Big Green Can't Hold Off No. 16 Crimson in Ivy Opener

Saturday, March 27

Cambridge, Mass.

3:00 PM

Dartmouth College

Harvard

Big Green Can't Hold Off No. 16 Crimson in Ivy Opener

3/27/2010 5:00:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

By: Dartmouth

Box Score

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - The Dartmouth men's lacrosse team had a six-goal lead early in the third quarter, but 16th-ranked Harvard scored 10 goals in the final 24 minutes to defeat the Big Green, 13-11, in Dartmouth's Ivy League opener at Harvard Stadium.

The Big Green (2-4, 0-1 Ivy) got amazing performances from sophomore Kip Dooley (Minneapolis, Minn.) and freshman Chris Costabile (Sykesville, Md.) as each tallied five points on four goals and an assist. Costabile was a force on the man advantage with both of Dartmouth's goals with the extra man. Junior Rhett Miller (Dallas, Texas) had his best game of the season with a pair goals in the first half, including the Big Green's first man-down goal of the year. Sophomore Fergus Campbell (New Canaan, Conn.) had another great game between the pipes with 11 saves with five of them coming in the second quarter.

Harvard (5-2, 1-1 Ivy) was powered by its stars Dean Gibbons and Jeff Cohen. Gibbons finished with five points on three goals and two assists, while Cohen collected four points with three goals and an assist. The Crimson had eight different goal scorers and had 11 players with at least one point. In net, Harry Kreiger earned the win with three saves in 60 minutes of action.

Dartmouth struck first 2:56 into the game on Miller's third of the season. The Big Green was patient on its opening position and worked a nice shot for Miller as he found the bottom left corner of the cage for the 1-0 lead. It was Dartmouth's first lead since the Wagner game on March 11.

The Crimson fired back with three consecutive goals from three different scorers to take a 3-1 lead with six minutes left. Cohen got things started with his 17th of the year, followed by Terry White with his 10th. Gibbons, who is one of the top scorers in the Ivy League, gave the Crimson its 3-1 lead.

Unlike the past two games, the Harvard lead didn't discourage Dartmouth as the Big Green fired back with three straight scores to take a 4-3 advantage. Senior captain Ari Sussman (New Haven, Conn.) made it 3-2 with a nice individual effort. He scored as he was driven to the ground by a Crimson defender. Costabile evened the score 18 seconds later with his seventh on the season coming with 3:07 remaining in the opening quarter.

Miller struck again, this time on the Big Green's first man-down goal of the season. He received a pass from Sussman in open space and beat Krieger to give the lead back to Dartmouth at 4-3 at the end of the first frame.

The second quarter belonged to the Big Green as Dartmouth increased its lead to 7-3 and held Harvard scoreless, despite losing the shot battle 9-4. Dooley pushed the Big Green advantage to 5-3 with his third of the season coming with 5:33 remaining in the half. After the teams traded penalties and the hitting increased, Costabile netted back-to-back goals to make it 7-3 going into the half. His third goal of the half came on Dartmouth's second man-up situation.

Dooley opened the second half with two straight scores to give the Big Green its largest lead at 9-3 with 12:06 left in the third quarter. Gibbons stopped the bleeding for the Crimson as he ended Dartmouth's streak of eight straight goals to make it 9-4.

Gibbons' tally started a huge rally by Harvard as the Crimson crept to within one goal with five unanswered goals in a span of five minutes. The run was highlight by a pair of goals from Cohen and Alex White that came eight seconds apart.

Costabile cut the rally short for the Big Green with his fourth of the game, coming during a man-up advantage. He fought off a Crimson check and swung around to the center of the offensive set, bouncing one past Kreiger to give Dartmouth a little breathing room at 10-8 going into the final quarter.

In the fourth, Harvard took advantage of a Big Green clearing issue and Andrew Pataki made Dartmouth pay for the mistake and the cut the lead back to one at 10-9. The Crimson erased the Big Green advantage that once was up to six goals on Jeff Molinari's goal with 8:33 left in the game. Cohen gave Harvard its first lead since the score was 3-2 back in the first with his third of the game at the 6:01 mark to make it 11-10.

Jack Doyle increased the lead to 12-10, but Dartmouth fought back with Dooley netting his fourth of the game to get the Big Green back to within one at 12-11. The killer came 45 seconds later with White scoring his second to close the game at 13-11.

Harvard had the advantage in all offensive categories, but the one that jumped out was 22 faceoff wins to only six for Dartmouth. The Big Green could only manage two wins in the first half and still had a lead. However, the trend did not help in the second.

Dartmouth will be back on the field a week from today at Gillette Stadium for the 2010 New England Lacrosse Classic against No. 7 Cornell at 12 p.m., followed by No. 18 Brown and No. 5 Princeton. Tickets can be purchased through Ticketmaster.