean ’21, Adam Glueck ’21 and Cameron Wolfe ’23 finished in seventh.

The team ended the carnival in third with 752 points behind University of Vermont with 843 points and Middlebury College with 855 points. The Big Green will hit the slopes once again on Feb. 28 at the Middlebury Carnival.

W lacrosse The No. 21 women’s lacrosse team opened its season on Saturday with a 15-11 victory over the University of Massachusetts. In her first game as head coach of the Big Green, Alex Frank earned her debut victory in a back-and-forth game. Ellie Carson ’20 scored five goals and Sophia Turchetta ’20 tallied four scores to lead the Big Green offense.

The first half went back and forth, and UMass led by one at halftime. A four-goal run in the second

half propelled Dartmouth into a comfortable lead that the Minutewomen could not break into. Goaltender Kiera Vrindten ’20 made 12 saves in the game to slow down the UMass offense, and the Big Green was able to start its season with a win.

The Big Green will host Boston University in its first home game this season next Saturday at 3 p.m. before beginning Ivy League play the following weekend at Brown University.

m lacrosse The Big Green men’s lacrosse team won its season opener 13-11 on the road against Merrimack College.

George Prince ’21 recorded a career-high nine points with six goals and three assists, and Tommy Rogan ’23 finished with six points in his first collegiate lacrosse game.

Trailing by one after the first quarter, the Big Green used a 4-1 run to lead 8-6 at halftime. The lead was extended to 10-7 in the third quarter, but Merrimack

continued to chip away at the lead. Rogan scored three goals in the fourth quarter, and goaltender Danny Hincks ’22 came up big with 14 saves to secure the two-goal victory.

After finishing with a 2-11 record last season, The Big Green will look to match its season win total in its home opener next weekend on Saturday afternoon against Bryant University.

m hockey Zachary ZacharyBenjamin Benjamin’19 ’19

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

Hanting Hanting Guo Guo ’19 ’19

Aidan Sheinberg ’20 Publisher Publisher Publisher

Ioana IoanaSolomon Solomon’19 ’19

02.17.20 Vol.CLXXV CLXXVI No. 4.30.18 4.23.18 Vol. Vol. CLXXV No. No. 27 21137

Amanda AmandaZhou Zhou ’19 Alex Fredman ’20 ’19 Executive Editors Executive Editors Executive Editor

Addison Dick ’22 Mark Cui ’19 Justin Kramer ’21 Justin Kramer ’21 Samantha Hussey Lili Stern ’22 ’20 Associate Sports Editor Sports Editors Sports Editors Divya Divya Kopalle Kopalle ’21 ’21 Naina Bhalla ’22 Michael Michael Lin Lin ’21 ’21 Lorraine Liu ’22 Photography Photography Editors Editors Photography Editors Jaclyn Jaclyn Eagle Eagle ’19 ’19 Grant Pinkston ’23 Templating Templating Editor Editor Templating Editor

This past weekend, Big Green men’s hockey faced off against Ivy League opponents Brown University and Yale University. Coming out on top against Brown with a final score of 5-2, Cam Strong ’20 started off the scoring in the first frame, and Daniel Warpecha ’20 kept it up, giving Dartmouth a two-goal lead going into the second period. Though Brown scored to bring it within one, Tanner Palocsik ’23 added a tally to keep the Big Green ahead by two.

The third frame brought three more tallies, two for the Big Green and one for the Bears. Collin Rutherford ’21 and Drew O’Connor ’22 rounded out the scoring for the night, the latter scoring his 14th goal of the season.

On Saturday night the team took on Yale, and ultimately fell to the Bulldogs at the end of a very close

game. Will Graber ’20 kicked off the scoring midway into the first period, and the game following continued to be very back and forth, with Dartmouth taking back the lead until the third period, when Yale scored twice to bring the score to 4-2. Netminder Adrian Clark ’20 had an incredible cross crease glove save, and made 31 stops to hold the Bulldogs back. In the final minutes of the game, Clark was pulled in order for an extra attacker to take the ice, and Graber added his second tally of the night, bringing Dartmouth within one point of a tie game. Unfortunately for the Big Green, the buzzer sounded with the score still 4-3 in favor of Yale.

Next weekend, the Big Green will take to the road to face off against St. Lawrence University on Friday and No. 5 Clarkson University on Saturday night.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2020

THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

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track and field

m basketball

The men’s and women’s track and field teams traveled to Boston this weekend for the BU Valentine Invitational.

