Dartmouth Rolls Past Hampton, 18-9

Tuesday, March 21

Hampton, Va. / Armstrong Stadium

3:00 PM

Dartmouth College

5-1

Hampton

2-6

Dartmouth

Hampton

Photo by: Jose Salinas

3/21/2023 6:14:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

The Big Green now turn their focus to Ivy League play, beginning Saturday at home against Harvard

By: Justin Lafleur

HAMPTON, Va. — The Dartmouth men's lacrosse team bounced back from its first loss of the season in a big way, picking up an 18-9 win at Hampton on Tuesday in the first-ever meeting between the two sides. Five different Big Green players scored multiple goals to improve to 5-1 on the season, good for their best record after six games since the 2004 season. Sophomores Brandon Ventarola and Quinn Moore each tallied five points to lead the offense, both scoring four goals and dishing an assist.

While Dartmouth improves to 5-1, Hampton falls to 2-6 on the season.

Just halfway through their 12-game regular-season schedule, the Big Green's five wins mark their most since 2015. Dartmouth picked up its fourth road win of the season as well, already marking its most since 2003.

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Ventarola's four goals and five points marked career highs while Moore's five points tied a career high. Freshman Cameron Brown scored three goals for his first-career hat trick while other multi-goal scorers included senior Tommy Rogan and junior Nate Davis, who had two apiece. Sophomore Colin McGill finished with a goal and four assists, and junior Peter Lapina recorded a goal and assist.

Defensively, senior Andrew Johnston was stellar with two groundballs and a career-high four caused turnovers. Sophomore Griffin O'Neil recorded two groundballs and a career-high three caused turnovers. In total, the Big Green caused 18 of Hampton's 28 turnovers on the afternoon.

Senior Mitchell Myers won 3-of-8 faceoffs, but sophomore Vincent Gandolfo and senior TJ Bryan had career games, winning 7-of-10 and 6-of-10, respectively. The faceoff win totals were career highs for both the sophomore and senior. Bryan also scored his first-career goal in the third quarter.

TJ Bryan EARNED his first-career goal 😤

The senior got the goal and drew the flag.#TheWoods🌲 | #GoBigGreen pic.twitter.com/t458YvWTfc
— Dartmouth Men's Lacrosse (@DartmouthMLax) March 23, 2023

"Excited to come away with a win," said Dartmouth head coach Brendan Callahan. "The purpose for us playing Sunday and then Tuesday on one day's rest is to get that experience. I thought we did a pretty good job handling that. You could see throughout the game, there were some times when I thought our legs were a little tired and there were some times when I thought that quick turnaround affected our focus mentally, so I would have liked to see us have been a little sharper today."

Dartmouth opened a quick 3-0 lead midway through the first quarter behind unassisted goals from Ventarola, Lapina and Rogan. After Hampton pulled within 3-1 late in the first quarter, the Big Green reeled off nine in a row. Included was a 6-0 second quarter and the first three of the third. Brown scored all three of his goals in that run, with his hat trick coming in the span of 12:17 of game action (from 5:12 of the second quarter to 7:55 of the third).

With the Big Green leading 12-1, Hampton rallied by scoring seven of the next 10 goals, but it wasn't nearly enough. Dartmouth surged with three in a row, coming in the span of 28 seconds (at 2:16, 2:07 and 1:48 of the fourth quarter) for an 18-8 lead, on the way to the 18-9 victory.

A goal every nine seconds?!

This is what 3️⃣ goals in 2️⃣8️⃣ seconds looks like 😤#TheWoods🌲 | #GoBigGreen pic.twitter.com/UOyl0HK1Wg
— Dartmouth Men's Lacrosse (@DartmouthMLax) March 23, 2023

For the game, Dartmouth held a 54-30 edge in shots and 38-30 advantage in groundballs. The Pirates turned the ball over 28 times to the Big Green's 22 turnovers. Each team had a pair of extra-man goals. Freshman Sam Cooper made nine saves in goal, across Hampton's Paxtin Powell, who tallied 14.

"Overall, I was really happy with our effort," said Callahan. "We had a bunch of guys who contributed to today's win."

The Big Green now turn their sights to the Ivy League opener set for this Saturday at Scully-Fahey Field. Opening faceoff is set for 4 p.m. on NESN+ and ESPN+.