Stellar Start Not Enough in 20-13 Loss to No. 9 Yale

Saturday, April 13

Hanover, N.H.

3:30 PM

Dartmouth College

3-8, 0-4Ivy

Yale

9-2, 4-1Ivy

Yale

Dartmouth

Photo by: McKenzie Yi

Stellar Start Not Enough in 20-13 Loss to No. 9 Yale

4/13/2024 8:07:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score

Two games after making 21 saves, Mason Morel posts 19

By: Justin Lafleur

HANOVER, N.H. — The Dartmouth men's lacrosse team surged out to leads of 7-1 and 10-5, but No. 9 Yale answered with 14 straight goals to take control and defeat the Big Green on Saturday afternoon, 20-13. Junior Colin McGill led Dartmouth's offense with five points behind three goals and two assists. Classmate Mason Morel was sensational in goal, making 19 saves to hold the nation's leading offense at bay for long stretches.

With the loss, the Big Green fall to 3-8 and 0-4 in the Ivy League. The Bulldogs improve to 9-2 and 4-1.

"Unbelievable credit to our guys," said Dartmouth head coach Sean Kirwan. "The way that we came out, the energy and effort that we showed in the first 30 minutes was as good as it has been all year. We talked about it all week in practice. We needed to come out strong, firing and really not back down. The guys did exactly that."

Fifth-year Mitchell Myers bounced back from a slow start to win 11-of-24 faceoffs with nine groundballs, reaching 500 career faceoff wins and 251 career groundballs in the process. Junior Vincent Gandolfo was also 6-of-12 with four groundballs.

"Just a lot of pace, energy and tempo from our guys," said Myers when asked about the strong start. "That's something we've been stressing all season. Unfortunately today, we lost our tempo in the second half. But really proud of the way that our guys played for most of the game. We've got to give a lot of credit to Yale. That's an incredibly talented team."

Along with McGill's five points and his fifth hat trick of the season, senior Henry Bonnie scored three goals for his second hat trick of the season. Junior Brandon Ventarola posted three points via a goal and two assists. Senior Nate Davis scored twice.

Defensively, sophomore Thomas Goguen had four groundballs and two caused turnovers while junior Griffin O'Neil tallied a groundball and two caused turnovers.

This sequence was one for the highlight reels 😱

Griffin O'Neil dove to save possession, which led to a Colin McGill goal. #SCTop10 | #GoBigGreen pic.twitter.com/Z1ljas19Gb
— Dartmouth Men's Lacrosse (@DartmouthMLax) April 13, 2024

After the teams traded early goals, the Big Green ended the first quarter on a 6-0 run. Davis scored his second goal, from McGill, before Bonnie scored his first just over a minute later to make the score 3-1 less than four minutes into the contest.

The run continued with goals from McGill, senior Andrew Johnston and sophomore Emmett Paradine, before junior Quinn Moore scored with three seconds left in the first quarter for a 7-1 Big Green lead after 15 minutes of play.

Yale began the second half with three straight goals, but the Big Green responded with a 3-1 run. The last two were scored in the span of 23 seconds. It began with first-year Will Cohen causing a turnover on one end then scoring his second goal in as many games on the other. Then off the ensuing faceoffs, McGill scored from Ventarola for a 10-5 Big Green advantage with 5:27 left in the second quarter.

What a sequence by Will Cohen!!! The caused turnover on one end and the goal on the other!

Watch on @ESPNPlus: https://t.co/AcrkwoRRiE #GoBigGreen | #TheWoods🌲 pic.twitter.com/pVbmDg7Wg7
— Dartmouth Men's Lacrosse (@DartmouthMLax) April 13, 2024

The Bulldogs responded in a big way, scoring the final two goals of the second quarter, all six of the third, then the first six of the fourth to make the score 19-10 with 8:55 remaining in the contest.

Dartmouth scored three of the final four goals, but it wasn't enough.

"Credit to Yale; they're a talented team and they kept chipping away at it," said Kirwan. "For us, we've got to figure out ways to put together a more complete game. We're certainly not looking for perfection for 60 minutes, but we need a little bit better, especially coming out of halftime."

Final shots were 65-36 in favor of Yale while the Big Green held a 44-43 edge in groundballs. Dartmouth turned the ball over 20 times to 12 for the Bulldogs.

Mason Morel has been sensational. Take a look at his 11th save. Big Green lead 10-7 as we head into the final minute of the first half.

Watch on @ESPNPlus: https://t.co/AcrkwoRRiE #GoBigGreen | #TheWoods🌲 pic.twitter.com/ams0syjEa7
— Dartmouth Men's Lacrosse (@DartmouthMLax) April 13, 2024

Yale starting goaltender Jared Paquette made four saves, allowing 10 goals before being replaced by Hugh Conrad, who stopped 10-of-13 shots sent his way.

The Big Green now hit the road to play at Brown next Saturday at 1 p.m.