For the men’s team, Max Frye ’21 placed third in the 500m dash, Myles Epstein ’23 placed 10th of 230 competitors in the 200m dash, and Tim Zepf ’21 placed ninth in the 800m run in an even larger field. The 4x400m relay team of MJ Farber ’21, Frye, Julian Martelly ’23 and Charlie Wade ’22 finished fourth.

In the women’s 500m dash,

Kate Laskoski ’21 placed 16th and Arianna Gragg ’22 placed 18th.

Claire Dougherty ’20 placed 20th in the 800m run, and Anya Hirschfeld ’23 placed 21st in the 1000m run. The 4x400m relay team of and Laskoski, Michelle Quinn ’23, Danielle Okonta ’20 and Caroline Walter ’21 placed 11th.

The men’s and women’s teams will be competing again at the Ivy League Heptagonal Championships in Ithaca, NY on Feb. 29 through March 1.

W hockey

LONA GIRARDIN/THE DARTMOUTH

The men’s basketball team secured its first two wins of Ivy League play this weekend, beating Cornell and Columbia.

After a rough 0-6 start to Ivy League play, the Dartmouth men’s basketball team (9-14, 2-6 Ivy) turned things around this weekend, and in a big way.

Needing both wins to keep its slim postseason hopes alive, the Big Green erased a late eight-point deficit to Columbia University to clinch its first victory behind a buzzer-beating layup from Aaryn Rai ’21. The Big Green parlayed its energy into Saturday’s contest, swiftly emerging victorious in a 75-53 win over Cornell University.

Chris Knight ’21 had a fantastic weekend, scoring 23 points on 10-of-11 shooting versus Columbia and adding 17 more on 8-of-10 shooting in a double-double

versus Cornell. Knight has not produced at this level of efficiency all season — in games where he has taken at least 10 field goal attempts, he has shot 80 percent or higher just three times, with two of those games coming on Friday and Saturday. All told, the Big Green’s offense finally picked up behind its “big three” of James Foye ’20, Rai and Knight, something head coach David McLaughlin had emphasized in recent weeks.

As Dartmouth looks to continue its burst of success, the team remains at home next weekend for what appears to be a much tougher round of matchups: versus the University of Pennsylvania on Friday and Princeton University on Saturday.

m tennis Dartmouth men’s tennis saw its undefeated winter come to an end this weekend, as the team placed fourth at the Eastern College Athletic Conference Indoor Championship in Ithaca, NY. The Big Green — the No. 2 seed in the tournament — charged past No. 7 Yale University in the first round, winning 4-1 despite dropping the first doubles match. Pierce Widdecombe ’22 convincingly won his singles match 6-2, 6-1 to reassert himself after losing in doubles. Juniors Dan Martin ’21 and Peter Conklin ’21 won their matches in two sets, and Anders Gibbons ’23 squeaked by in his second-set tiebreaker, winning his match 6-3, 7-6(4) and securing the 4-1 win for the Big Green.

Dartmouth had its championship hopes squashed in the semifinals for the second straight year, as No.

3 Cornell University flipped the score on the Big Green and won 4-1. Martin won his second match of the weekend, 6-1, 6-4. Widdecombe also showed promise, as he bounced back from a 6-0 first set to force a tiebreaker in the second.

On Sunday, the Big Green faced Princeton University in a rematch of last year’s third-place battle. Dominik Pauli ’23 dominated in a 6-1, 6-1 win, but as Charlie Broom ’20 and Dan Martin ’21 both fell 6-3 in their third sets, the Tigers stole the bronze by winning 4-1 overall.

Dartmouth’s schedule thins out over the next month, with two weeks off before a match at Indiana University on Feb. 29 another two-week hiatus before the team heads to Tennessee over spring break.

The women’s hockey team swept in New York this weekend, where it faced off against Union College and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. In Schenectady on Friday, Jennifer Costa ’21 opened up scoring with an unassisted goal in the first period. Catherine Trevors ’23 followed with a second unassisted goal early in the second. The Big Green won 2-0, putting the team at 6-2-2 in its last 10 match-ups against the Dutchwomen.

On Saturday, the team took the ice in Troy. Currie Putrah ’23 put the Big Green on the board nearly halfway through the second period with assists

from Emily McLaughlin ’21 and Sydney Hill ’20. CC Bowlby ’23 found the back of the net less than four minutes later with assists from Megan Cornell ’21 and Trevors before scoring once again on a power play in the third with assists from Lotti Odnoga ’22 and Sara McClanahan ’22.

