Ivy Tournament Hopes Come Down to Saturday at No. 18 Brown

Sat., Dartmouth (5-7, 2-3 Ivy) at No. 18 Brown (7-5, 3-2 Ivy), 1 p.m.
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ESPN/IL Breakdown of Tournament Scenarios

HANOVER, NH - With three spots up for grabs and five teams fighting, the Dartmouth men's lacrosse team must defeat 18th-ranked Brown on Saturday if the Big Green hopes to secure a position in the inaugural Ivy League Tournament.

The Big Green needs to beat Brown in order to have a chance to get into the tournament. Princeton has already secured a spot, but the top seed is still up for grabs. All of the following scenarios are if Dartmouth wins.

WINNING SCENARIO ONE
If Princeton beats Cornell, Dartmouth beats Brown and Harvard takes down Yale, the Tigers will be 5-1, while the five others will be at 3-3. In that case, head-to-head would have all of those teams at 2-2 against each other, so the next criteria would be how they did against the highest seed. This would make Harvard No. 2 as the only team to beat Princeton and send the other four back to head-to-head. Dartmouth and Yale would then be 2-1, while Cornell and Brown would be 1-2, eliminating them. Yale has beaten Dartmouth, so the Bulldogs would become No. 3 and the Big Green would become No. 4.

WINNING SCENARIO TWO
Should Princeton defeat Cornell, Yale defeat Harvard and Dartmouth defeat Brown, then Princeton is No. 1 at 5-1, Yale is No. 2 at 4-2 and Cornell, Dartmouth and Brown are all 3-3. Head-to-head eliminates Cornell. The Big Green is the No. 3 seed, because it will own the tie-break over Brown that will end up at No. 4.

WINNING SCENARIO THREE
Should Cornell defeat Princeton, Yale defeat Harvard and Dartmouth beat Brown. Cornell would host, Princeton at No. 2 as the Tigers beat the Bulldogs, who would be in the third spot and Dartmouth would be in the fourth spot.

WORST WINNING SCENARIO
The worst possibility would be created by a Cornell win over Princeton, which would create a two-way tie between the Tigers and Big Red. This would depend on losses by Brown and Yale, which would then create a four-way tie for third between Brown, Yale, Harvard and Dartmouth. Head-to-head for those four would then have Yale and Harvard at 2-1 and Brown and Dartmouth at 1-2, which would send Harvard (as the No. 3) and Yale (as the No. 4) to the tournament.

IVY TOURNAMENT ON THE LINE
The Big Green men's lacrosse team travels to No. 18 Brown on Saturday with a spot in the Ivy League Tournament on the line. With Brown, Yale and Cornell sitting at 3-2 and Dartmouth and Harvard at 2-3 there are five teams fighting for three spots. Princeton is the lone school that has already clinched a spot, but the host seed is still up for grabs after Princeton's loss to Harvard. The Tigers stand at 4-2.

SUSSMAN SNAPPED
Senior Ari Sussman was shutout for the first time this season in the 7-5 loss to Bryant on Tuesday. He went from scoring 13 points in the previous two games to being shutout by a great defense that was allowing just 6.5 goals per game, which is the lowest in Division I, but the Bulldogs are not considered D-I in NCAA statistics. The attackman ranks in the top-40 nationally in all three important offensive categories, including 19th in points per game at 3.64.

FACEOFF INCONSISTENCIES
For the first time this season, the Big Green didn't lose the faceoff battle, but didn't win either. Dartmouth and Bryant played to an 8-8 tie at the X. The Big Green had lost the previous 11 faceoff battles. Dartmouth ranks 56th of 58 teams in Division I in the category. In order for the Big Green to have a chance against the 10th-ranked scoring offense in the nation. The Bears are actually ranked 49th in the category, so it could be a reasonable advantage for Dartmouth.

MILLER'S THRILLER
Junior Rhett Miller had a career day on Saturday in a must-win for the Big Green against Penn. He helped Dartmouth stay alive in the tournament race with a career-high six goals. The six goals is the most by a Big Green player this season and the first since senior Josh Gillam had six versus Cornell in 2008. His second goal was the highlight of the day with a diving score beating one defender and then the goaltender under his right arm.

LONG-STICK SCORING
Senior Casey Hingtgen became the first long-pole to score this season and he netted two goals in the win over Vermont on Saturday. He is the lone player with a long stick that has points. Hingtgen added to his goal total with another score off of a faceoff against Bryant on Tuesday.

SCOUTING THE BIG GREEN
Dartmouth hosts Ivy foe Brown in the final regular season game with an Ivy Tournament berth at stake. After two games in double-digits, the Big Green is now averaging just under nine goals a game, which is last in the Ivy League.

Senior captain Ari Sussman is the top point man for Dartmouth. After the 13 points this week, he jumped to second in the Ivy League in points per game at 3.82. He is tops on the Big Green with 42 points on 23 goals and 19 helpers. Junior Josh Etzion remains second on the team with 28 points after three goals and an assist in the win over the Quakers. He has 18 goals and nine assists, including three man-up goals to lead Dartmouth and he is third in the league. Freshman Chris Costabile continues to impress during his first season with 18 goals and six assists and added five goals at Vermont on April 20.

In net, sophomore Fergus Campbell has gotten the last seven starts with a 3-4 record and earned his third win against Penn with 16 stops on April 27. He has double-digit saves in five games this season and has a 2-3 record in those contests. Currently he leads the Ivy League in save percentage at .587 and he has a 9.96 goals against average. Senior Michael Novosel has started five games for Dartmouth and has a 2-3 record. He has collected an 11.76 GAA and .473 save percentage. Freshman Ryan Alexander got some time in the game against Princeton, making his first career save and collected two in the final minutes of the game last Saturday.

SCOUTING THE BEARS
No. 18 Brown enters this Saturday's game with a 7-5 overall with a 3-2 mark in conference play. The Bears are averaging 11.83 goals per game, which is tops in the Ivy League. However, the scoring defense is struggling, giving up 10 goals a game. Brown is coming off a huge 13-10 win over Cornell last Saturday, which kept them in a great position to make the Ivy League Tournament.

Brown is led by Andrew Feinberg, who leads the league in goals per game at 2.67 and has 32 on the season. He is also the leader in points with 37 as he has added five assists to his goal total. Thomas Muldoon is not far behind Feinberg in points with 34 on 24 goals and 10 helpers. David Hawley has been great on the man-up advantage with seven goals with the extra man. Reade Seligmann is the top assist man for the Bears with 18 on the season to go with 10 goals for 28 points. At the X, Seth Ratner has struggled with only 87 wins in 186 attempts for a 46.8% success rate. These two teams are at the bottom of the nation in faceoff percentage.

In net, Matt Chriss has started all 12 games for Brown and has a 7-5 record. He has a 10.30 goals against average and a .514 save percentage. Both numbers are in the top-seven in the league. He has made 125 saves and has given up 118 goals on the year.

SERIES HISTORY
Brown and Dartmouth will be playing for the 55th time since the two Ivy schools met back in May of 1926. The Bears hold a 34-20 advantage and have won the last two meetings. This is the fourth time the Bears enter the contest as the 18th-ranked team in the nation. Dartmouth has won two of the first three meetings in that case. Brown has the longest winning streak in the series at 14 games from 1984 to 1997. Dartmouth head coach Andy Towers never lost to the Big Green in his career with the Bears.

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