Completed Event: Men's Lacrosse at Virginia on March 23, 2026 , Loss , 7, to, 18
Final
Men's Lacrosse
at Virginia
7
18
This Week in Dartmouth Men's Lacrosse
4/30/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
April 30, 2008
HANOVER, N.H. ? All season long the Dartmouth lacrosse team had been knocking on the door.
Last Saturday the Big Green finally kicked it in.
Although Dartmouth (6-7 overall, 2-3 Ivy League) had been steadily improving, it hadn't rung up a signature victory until registering an 11-9 win over No. 10 Princeton before an enthusiastic crowd of 1,826 at Scully-Fahey Field.
“I give our guys a ton of credit,” said coach Bill Wilson. “We've been continually getting better, but hadn't been rewarded with a big win. Still, they maintained their focus as the season progressed. They had another solid week of practice to prepare for Princeton and then put together a great team effort against a team ranked No. 10 at the time.
“It's a building block for a young team like ours to believe when a team comes back to tie you late in the game the way Princeton did, that you are going to win. I'm not sure they would have felt that way a few weeks ago. It's taken some time but they have the feeling back that they knew they could do it.”
And they did, with help from a Phil Killian goal that broke a 9-9 tie with 10:31 remaining and 16 saves by netminder Mike Novosel.
Ari Sussman had three goals, Brian Koch and Jimmy Mullen had two apiece and Chad Gaudet won 12-of-22 faceoffs as the Big Green knocked off the Tigers for the first time since 2003 and for just the second time in 20 tries.
“Our team played hard, not just for Dartmouth or the Green and White, but also for our seniors,” said Wilson.
The Big Green had help from more heroes than Saturday morning television on the way to dealing the Tigers their first Ivy League loss of the season.
“The first guy you have to talk about is Chad Gaudet,” said Wilson. “Chad's role as a longstick middie and faceoff man has allowed him to make facing off a priority and he's done an unbelievable job with it. ... He pulled away from some very good athletes in the middle of the field to create transition. He created three or four fast breaks himself. We might not have converted on all of them, but he put a lot of pressure on the Princeton team.”
At the defensive end of the field, Wilson couldn't pick out just one hero because, “everybody did a great job,” he said. “On the close defense, Casey Hingtgen locked up (Jack) McBride and Andy Gagel did the same thing to (Tommy Davis) and so did Tim McVeigh to (Alex) Haynie. For us to not have to give them a whole lot of attention over the course of four quarters really stymied the Princeton off-ball game. ...
“They are a very good moving team. They move really well off ball with a lot of cross screens, down screens, back screens, a lot of motion. ... So what those three close defensemen did was take away their inside game by not having to draw a lot of attention.”
At the same time, Wilson noted, “Our offensive middies and defensive middies, playing a defensive role over the course of the game, did a nice job against their best shooter and best feeder at the midfield.”
While Wilson readily praised his players, he and his staff also deserve a nod for going against conventional wisdom of Princeton opponents and putting a short stick on one of the Tigers' top offball shooters and a long stick on their best feeder at the midfield. The result: Because the short sticks did such a good job, they turned Princeton's best offball shooter into a dodger and feeder and defused the visitors' best feeder.
And then there was Novosel, who once again stepped up against the Tigers.
“Mike has played big against Princeton in the past and was right about 60 percent (saves),” Wilson said. “The defense afforded Mike the ability to operate at 60 percent, so it was a group effort. You can't put that whole load on your goaltender.
“Michael also did a great job of clearing the ball, using his defensemen and taking his time to clear. We cleared close to 100 percent and that was important.”
This Week In Dartmouth Lacrosse
The Big Green closes out the campaign at Harvard Saturday at 1 p.m., with the opportunity to get to the break-even mark both overall and in the Ivy League. The Crimson is 6-7 overall and 1-1 in conference play.
Wilson isn't at all concerned about a letdown after the big win over Princeton. “We are playing our best lacrosse at the end of the season with a young team and they were rewarded last week with a top-10 win,” he said. “I'm not concerned this week about their focus at all. Our seniors would like to leave with a win over Harvard because the Harvard guys will never let them forget it if they don't win.”
A Farewell To The Seniors
The young Big Green had just four seniors this spring and one, midfielder Tim Daniels, will be returning next year after missing his entire junior season with a knee injury. The graduating seniors:
Will Boardman (Brattleboro, Vt.) appeared in eight games with one goal this spring after finishing up the ice hockey season.
Wilson: “After coming over from hockey he's played an integral role the past two years. He's a very consistent player and makes us feel good when the ball is in his stick. He plays very strong between the lines. As a 6-3, 6-4 athlete he's a force to be reckoned with. He's given us the ability to play the style of lacrosse we want to play. We can play whatever tempo the game demands to be successful and he affords us the ability to do that. He's a leader, a winner who will be successful in whatever he does. He has a terrific sense of humor and knows when he can be funny in practice and when he shouldn't. Whether he knows it or not, that has been a big help for a young team.
Co-captain Chad Gaudet (Burlington, Mass.) has gone from walk-on to legitimate All-Ivy candidate. He has won 131-of-236 faceoffs (.554), leads the team with 77 ground balls and has posted two goals along with three assists.
Wilson: “He's a leader in so many more ways than faceoffs. He was our Blue Collar winner last year and he brings that to practice on a daily basis. He has the athleticism to compete against the best athletes in the country. He comes out every day and gives great effort and he knows it is a big deal when he's not at practice. It changes our team when he's not on the practice field. He's taken responsibility to be there even though he's sore and wearing down. He's carried us on his shoulders in the faceoff X. He did everything that was asked of him day in and day out.”
Co-captain Ryan Orr (Great Falls, Va.) made eight starts with one goal and three assists.
Wilson: “If you ask his high school coach he'd say Ryan was the hardest worker on the field and off the field and he brought that with him to Dartmouth. Unfortunately, as he was battling to win a position in the midfield as a junior, he came down with a hamstring. ... I'm sure he thought that was not a positive season for him because he had put in all the hard work and was right there and it didn't work out. But with our juniors off campus and having just two seniors in the fall, he came back and was a really terrific captain, making sure the guys were focused day in and day out. He was one of our most consistent players and has done a terrific job for us.”
Players Mentioned
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