While Rensselaer got one goal past Kayla Wormsbecher ’21 on 34 shots, Trevors sealed the win for Dartmouth by scoring an unassisted goal with a little over two minutes of play left in the game.

The Big Green will host St. Lawrence University and Clarkson University in Hanover next weekend.

w golf Last week, the women’s golf team traveled to sunny Boca Raton, FL to kick off the spring season at the Florida Atlantic University Winter Warmup. In a field of 14 teams, the Big Green finished fourth with a 31-over 895. The Big Green’s efforts were led by Angela Zhang ’23, who finished the tournament at an even par. Her performance was good for third in a field of 81, and it marked the first time in history that a Dartmouth women’s golfer has finished a three-round tournament at even par. Kaitlyn Lees ’22 had the Big Green’s next best performance,

finishing in 12th place just six shots over par.

Dartmouth was one of four Ivy League teams to compete in the tournament, and Yale University was the only one to finish ahead of the Big Green. The Bulldogs finished in third place, six points under the Big Green, while Arkansas State University took the tournament title. The Big Green has more than a month before its next tournament in Gulf Shores, AL on March 20-22.

Kaitlyn Lees is a member of The Dartmouth staff.

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THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2020

Men’s basketball gets first Ivy wins on buzzer beater and blowout B y DEVAN FINK

The Dartmouth Staff

For the first time in five years, the Dartmouth men’s basketball team (9-14, 2-6 Ivy) swept an Ivy League back-to-back weekend.

Behind a game-winning baby hook shot on Friday from Aaryn Rai ’21 to sink Columbia University (6-18, 1-7 Ivy), 65-63, and a wire-to-wire 75-53 domination of Cornell University (5-16, 2-6 Ivy) on Saturday, the Big Green officially put its nine-game losing streak — including an 0-6 start to Ivy play — on the back burner.

This weekend provided an opportunity to right the ship, and the Big Green took advantage. Columbia and Cornell entered the weekend as the two weakest teams in the conference, according to KenPom ratings. It was not a surprise, then, that Dartmouth opened as favorites in Vegas for both games, giving the team the perfect springboard to stop its skid. As Rai described it, the Big Green “got the monkey off [its] back.”

The two-game slate did not come without its set of challenges, however.

Against Columbia, many of the same issues that have plagued the Big Green in Ivy League play — offensive droughts, foul trouble and bad turnovers — continued. But, to its credit, Dartmouth hung around, and a long James Foye ’20 3-pointer with time expiring in the first half kept the Tigers’ lead to four, 38-34.

In the second half, Dartmouth’s defense clamped down and kept Columbia scoreless for the final 6:50.

Though the offense was far from graceful, it got the job done. Down seven points, the team clawed its way back into the contest by continuing to feed Chris Knight ’21, who had one of his most efficient evenings this season.

Knight scored 23 points on 10-for-11 shooting, adding two rebounds, two blocks and an assist. Perhaps more importantly, he did not commit a single foul in 31 minutes of playing time.

“I’ve just been focusing more on not giving the ref an opportunity to give me these ticky-tacky fouls,” Knight said.

“In my head, if he makes a good move and he’s going to score two points, it’s not worth picking up a foul. In the long

run, the game’s more important than those two points. I’ve been focusing on staying on the court more than staying off the court.”

Thirteen of Knight’s 23 points came in the second half, including five straight points to cut Columbia’s lead from seven to two in the waning minutes.

“Chris [was] obviously beasting down there,” Rai said.

An Ian Sistare ’20 layup tied the game with 50 seconds left, and after a missed 3-pointer on the other end, the Big Green called timeout to draw up its final play with the shot clock turned off.

According to Rai, the plan was to feed Foye or Knight, who he called “our two best players that evening.”

“But Wes [Slajchert ’22] got trapped, and luckily, I just came to the ball, so he didn’t get a turnover,” Rai said. “I found myself under the hoop and with a couple seconds left, so I put it up, and it went in.”

Elation filled Leede Arena, but the Big Green only could celebrate for about 10 minutes, Foye said.

With Cornell looming the next day, Dartmouth needed immediate preparation following the emotional victory.

Staying even keel throughout the weekend clearly worked. Quickly hampering the Big Red was forward Jimmy Boeheim — the second-leading Ivy League scorer — leaving the game just over five minutes in due to an apparent ankle injury. He did not return to action and hobbled through the handshake line on crutches.

“He’s a terrific player, and they play through him a lot,” said Dartmouth head coach David McLaughlin. “[For them], seeing a teammate go down just stinks. To see a competitor go down stinks. So it’s going to take energy from a team. It’s not like that gave us energy in any way, but we just continued to play and execute and went on a run.”

