Men's Lacrosse Back in Action at No. 4 Princeton on Saturday

Live Stats

HANOVER, N.H. - The Dartmouth men's lacrosse team travels south to Princeton on Saturday at 12 p.m. as the Big Green face the fourth-ranked Tigers in hopes of winning its second-straight Ivy contest.

LAST TIME OUT
Dartmouth clung to a slim 6-5 lead into the final quarter, but second-ranked Virginia netted eight unanswered goals in the final 12:32 to defeat the Big Green, 13-6, in non-conference action on Saturday afternoon. The Big Green got two goals from senior captain Tim Daniels while fellow senior captain Brian Koch added a goal and an assist. Senior captain Jonathan Livadas added his second goal of the season and senior Philip Killian posted his third of the year. Freshman goaltender Fergus Campbell made double-digit saves for the fifth time this season as he pushed aside 13 shots in the loss.

AGAINST RANKED TEAMS
This will be Dartmouth's fifth contest against ranked opponents this season. The Big Green is 0-4 against the top teams in the nation. Dartmouth's first game against a ranked opponent came at Notre Dame vs. the eighth-ranked Fighting Irish. The Big Green fell 19-7 in the matchup in its second game of the season. Other top teams include losses against Brown, Duke and most recently Cornell and Virginia. Dartmouth has been outscored 77-33 in those games with each opponent reaching double-digits.

SENIOR LEADER
Senior captain Brian Koch leads the Big Green with 28 points on a team-high 22 goals and six assists after a six-point week at Yale and Virginia. At Scully-Fahey Field, he has posted 11 goals and three assists for 14 points, while 11 of his goals have come on the road. Nine of the 22 goals came in two games. On April 7 against Providence he tallied a team-high four goals and added an assist for five points in the 8-4 win. He netted a season-high five goals against Bryant in the 12-9 loss back on Feb. 24. Koch reached the top-10 list for Dartmouth's all-time leading scorers on Saturday with a goal and an assist. He currently has 146 points in his career, passing Scott Hapgood '97 at No. 10. He has jumped to No. 6 all-time in goals with 99 in his career and will look for No. 100 this weekend after passing Joseph Wilder '42.

SUSSMAN COMING ON
Sophomore Ari Sussman has been one the most productive players on the Big Green squad this season. He has tallied at least a point in 10-of-11 games played this year. He is currently on a five-game point streak, which included a four-point game against Yale in the 14-13 overtime win with two goals and two assists. This season, Sussman has tallied double-digit points in six games.

ROOKIE SAVE-IOR
Freshman netminder Fergus Campbell has stepped in as the Big Green's top goaltender since earning the start against Brown on March 21. He made 10 saves against Brown in the 14-8 loss, but followed that performance with his first collegiate victory in a 10-9 win over Holy Cross. Campbell made 13 stops in the win and with a career-high 17 saves against 10th-ranked Duke he earned Ivy League Rookie of the Week honors. He has been credited with double-digit saves in five of his eight starts this season. He is currently second in the Ivy League with 10.75 saves per game.

CONSISTENCY AT MIDFIELD
Senior Jimmy Mullen has been productive this season for the Big Green with 15 goals and three assists for 18 points, which is third on the team. He was named Ivy League Player of the Week on Feb. 23 after tallying four goals, including the game-winner in an 11-10 overtime victory over Hartford in the season opener. He followed that performance with two goals against Bryant in the first loss of the year. He leads the team with four multi-goal games this season, including three against No. 10 Duke on March 28.

FACE-OFF CAROUSEL
The Big Green has had seven different players in the X this season with senior Tim Daniels leading the way with 105 opportunities, winning 54 of those face-offs for a .505 winning percentage. Mullen has also taken his share of face-offs with 22 wins in the X, while classmate Kyle Lagratta has recently come on and has won 45-of-99 draws. Lagratta has been the most successful lately with 12 wins in 15 chances against Providence on April 7. Last week at Virginia Lagratta went up against former teammate Chad Gaudet and won 11-of-19 draws against the Cavaliers No. 1 man in the X.

CLOSE GAMES FOR DARTMOUTH
Dartmouth has played in seven games this season in which the margin of victory was three-or-less goals. The Big Green is 3-4 in those games with wins over Hartford (11-10), Holy Cross (10-9) and most recently Yale (14-13(ot)). The others included back-to-back 11-9 losses to Vermont and Lehigh. Dartmouth has reached double-digits in just two games this season, both coming as victories. The Big Green has held its opponents under 10 tallies just three times this season with the season low coming against Providence in an 8-4 win.

ROOKIE IMPACT
In addition to Campbell, rookies Kip Dooley and Colin Delaney have made their impact on this year's squad. Dooley started the season on fire with six goals in his first two games. and eight points in his first three. He posted three goals and added an assist in the season-opening win over Hartford and followed that with two goals against No. 18 Brown on March 21 in the Ivy opener. He has 10 goals and four assists to lead all freshmen with 14 points. Delaney also started out hot with five goals in his first four games. He had two in the win over Hartford and after going scoreless against Bryant, he registered a goal at Notre Dame and posted three points in the loss at Vermont on two goals and an assist.

SCOUTING THE TIGERS
Princeton comes into Saturday's contest after falling to Cornell last weekend by the score of 10-7 and dropped from the top spot in the nation to the fourth spot. The Tigers are 10-2 overall and have a 3-1 mark in conference play. Jack McBride and Tommy Davis lead the way for Princeton with 34 points apiece. McBride is the top goal scorer with 28 on the season, while Davis is third in goals with 20 and third in assists with 14. Rich Sgalardi is the team's assist leader with 18. He also has added 15 goals for 33 points for second on the team. Mark Kovler is second with 25 goals and first with five man-up goals. In net, Tyler Fiorito has started all 12 games for the Tigers and has a 10-2 record with 111 total saves. He has posted an 8.07 goals against average and a .578 save percentage.

SERIES HISTORY
Princeton leads the all-time series against Dartmouth 48-8 as the teams met for the first time in 1953 and have since played every year. Princeton is 27-1 all-time against Dartmouth on its home field with 2003 being the only time the Big Green was victorious. Dartmouth defeated No. 10 Princeton last season with a 13-6 commanding win and the Big Green is looking to win consecutive games against the Tigers for the first time.

Schedules