Men's Lacrosse Continues Southern Slate at No. 9 Duke

Tue., Dartmouth (2-2, 0-0 Ivy) at No. 9 Duke (4-3, 0-2 ACC), 7 p.m.
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HANOVER, NH - The Dartmouth men's lacrosse team will look to salvage one win out of its week long trip in North Carolina as the Big Green takes on ninth-ranked Duke at 7 p.m. on Tuesday night.

TOO MUCH TAR HEELS
The Big Green started its trip to North Carolina on a bad not3 with a 15-6 loss to second-ranked North Carolina on Friday night in Chapel Hill. Dartmouth held its own in the first quarter and entered the second with a 1-1 tie, but the Tar Heels ran off nine straight goals and cruised to the victory under the lights.

SUITING UP AGAINST AN OLD FRIEND
For the second straight year, Dartmouth will be taking on a former teammate and player. Last season, the Big Green faced top-ranked Virginia and former standout Chad Gaudet and this year it will be former attackman Jonathan Livadas, who is taking graduate courses at Duke and had one year of eligibility left. Livadas has played in all seven games for the Blue Devils with a goal and four assists for five points.

FIRST FRAME SUCCESS
This season the first quarter has been Dartmouth's best and mostly on the defensive side of the field. The Big Green is outscoring its opponents 7-3 and has a +17 margin (39-22) in shots. When leading after the first, Dartmouth is 2-0. The fourth quarter has been a problem with 14 goals against to only eight scored. Most goals in that quarter have come when the game is out of reach or the Big Green has a big lead.

SECOND QUARTER SHOOTING RANGE
Dartmouth took a 4-1 lead into the second quarter against Wagner on March 11 and came up with 10 goals in those 15 minutes. The Big Green had yet to eclipse 10 goals in a game this season and did it in one quarter. During all of last season, Dartmouth reached 10 goals only three times and twice those games went to overtime. Josh Etzion alone had four of the goals and added two assists for six points. Ari Sussman posted two goals and had two assists.

SUSSMAN MOVING UP THE CHARTS
Senior Ari Sussman enters his final season in a Big Green uniform and looks to move up the all-time scoring list. He currently sits in 13th place with 137 points in three seasons. Sussman has 81 goals for 17th all-time and he is also on the top assist list with 56 for 12th. Sussman was the 2007 Ivy League Rookie of the Year and an honorable mention All-Ivy selection the same year. He followed that up in 2008 with a first team All-Ivy selection.

SEE ETZION SCORE
Etzion paced the Big Green with nine points in just 30 minutes of action in the 18-9 win over Wagner on March 11. He posted five goals and four assists with one during a man-up situation. At one point in the second he had three straight goals in under a minute. Etzion is tied with Andrew Feinberg of Brown for third in the league in goals per game.

TOP IVY LEAGUE DUO
Sussman and Etzion have been a force on the offensive side of the ball this season. The two have almost accounted for 50% of the goals by the Big Green (19-of-39) and points (33-of-68). Each is in the top 10 in all offensive categories. Sussman leads the conference in points per game, averaging 4.5 points. He is also second in assists a game at 2.75.

RUNNING THE GAUNTLET
After starting the season with games against three unranked teams, Dartmouth is in its toughest stretch of games in recent memory. The next five games will come against ranked teams, including two of the next three against top 10 teams. The stretch started with No. 2 North Carolina and continues with No. 9 Duke and finishes up with No. 5 Princeton. Dartmouth will also face No. 16 Harvard, No. 4 Cornell and No. 20 Yale.

2010 NEW ENGLAND LACROSSE CLASSIC
The Big Green will be competing in the 2010 New England Lacrosse Classic at Gillette Stadium on April 3. Dartmouth will take on national runner-up Cornell, while Brown will face Princeton. The Big Green-Big Red game is set for 12 p.m., while the Bears and Tigers will get started around 3:30 p.m.

SCOUTING THE BIG GREEN
Dartmouth travels to Durham with a 2-2 overall record and has yet to compete in Ivy League play. The Big Green is averaging just under 10 goals a game. This is the second game against a ranked opponent for Dartmouth in a stretch which features six straight against ranked foes. The Big Green is 0-1 against top-20 teams after falling at North Carolina.

Senior captain Ari Sussman is the top point man for Dartmouth after a three-point game against UNC with a goal and two assists. He leads the Ivy League in assists per game at 2.75. Junior Josh Etzion remained second on the team with 15 points after two goals and an assist in the loss to the Tar Heels. He has 10 goals and five assists, including three man-up goals to lead the Big Green. Freshman Chris Costabile continues to impress during the early season with six goals and four assists. He posted two goals in a game for the third time this year in the loss to UNC. Sophomores Kip Dooley and Colin Delaney have also contributed with two goals and two assists for four points apiece.

In net, senior Mike Novosel dropped his record to 2-2 after taking the loss on Friday night with 12 saves. His goals against average has risen recently to 10.20 and his save percentage is .527. All other goaltenders saw action. Sophomore Fergus Campbell has seen action in two games and has made four saves and given up only one goal. Freshmen Bernie Susskind and Ryan Alexander split time in the fourth quarter against Wagner on March 11. Susskind made two saves in the first action of his career. Alexander failed to make a save in his six minutes of action.

SCOUTING THE BLUE DEVILS
Duke comes into Tuesday night's contest after defeating Penn State, 20-11, on Saturday. The Blue Devils are ranked ninth in the Nike/IL Media Poll and seventh in the USILA Coaches Poll with a 4-3 record overall and a 0-2 mark in ACC play. Duke has dropped games to Maryland, UNC and Notre Dame. The Blue Devils have won two in a row as they beat Loyola prior to the matchup against the Nittany Lions.

Max Quinzani has been on fire in the seven games played with 27 goals and four assists for 31 points. Four of the 27 tallies have come during a man-up situation, which leads the team. He has 25 ground balls, seven caused turnovers and only seven turnovers himself. Ned Crotty is the leader in assists with 22 on the year and 28 points after scoring six goals. Zach Howell has seen action in all seven games and has 18 goals and seven assists for 25 points. He is second on the team in all of those categories. Parker McKee has been a force on the defensive end with 18 caused turnovers and 47 ground balls to lead the Blue Devils in each of those categories. CJ Costabile and Sam Payton have shared time at the X with Costabile recording a 53.3 success rate (40-of-75) and Payton at 49.3% (39-of-73).

In net, Dan Wigrizer has started all seven games and is 4-3 on the year. He has made 74 saves, while giving up 71 goals. Wigrizer has posted a 10.52 goals against average and a .510 save percentage along the way.

SERIES HISTORY
This will be the 13th meeting between Duke and Dartmouth with the Blue Devils dominating the series at 12-0. The two teams first met back in 1952 with Duke coming away with a 3-1 win. The Blue Devils have reached double-digits in goals in every game since the matchup in 1952 and this will be the first time the Big Green plays at Duke since 2007.

Schedules