Cornell never led on Saturday, and at no point did the Big Green take its foot off the gas. After a Knight layup gave Dartmouth a 22-11 lead with 9:23 remaining in the first, Cornell’s deficit never shrunk to fewer than 10 points. In the second half, the Big Red were never within 15. The margin of victory, 22, was tied for Dartmouth’s largest lead

LONA GIRARDIN/THE DARTMOUTH

Chris Knight ’21 had a strong weekend, scoring 23 points against Columbia and 17 against Cornell.

of the game.

The Big Green played with a certain energy that had only been present for spurts of recent games, but never for an entire 40 minutes. Eight different players made at least one basket on Saturday, but the offense once again flowed through the team’s three most efficient playmakers: Foye, Knight and Rai. “They need to know that we have confidence in them to get their shots up,” McLaughlin said. “We have to make sure they can play to their strengths, and that allows our team to play to its strengths.”

Knight, in particular, followed up his excellent performance on Friday with another outstanding evening, scoring 17 points in just 24 minutes, thanks to an 8-for-10 night from the field. Just three times this season has Knight shot at least 80 percent with 10 or more shot attempts; he did so in both games this weekend versus Columbia and Cornell.

Additionally, his 10 rebounds gave him his third double-double of the season, and he did not find himself in foul trouble at any point.

“I’ve been in some games where I’ve shot a lot, but I’ve never felt like they’re [comfortable],” Knight said. “I’ve been shooting because I’ve felt like I needed to shoot. But these two games, I’ve been like, ‘Alright, I want this shot.’ I felt like I was in control of what the defense was doing, instead of the defense telling me what to do.”

Foye and Rai also had effective nights on the floor. Though both players shot less than 40 percent from the field in Friday’s win, buckets came in bunches on Saturday. Foye’s 17 points matched his third-highest total this season, while Rai added 13. In the two weekend games combined, the trio of Foye, Knight and Rai scored 93 of the team’s 140 points and shot a combined 60 percent from the field.

McLaughlin had said in an interview earlier this month that he had wanted his more efficient scorers to “be able to shoot the ball more,” noting that he was trying to “find different ways to get them those shots.” Not until this weekend did that become apparent in the results in both shot attempts and points scored.

“Aaryn and I — Coach challenged

us to be more aggressive, to look for our spots, to know where our shots are coming from,” Foye said. “Chris’s challenge was to stay on the court with foul trouble, and he didn’t foul. So I think we ended up with us being the three guys that took the most shots, and I don’t think that had happened all year, so I think it’s good to have that aggressive mindset.”

The Big Green has to sustain this level of offensive execution if the team wants to maintain any hope of clinching an Ivy League Tournament bid. Even with the successful weekend, Dartmouth is tied for sixth in the conference and three games behind the crucial fourth-place spot. Harvard University (16-7, 5-3 Ivy), the University of Pennsylvania (13-8, 5-3 Ivy) and Brown University (12-9, 5-3 Ivy) are all currently in a three-way tie for the third, fourth and fifth spots in the standings.

Dartmouth has a prime opportunity to pick up major ground next weekend, as the team faces Penn on Friday night and Princeton University (11-10, 6-2 Ivy) on Saturday, with both games coming at home in Leede Arena.

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THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2020

Women’s basketball splits weekend against Columbia and Cornell B y BOYD BRAGG The Dartmouth

The women’s basketball team split games this weekend against Columbia University and Cornell University in two hard fought road battles. Despite falling to the Lions 73-63 on Friday, the Big Green ended its six-game losing skid on Saturday with a 67-65 win over the Big Red as Elle Louie ’21 nailed a game-winning jumper with 13 seconds to go.

A consistent problem for the team this season has been its struggle to start the game effectively. Dartmouth’s slow shooting in the first 10 minutes of the game often sets the team back and creates an insurmountable deficit for the Big Green.

This trend continued Friday night on the road against Columbia. After going down 10-0 for the start of the game, Dartmouth once again found itself in the position of playing catchup. Louie put her team on the scoring sheet with 5:25 left in the first quarter; however, Columbia dominated the first quarter overall and led 18-8 going into the second.

The Lions started the second quarter in similar fashion to their first quarter performance, opening up with strong shooting and relentless full court defense. Columbia’s momentum in the second quarter was interrupted by a 3-pointer by Annie McKenna ’20, as both teams went on spurts of scoring until the second quarter concluded, and Dartmouth ended the first half down 42-27.

