Big Green Men's Lacrosse Wraps Up 2006 Home Season with Holy Cross

May 2, 2006

LAX NOTES: Despite three goals apiece from Nick Bonacci and Jamie Coffin, the Big Green (6-7, 2-3 Ivy) fell to number 7 Princeton on Saturday, putting an end to a modest two game win streak. Dartmouth looks to finish out the season strong with a win today against Holy Cross before hitting the road for the finale at Harvard on May 6. Ben Lovejoy earned Ivy Honor Roll mention for his play against Princeton. The 6-2 longstick middie picked up eight groundballs and caused four turnovers. Pat Marshall had 12 saves and has 142 saves on the season. Dartmouth is led by Bonacci with 25 goals and 29 assists for 54 points. Coffin has 26 goals to go with 17 helpers. Brian Koch continues to lead the freshmen and is fourth on the team with 13 goals and six assists. Brad Heritage is having a strong senior campaign scoring 25 goals and assisting on three.

TODAY'S GAME: Today's matchup is the 25th meeting for the Crusaders and the Big Green. Holy Cross has never beaten Dartmouth. The last meeting was in 1999 with the Big Green coming out on top with a 23-13 victory at Holy Cross.

ALL TIME VS. HOLY CROSS: The series began with a 14-10 Dartmouth win in 1960. The Big Green leads the series 24-0. The two teams met almost every year from 1960 through 1976. There was a break until 1987 when Dartmouth won at home, 11-6. The two teams then met seven times in the eighties and nineties with Dartmouth winning every meeting. Holy Cross has only been in double digits twice, in the very first meeting with ten and in 1999 when they scored 13 goals.

ABOUT HOLY CROSS: The Crusaders (0-13, 0-6 Patriot), are looking for a win to end the 2006 season. Despite not having won a game all season Holy Cross took Bucknell and Bellarmine to overtime before falling and lost to Lafayette by one goal. The Crusaders are led by Billy Klotz (18-3--21) and Paul LeBlanc (9-6--15). Matt Fallon has played every game in net and has a .500 save percentage. Today's game is the season finale for Holy Cross.

NATIONWIDE: Sophomore Nick Bonacci is tied for fourth in the nation with 4.15 points per game and alone in sixth with 2.23 assists per game. Sophomore Tim Daniels comes in at number eight with 6.31 groundballs per game. As a team Dartmouth is tenth in scoring offense with 10.46 goals per game and fifth in man-up offense, scoring on 23 of 48 attempts.

YOUR HONOR TWO: Senior defenseman Ben Lovejoy (Orford, N.H.), playing primarily as a longstick midfielder on faceoffs, collected eight ground balls Saturday in a 16-11 loss to Princeton. Lovejoy also forced four turnovers and also took two shots on goal and earned a spot on the weekly Ivy League Honor Roll.

DEAD LAST: Sometimes last is good. The Big Green is last in the Ivy League in penalties, averaging only 3.92 per game.

LEADING THE LEAGUE: As a team the Big Green leads the Ivy League in man-up goals (21), man-up scoring percentage (.479), man-down goals (1), shot percentage (.294) and ground balls per game (35.54) MAKING A MARK: With 43 points this season, Coffin has moved into fourth in Dartmouth's all time point leaders list with 163 points. His 62 career assists put him in fifth on the all time assist list at Dartmouth. His 101 career goals has him fifth all time, only the fifth Dartmouth player to score more than 100 goals in a career.

LENDING A HAND: Nick Bonacci is charging up the all-time assist lists. With 29 assists this season, he has moved into the top 10.

IVY HONORS: Junior Nick Bonacci was tabbed by the Ivy League as its Player of the Week, April 24 for his performances in the Big Green's 12-10 victory over Yale and 14-6 win at Brown. Bonacci had four goals and two assists in the win against Yale and added another four goals in the Brown game. Bonacci was also credited with two turnovers and two ground balls.

HONOR ROLL: Tim Daniels (Duxbury, Mass.) had two goals and an assist in the April 15 loss to No. 4 Cornell. He also won 14 of 26 faceoffs and collected nine ground balls on the afternoon.

WELCOME TO THE IVY LEAGUE: Freshman attackman Brian Koch (Rye, N.Y.) had a hand in all three of the Big Green's victories to begin the season and was named co-Ivy Rookie of the Week on March 6. In his first collegiate game, Koch registered two assists, including an assist on the game-winner as Dartmouth defeated host Providence, 15-12. He added two goals in a 13-6 win over Vermont and posted two goals and an assist as the No. 18 Big Green held off No. 20 Fairfield, 14-12.

YOUR HONOR: Junior Nick Bonacci has been named to the weekly Ivy League honor roll twice this season, March 13 and April 3. Brian Koch has been honored twice and Jamie Coffin has earned the honor one time.

TWICE AS NICE: Two Dartmouth players were named to the Ivy Honor Roll the week of March 20. Senior attackman Jamie Coffin (Greenwich, Conn.) had two goals and three assists in the Big Green's 13-8 loss to Air Force on March 18. Coffin has 13 goals and nine assists on the season. Freshman attackman Brian Koch (Rye, N.Y.) had two goals and an assist in a 13-8 loss to Air Force on March 18.

CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN: The Big Green is led this season by three seniors: Jamie Coffin (Greenwich, Conn.), Brad Heritage (Cheshire, Conn.) and Alec Hufnagel (Scarsdale, N.Y.)

SOMETHING BORROWED...Playing in a borrowed jersey while waiting for his own to be repaired, freshman Doug Rendall scored his first collegiate goal when he netted the final goal in the Big Green's 13-6 victory at Vermont.

FRESH FACES FOR 2010: The Big Green will add 12 players to next year's team for the Class of 2010, including one Canadian. The class includes: Connor Anderson (Worthington, Ohio), John Brozena (Lothian, Md.), Ian Ferrell (Denver, Colo.), Andy Gagel (Houston, Texas), Josh Gillam (Peterborough, Ont.), Casey Hingtgen (Carlsbad, Calif.), Michael Novosel (Somers, N.Y.), Andrew Pollack (S. Glastonbury, Conn.), Christopher Root (Houston, Texas), Benji Spanier-Yearsich (Alexandria, Va.), Ari Sussman (Windsor, Conn.) and Towney Swiggett (Huntington, N.Y.).

MEDIA GUIDES: The 2006 Dartmouth men's lacrosse media guide is now available. Media guides can be purchased for $5.00 in the Sports Publicity office located in room 110 of Alumni Gym. They also can be ordered by mail for $8.00 and that includes the cost of shipping. Please call the Dartmouth Sports Publicity office at 603-646-2468 for more details.

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