Completed Event: Men's Lacrosse at #16 Penn on March 22, 2025 , Win , 9, to, 8 , OT
Final
Men's Lacrosse
at #16 Penn
9
8
This Week in Dartmouth Men's Lacrosse
4/3/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
April 3, 2008
HANOVER, N.H. ? When he set about rebuilding the sagging Rutgers football fortunes, coach Greg Schiano had billboards touting the New Jersey school erected in talent-laden Florida.
Not that the Dartmouth lacrosse program is in the kind of shape Rutgers football was in when Schiano took over ? it's absolutely not ? but if coach Bill Wilson wanted to promote his program in a similar fashion, he might want to throw a billboard up in Maryland, on Long Island or in one of the many emerging lacrosse hotbeds and make sure it features a smiling picture of Ryan Danehy, a 2006 graduate of the college.
Then again, it would be hard to find a picture of Danehy not smiling when the subject is Dartmouth and Dartmouth lacrosse. He's the perfect poster-boy for the up-and-coming program. That's because, among other things, Danehy:
? earned Ivy League Rookie of the Week honors after scoring two fourth-quarter goals and assisting on another to help Dartmouth to a stunning, 13-6 upset of then No. 2 Princeton as a freshman.
? won an Ivy League championship ring for helping an unheralded Big Green team go on to claim a share of the 2003 title before dropping a narrow 13-11 decision at Final Four-bound Syracuse in the NCAA Tournament.
? scored 73 goals and added 11 assists while winning four letters as an attackman in Hanover.
? showed you can play two varsity sports at a school like Dartmouth by serving as the longsnapper for the football team in the fall and starring on the lacrosse field in the spring.
? was drafted by the Boston Cannons, has played both for the Cannons and the Chicago Machine, and intends to resume his professional career this season as a midfielder with the Boston team.
? got a taste of the business world by doing the well-regarded Bridge Program at Dartmouth's Tuck School, put his international relations/government degree to work at WH Trading when he was playing in Chicago, and has plans to some day earn his MBA.
? returned to Hanover in January to serve as an assistant coach with the Big Green. Ask Danehy if it's been a pretty good ride since he came to Dartmouth out of Billerica Memorial High School in Massachusetts and you'll come to understand in a flash that Wilson hired him not only for his coaching expertise, but also because he's an unabashedly enthusiastic and sincere ambassador of both the college and its lacrosse program.
“If it wasn't for this team and this school I'd be back in Billerica working construction, rolling the dice and hoping for the best,” he said, sitting in the Memorial Field grandstand on a 60-degree afternoon, just a few days after the Big Green demolished Holy Cross on the field below.
“Here I was able do so much. I was able to learn so much, meet so many incredible people and have such great opportunities.” Danehy understands the angst a recruit can go through picking a college because he had three good ones to choose from himself: Dartmouth, Harvard and Ohio State.
While he had a tremendous visit to Ohio State ? “I'm still a Buckeye fan because of it,” he said ? this son of a public school teacher valued an Ivy League education. He found out where he wanted to earn it the minute he set foot on campus. “Once I went on my official visit here I knew this was the place for me,” Danehy said. “I loved it. Loved every bit of it. It's as college as college can be. You can't get this kind of atmosphere anywhere else in the world, in my opinion. You can still see the tradition. It's just a great place to go to college. I realized that on my recruiting visit and couldn't have made a better decision.”
These days a healthy part of his job is helping talented high school student-athletes find that out for themselves. Danehy is confident that as he, Wilson and fellow assistant coach Andrew Towers do that, the Big Green will move up the national rankings. He knows that because he's been there. Prior to his arrival in Hanover with the Class of 2006, Dartmouth lacrosse was building ? but struggling.
“Dartmouth was still the last-place team in the Ivy League,” he recalled. “They were crushing outside the league and just starting to compete inside the league. They were one or two goals off from beating teams. “We knew they were one recruiting class away from being there. As a group of (recruits) we saw that. We knew this was our chance to turn this program around and we did it.”
When Danehy looks at this year's Big Green team he sees the same signs he saw just a few years ago as a high school senior. “We're really close,” he said. “I just see so much potential in this team and this program. Now it's not even a class, but one or two recruits who can change that one- or two-goal game and make all that difference.”
Speaking of the Pros In addition to Danehy, three of his former teammates are on MLL rosters this preseason: Brad Heritage (Chicago), Ben Grinnell (San Francisco) and Nick Bonacci (Long Island).
“What's great about it is you can play while you are furthering your career,” Danehy said. “Nick is an investment banker. Brad is an investment researcher and Ben is in commercial real estate development.”
Danehy isn't sure at this point how much longer he will continue to suit up. “I love playing the game,” he said. “I owe a lot to the game for where I've been and where it's led me. It's not just about playing but signing autographs for kids who want to play in my spot. It's been a great. “I will continue to play as long as it doesn't get in the way of the recruiting process. The commitment it takes to be a professional lacrosse player doesn't burn you out too much, but there are a lot of weekends. I'm going to go through this year and see how the end of the year works out.”
Last Week in Dartmouth Lacrosse
Jonathan Livadas and Ari Sussman each had four goals and two assists in a 21-12 thrashing of Holy Cross in a game that had been postponed from last month because of weather. Brian Koch, Jimmy Mullen, Christopher Root, Philip Killian and Josh Gillam each had two goals.
Gillam had five goals and Killian two last Saturday in a 16-9 loss to Duke in the Autism Awareness Game at the Mitchel Sports Complex in Uniondale on Long Island. The game raised money and awareness for Lacrosse For Autism and the Cody Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities.
Despite the final score, Danehy was upbeat after the Duke loss. “We learned a lot from the Duke game,” he said. “What was glaringly obvious is we have a lot of work to do between the lines. To go 13-for-21 through the third quarter clearing against a team like Duke turns into eight goals, and we lose by just about that. “But we were putting the ball in the net, which was great to see. We are going to take care of the ball a little bit better and spend a little bit more time on offense. Defensively we are right there. It's really about staying consistent between the lines and taking care of the ball. The rest will take care of itself.”
This Week in Dartmouth Lacrosse
The Big Green (4-4 overall, 0-1 Ivy League) plays host to Penn (4-3 overall, 2-1 Ivy) Saturday at 1 p.m. Admission for this contest, as well as the remaining home games against Yale (April 16 at 6 p.m.) and Princeton (April 26) will be $6 for adults, $3 for youth 14-and-under.
“This is our second Ivy league game and it couldn't be more important to get this win,” said Danehy. “It's where it starts. We see ourselves stacking up really well against the rest of the teams in the league, and it starts with Penn.”
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/ Men's LacrosseMen's Lacrosse vs. Brown Postgame 4-19-25
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Men's Lacrosse vs. Princeton Postgame 3-29-25
Saturday, March 29
Men's Lacrosse at Penn Postgame 3-22-25
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Men's Lacrosse vs. Utah Postgame 3-8-25
Saturday, March 08