Foul trouble for the Big Green put Columbia on the line throughout the first half. The Lions went 16 for 17 from the free throw line, compared just 2 for 4 for the Big Green.

In the second half, Dartmouth found success in attacking Columbia’s defense and getting out in transition.

Louie once again started off scoring for the Big Green with a layup of her own. Dartmouth also consistently changed defenses against Columbia in the second half.

“Changing up defenses changes up the rhythm of the game,” said head coach Belle Koclanes.

Dartmouth seemed to find buckets in a promising comeback,

but Columbia always had answers. At the 7:52 mark in the fourth quarter, Katie Douglas ’22 got the Big Green to within eight on a three-point play, but this was the closest Dartmouth came in cutting the deficit.

Entering the second game of the trip, Dartmouth had to find a solution to their first-quarter struggles.

“This team fights, but it’s fighting for 40 and being able to put the ball in the basket,” Koclanes said. “That has been our focus.”

The second game of the weekend proved to be a different story than the first. After suffering a 73-63 defeat, the Big Green’s energy late in the first quarter was too much for Cornell to handle. Both teams started the game off slow, as the two teams tried to find their pace and rhythm. Tied 6-6, Dartmouth went on a 9-2 run to end the quarter up 17-8. The hot start was encouraging for a team that typically starts playing at a high level in the second half.

The intensity of the Big Green continued to start the second quarter.

The team extended its lead to 26-10 until Cornell paused the game with a timeout. Cornell implemented a full court press, similar to Columbia, which suffocated Dartmouth’s offense.

In the remaining eight minutes of the second quarter, Dartmouth only put up three points compared to Cornell’s 17. The half ended with Dartmouth up 29-27.

In the third quarter, Dartmouth gave up the lead and allowed Cornell to get out in transition by turning the ball over. The team ended the game with 27 turnovers on the night, a stat that is uncharacteristic for the Big Green, which is averaging 17.4 turnovers per game after Saturday night.

With seven minutes left in the game, Dartmouth trailed by 10. But the Big Green fought back and went on a 15-5 run leading up to the final 30 seconds of regulation. Two clutch shots at the 1:22 and 0:13 marks by Louie and a pair of Paula Lenart ’20 free throws guided the Big Green to victory. Dartmouth had five players score double figures in a tremendous offensive performance, including Douglas, Louie, McKenna, Jimena Abejon ’22 and Anna Luce ’21. The

LORRAINE LIU/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

The Big Green stopped a six-game losing streak with a road win over Cornell on Saturday.

Big Green shot 61.4 percent from the field and 55.6 percent from the 3-point arc.

McKenna, who had to leave the game due to an injury but came back on the floor late in the game, praised the team’s comeback effort.

“This game, compared to others, we were down late but we all had confidence that we were going to win this game,” McKenna said.

The Big Green look to build on this win next Friday and Saturday as it takes on the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton University — the top two teams in the Ivy League standings.

The road matchups will be a true test to Dartmouth, as Princeton has gained national attention by being ranked No. 25 in the nation and a projected No. 6 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

But Koclanes is optimistic about the Dartmouth’s chances going into next weekend.

“Anyone can beat anyone on any given night,” Koclanes said. “We are going to keep focusing on our individual improvement and collective improvement.”

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The Redshirt Senior

with Evan Griffith ’18 Th’20 The Redshirt Senior: Will the Ivy League Become a FreeAgent Market?

Happy winter everyone, it’s good to be back. Some quick hits from around the country: The Big Ten is a bloodbath, and I can easily see the conference sending more than 10 teams to the NCAA Tournament; the ACC might only send three teams to the tournament in a down year; and San Diego State University is the lone remaining undefeated team in college basketball — and it doesn’t seem like the Aztecs will lose any time soon. Some early bracket busters for March to watch for: Northern Iowa University, Brigham Young University and East Tennessee State University.

But I want to talk about the Ivy League today (Yale University’s going to win it) and how there’s a rule out there that puts the conference in a unique position among its peers. To illustrate, I’ll mention Mike Smith, Columbia University’s senior point guard, who is leading the Ivy League in scoring with 21 points per game. If you want an example of his talent, in a Nov. 30 game against Lehigh University, Smith put the team on his back, scoring 30 of his team’s 68 points while notching six assists and three rebounds in a 68-64 victory. Smith is having a stellar senior season, but he’ll have to transfer at the end of it to be able to finish out his eligibility, which is unfortunate because the Lions are struggling due to several

THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

key players out with injuries.

Smith tore his meniscus last year and missed most of his junior season. At most power-conference schools, Smith would have been able to medically redshirt and retain a year of eligibility; he could then play his remaining year of eligibility as a graduate student. The Ivy League, however, does not permit redshirts or graduate students to participate in college athletics.

Smith essentially lost a year with the Lions.

Unfortunately, top Ivy League players transferring out isn’t an uncommon occurrence in recent years. There are several students this season who are in the process of entering the transfer portal to finish out their eligibilities as graduate transfers due to injuries. Harvard University senior Seth Towns, who was the 2018 Ivy League Player of the Year and was expected to be a key contributor to the Crimson this year is sitting out this year due to a knee injury. Towns is expected to be one of the top graduate transfers in the country this upcoming summer; he’ll make some team very happy.

Dartmouth’s own sharpshooter Brendan Barry ’20 is out for the season with an injury as well; he’ll be forced to finish his eligibility elsewhere if he so chooses.

There’s also the case of healthy players transferring in order to have the opportunity to play at a high-major level. Dartmouth’s Evan Boudreaux ’18 comes to mind — he graduated one year early in order to finish his remaining two years of eligibility at Purdue University (he struggled to find minutes last year, but has been a big part of Purdue racing back into bubble consideration this ywear). Makai Mason had a stellar four years at Yale and transferred to Baylor University for his fifth year as well (and rained hellfire from three for the Bears against Syracuse University in last year’s NCAA tournament as well. I never liked Yale anyway).

Why are so many player s transferring out of the Ivy? It’s not just the rule forcing players to leave; Ivy League basketball is simply better than it was 15 years ago. KenPom.com has a calculation

that ranks the efficiencies of every basketball conference in the country. From 1998 to 2010, the average rank of the Ivy League among 32 NCAA conferences was 25, in the bottom quarter of all conferences. Since 2010, the average rank was 16, a big jump up. There are a few factors that could have caused this. In 2008, Harvard hired former University of Michigan head coach Tommy Amaker as its new basketball coach. Amaker brought a power conference flair to the Crimson and led the team to its first Ivy League title ever in 2011 (with six more titles since then) before bringing the team to the NCAA Tournament for four straight years starting in 2012, notching two first-round upset victories along the way. Also, in 2010, Cornell University went on a high-profile run to the Sweet 16 in that year’s NCAA Tournament, beating No. 5 Temple University and No. 3 Wisconsin University before running into John Wall, Boogie Cousins and Eric Bledsoe’s University of Kentucky Wildcats.

This put the conference at a high

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2020

profile, and the Sweet Sixteen run and the resulting recruiting bump from Amaker helped the conference jump from the 26thranked conference that year to 15th the next season. It’s helped the Ivy League attract players like former 7th-overall NBA Draft Pick and 5-star recruit (number four overall) Wendell Carter Jr., who had Harvard as one of his top four schools along with the likes of Duke University — where he would play for one season. I talk a lot about Harvard, but these changes affect every team in the conference.

The allure for talented high schoolers of playing good basketball while getting an Ivy League degree is prevalent these days, but with the rise in quality of play in the Ivy League as a whole, the question with this rule arises: How does the league continue forward with respect to this rule?

Ivy League executive director Robin Harris said in an interview with ESPN, “What’s the problem w i t h [ t h e r u l e ] ? We ’re s t i l l continuing to thrive as a league ... It’s a philosophical approach

that we do what’s right for college athletics and what’s right for student-athletes, as well. We have other rules that maybe put us at a disadvantage competitively, and yet we continue to have about 100 ranked teams a year, continue to do well in NCAA tournaments, win national championships.”

While this may be true for other sports, this mentality risks the Ivy League becoming a free-agent market of sorts in basketball, and it has the potential to impact recruiting and the future growth in the quality of the conference; Harvard was projected to be ranked in the AP Top 25 this season before Towns got hurt. While Harris seems to have the mentality that these players can find success at power conference programs after four years, this ignores the fact that players who’ve lost seasons to injury or other reasons may want to continue play for their alma maters.

Only the players know what’s in their own best interests, so the Ivy League shouldn’t force them to play elsewhere in order to maintain an image for itself.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2020

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THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

Men’s tennis takes fourth place at ECAC indoor championship B y ETHAN STRUASS The Dartmouth

This weekend, the Dartmouth men’s tennis team traveled to Cornell University in Ithaca, NY for the Eastern College Athletic Conference Indoor Championship.

The team entered the tournament as the No. 2 seed, coming in undefeated with an 8-0 record, but finished the tournament in fourth place.

Last season, the team lost in the semifinals to the University of Pennsylvania, the eventual champion, before defeating Princeton University 4-0 to secure third place. This year, with the addition of strong freshman and no departures from last year’s roster, the Big Green arrived confident in the team’s abilities to make another deep run or even come home with the trophy.

“Last year we were really close,” said Charlie Broom ’20. “This year we haven’t really lost anyone from the lineup, and there are three new freshman that have done a great job of working hard. We have so much strength and depth that pushes everyone to get better.”

T he team started out the weekend by convincingly defeating No. 7 Yale University, 4-1. The Bulldogs are coached by former Dartmouth head coach Chris Drake, who sat at the helm for nine years in Hanover.

Yale jumped out to an early lead after winning its first doubles match, as the Bulldogs’ Michael Sun and Arnav Dhingra beat Broom and Pierce Widdecombe ’22, 6-4, before Dartmouth turned the match around with dominant singles play.

Widdecombe fared better in singles, starting out the round with a vengeful win of 6-2, 6-1 over Yale’s Dhingra. Dan Martin ’21 followed by defeating Andrew Heller 6-2, 6-3 ,while Peter Conklin ’21 beat Robert Shymansky in a tight second set, winning 6-2, 7-5.

Anders Gibbons ’23 narrowly won, 6-3, 7-6(4), to clinch the match for the Big Green and maintain the team’s undefeated record.

“Pierce Widdecombe had a great win against Yale, impressively putting a quick point on the board,” said David Horneffer ’20.

“Everyone’s been competing well.”

Following the win over Yale, the Big Green advanced to the semifinals to face No. 3 Cornell.

The home team — entering the match with a 4-1 record — knocked the Big Green out in the same round Dartmouth lost last year, winning 4-1.

Dartmouth lost the early doubles points again as Cornell’s Evan Bynoe and Pietro Rimondini defeated Gibbons and Martin 6-1, while Lev Kazakov and Daniel Soyfer upset No. 51 Conklin and Casey Ross ’21, 6-3.

Coming into the weekend,

KYLE SPENCER/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

The Big Green competed in the ECAC Indoor Championship this weekend.

the Big Green had hoped that its previous experience of winning close matches this season would help them overcome the Big Red’s challenge.

“It’s great for the team that these guys have trust in their teammates that they can perform deep in these matches” said head coach Xander Centenari ’13. “We build confidence that when it comes down to it, we can win any match.”

In singles, the Big Green started out hot again, with Martin bouncing back to beat Alafia Ayeni 6-1, 6-4. A trio of singles losses handed the Big Green its first team loss of the year and a ticket to the third place game, as Eero Vasa beat Broom 7-6(2), 6-3, Soyfer defeated Widdecombe 6-0, 7-6(7) and Rimondini set down Gibbons 6-2, 6-2.

“We knew the tournament would be tough, but there are definitely some positives,” Horneffer said. “I thought Dan Martin played a really great match today against a tough opponent. [Widdecombe] stepped up and battled even though it didn’t

come out his way.”

Dartmouth headed into a third place match against Princeton on Sunday for the second straight year, aiming to avenge a 6-1 loss in Princeton last year despite beating the Tigers in last year’s third place game. This match marked the fourth straight year Dartmouth played Princeton in the ECAC Indoor Championship.

“Princeton is a team we know really well; we’ve played a lot of these guys before and we have specific strategies,” Horneffer said.

For the third straight day, Dartmouth started the match by dropping its doubles matches.

After Horneffer sat out the first two days with a shoulder injury, he rejoined his partner Broom, but the No. 8 Tigers’ duo of Ryan Seggerman and Payton Holden toppled Dartmouth’s No. 30 duo 6-1. Karl Poling and Bill Duo defeated Martin and Gibbons 6-4 in the No. 3 doubles match.

Dominik Pauli ’23 started out the singles portion strong with a

decisive win over Princeton’s Bill Duo 6-1, 6-1. However, the Big Green was unable to capitalize on the win, with Alejandro Quiles ’23 falling to Will Peters shortly thereafter 6-2, 6-3. The Tigers closed the day out with two close victories at the No. 1 and No. 2 spots. Both matches went to three sets, with Broom falling short against Karl Poling 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 and Martin losing to Ryan Seggerman 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

Horneffer and Centenari said the team took the weekend as a great chance to scout the other Ivy League teams before league play begins in April. The Big Green will look to rebound against Cornell and Princeton later in the season as they did against Penn last year.

“The tournament is a good chance for us to see where we are at before Ivy’s.” Horneffer said. “Last year, we lost to Penn but were able to play them again and beat them.”

The Big Green will continue nonconference play in two weeks at the University of Indiana.

SW 8

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2020

THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

SPORTS

Men’s hockey defeats Brown but drops close game to Yale at home B y OLIVIA MORTON The Dartmouth Staff

Over Valentine’s Day weekend, Big Green men’s hockey took on Ivy League opponents Brown University and Yale University on home ice in Thompson Arena.

By a final score of 5-2, the Big Green came out with a big win against Brown Friday night.

Dartmouth took the lead six minutes in with a goal from Cam Strong ’20.

Daniel Warpecha ’20 scored again for the home team to give the Big Green a 2-0 lead going into the middle frame.

“I think that’s one thing we did on Friday night against Brown this past weekend — we dictated the pace,” Strong said. “We were definitely the faster team and we controlled the play. We were very good defensively and we just didn’t give them much.”

The team never gave up its lead, controlling the game and only allowing Brown two goals.

The Bears’ first goal came in the second frame, but Tanner Palocsik ’23 responded within minutes, returning the team’s lead to two goals.

The third frame brought three more tallies, two for the Big Green and one for the Bears.

Drew O’Connor ’22 and Collin Rutherford ’21 rounded out the scoring for the night, with O’Connor scoring his 14th goal of the season.

Saturday night, the team hosted the Yale Bulldogs and came up just short in the third frame. Will Graber ’20, who ended the night with two points, scored the first goal on a power play just over halfway through the first period, which redirected off a Yale player and into the back of the net. The next two goals also

came on the power play — one for the Bulldogs and one for the Big Green — with O’Connor’s 15th of the season pulling Dartmouth ahead 15 minutes into the second frame. O’Connor’s 15th tally brought him to the second place spot in the Eastern College Athletic Conference scoring rankings for this season. One more tally will put him on par with Harvard’s Jack Drury, who currently holds the top spot.

Before O’Connor scored to pull Dartmouth into the lead once again, goaltender Adrian Clark ’20 pulled out an incredible stop to keep the Big Green in the game, throwing himself across the crease to make an unreal glove save.

“We were on the power play in a big five-minute major, and so I didn’t think this kind of opportunity was going to happen,” Clark said.

“But we got pressured, they made the play, and I just scrambled and did everything I could to keep the puck out of the net. And just you know, goalie instinct kicks in.”

Toward the end of the second frame and into the third, the Big Green lost its hold over the game.

Yale tied the game 2-2 in the final minutes of the second period and scored twice more within three minutes just under halfway into the third. With around a minute and thirty seconds remaining, Clark was pulled, and with an extra attacker, Graber clinched his second goal of the night and brought Dartmouth within one point of a tie.

Unfortunately, the Big Green was unable to secure the victory, and the game finished in the Bulldog’s favor, 4-3.

“I think our team took a step forward for sure, obviously didn’t get both wins, but getting the win

LONA GIRARDIN/THE DARTMOUTH

The Big Green secured a 5-2 win over Brown on Friday but fell to Yale 4-3 on Saturday.

on Friday night really was getting us back on track,” Strong said.

“Saturday night’s effort was pretty good, but we just had a few too many mental lapses in that game. It was shaping up to go our way for sure; you know it was tied 2-2 there going into the third.”

Strong noted that the number of penalties in the disrupted the flow of the game, which Yale was able to capitalize on with a good power play effort.

“I think our team took a positive step, we’re playing with a little bit more pace, we’re competing a little bit more, and two points out of the weekend is okay and we’ll try to

improve going into the next stretch,” Strong said.

Coming up, the Big Green hit the road again for two games at St. Lawrence University and No. 5 Clarkson University — two teams that Dartmouth defeated earlier this season.

“We know that St. Lawrence is going to play us tough on Friday night,” Strong said. “They always do. They’re a hard team to play against; they try to wear you down physically. But we know if we play our game, dictate the pace, we can get the job done.”

Clark said that penalty kills will be important in both games.

“We really improved both how we approach penalty kills and how we implement them, throughout the year so far, and we really use it to try and get results,” Clark said. “So we just need to keep that going, keep doing what we’re doing. Block shots, clear pucks and just kill em off. We just have to stick to our game and stay strong mentally.”

Now 11-10-4 overall and 8-8-2 in the ECAC, Dartmouth moves to seventh in the ECAC standings, tied with Yale and just one point behind Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

The Big Green face off against St. Lawrence this coming Friday and Clarkson on Saturday night.