Dartmouth Heads to No. 17 Harvard Saturday

Saturday, April 6

Cambridge, Mass.

3:30 PM

Dartmouth College

Harvard

Photo by: Justin Lafleur

4/5/2024 11:06:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse

Game Notes (PDF)Watch on ESPN+Live Stats Int'l Stream

Big Green will be facing their fourth straight nationally-ranked opponent

By: Justin Lafleur

GAME 10
Dartmouth (3-6, 0-2 Ivy League) at Harvard (6-3, 0-2 Ivy League)
Date: Saturday, April 6, 2024 – 3:30 p.m.
Location: Jordan Field – Cambridge, Mass.
All-Time Series: Harvard, 50-39-1
Watch Live | Live Stats

Setting the Scene
The Dartmouth men's lacrosse team continues its Ivy League slate on Saturday when the Big Green head to Harvard to face the 17th-ranked Crimson. Opening faceoff is set for 3:30 p.m. on ESPN+. Saturday features a matchup of 0-2 teams looking to secure an all-important first Ivy victory to get back into the Ivy League Tournament race. Both Dartmouth and Harvard have lost three straight games, all against ranked opponents.

Last Saturday, both defenses stood tall early with neither team scoring until 10:54 into the contest. Princeton, ranked 13th in the Inside Lacrosse/Media Poll at the time, ended the first quarter on a 3-0 run, then Dartmouth pulled within 4-2 in the second. However, the Tigers reeled off 11 straight goals to take a commanding lead. The Big Green ended with three in a row, which included first-career goals from first-years Eli Goldstein and Elliott Fee.

The story for Dartmouth was junior goaltender Mason Morel, who made a career-high 21 saves. It was tied for the second most stops in NCAA Division I men's lacrosse this season, and the most by a Big Green goalie since Blair Friedensohn also had 21 against Holy Cross on Apr. 29, 2014. Morel's 20th save against the Tigers marked the 100th stop of his career.

Dartmouth's first goal of the game was scored by junior Colin McGill, which was the No. 8 Play of the Day on SportsCenter, marking his second #SCTop10 play of the season and the team's third. On the ride, McGill caused a turnover, caught the ball and in one-motion, spun with a behind-the-back finish. He has now scored a goal in 24 straight games dating back to the end of his rookie season. It's a top 10 active streak in the nation, only one game behind Harvard's Sam King, who McGill and the Big Green will face Saturday.

Dartmouth and Harvard will square off for the first time since Mar. 25 when the Big Green were victorious in overtime, 10-9. Dartmouth came back from down 9-5 with less than 11 minutes left in the fourth to force overtime before McGill won it on a rebound in the extra session. That gave Dartmouth its first Ivy League victory since 2015.

With A Win...
- The Big Green would win their first Ivy League game on the road since a 14-13 overtime victory on Apr. 15, 2009.
- Dartmouth would win back-to-back games against Harvard for the first time since winning four in a row from 2003-06.
- The Big Green would pull within 50-40-1 in the all-time series.
- Dartmouth would snap a six-game losing streak at Harvard and beat the Crimson in Cambridge for the first time since a 12-6 win on May 3, 2008.
- Dartmouth would beat a nationally-ranked opponent for the first time since a 12-11 double overtime victory over No. 15 Harvard on Mar. 21, 2015.

Last Time Out
PRINCETON, N.J. (3/30/24) — The Dartmouth men's lacrosse team scored two of the first three second-quarter goals to pull within 4-2, but the offense went cold for more than 35 minutes as No. 13 Princeton pulled away, eventually winning by a 15-5 final on Saturday afternoon. Junior Mason Morel shined for the Big Green with a career-high 21 saves, tied for the second most stops in the nation this season. Two other bright spots were first-years Eli Goldstein and Elliott Fee, who each scored their first-career goals within a minute of each other in the fourth quarter.

All-Time vs. Harvard
Dartmouth's win over Harvard last season snapped a string of five straight Crimson victories in the head-to-head series, pulling the Big Green within 50-39-1 all-time. Prior to the 10-9 overtime win in the snow, Dartmouth's previous Ivy League victory came on Mar. 21, 2015 vs. Harvard behind a 12-11 final in double overtime. It was also the Big Green's last win against a nationally-ranked opponent as the Crimson were ranked 15th at the time. Prior to that, Dartmouth won at home in 2011 behind a 9-8 final. Harvard has won six straight over the Big Green at home.

Scouting Harvard
Harvard won its first six games of the season, capped off by a 13-11 win at No. 13 Michigan. Since, the Crimson have won three straight, but all against teams ranked in the top 15 nationally in No. 10 Yale (17-15), 14 Princeton (14-11) and No. 2 Virginia (13-10). Against the Cavaliers, Harvard opened leads of 8-3 in the third quarter and 10-6 in the fourth, but UVA ended the game on a 7-0 run to pull out the victory.

Harvard is averaging 15.22 goals per game, which is sixth nationally and third in the Ivy League. Sam King is second in the country (and league) in points per game (5.89), only trailing Matt Brandau of Yale who comes in at 6.50. Overall, King owns 53 points behind 25 goals and 28 assists. Teddy Malone leads the team in goals with 27; his 3.0 goals per game are 10th in the nation and second in the league. Three others have also posted 20 points or more. Three Crimson have caused 10 or more turnovers as well, led by Greg Campisi's 13. Andrew DeGennaro has taken the majority of the faceoffs, winning 44.2 percent (92-of-208) with 48 groundballs. Christian Barnard has started all nine games in goal, recording a 12.02 goals against average and 50.5 save percentage.

Big Green on the Big Screen
Dartmouth men's lacrosse has been on SportsCenter Top 10 three times this season. It began with sophomore Hopper Zappitello's behind-the-back goal vs. Holy Cross coming in at No. 10. Two days later, junior Colin McGill had a no-look bounce shot against Lehigh that came in at No. 5. Then at Princeton, McGill had a spinning behind-the-back goal off the ride that was No. 8.

Zappitello Named to USILA National Team of the Week
Sophomore attackman Hopper Zappitello was recognized on the USILA National Team of the Week following his stellar eight-point effort in the Feb. 24 win over Holy Cross. Zappitello scored two goals and dished six assists, the most by a Big Green player since Ben Martin dished seven on Apr. 11, 2017 against UMass Lowell. He was one of just 10 student-athlete recognized across the country and one of only two from the Ivy League.

Paradine Named NEILA Preseason All-New England
Sophomore midfielder Emmett Paradine was recognized by the New England Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association as a member of the preseason All-New England Second Team. Last season's Ivy League Rookie of the Year finished 2023 fourth on the Big Green in points with 27, tied for second in assists (9) and fourth in goals (18).

Johnston, Myers, Davis Named Captains
Dartmouth head men's lacrosse coach Sean Kirwan announced the Big Green captains in January, which included fifth-years Andrew Johnston and Mitchell Myers, and senior Nate Davis. The captains were chosen by their peers.

Four Pick Up Postseason Honors
Following a strong season of progress, four members of the Dartmouth men's lacrosse team were recognized with postseason Ivy League awards. Emmett Paradine was named Rookie of the Year, the Big Green's first Ivy League major award winner since 2007. Senior Mitchell Myers and junior Nate Davis were both named second team All-Ivy while junior Peter Lapina was named Academic All-Ivy.

Paradine becomes Dartmouth's fifth all-time Ivy League major award winner, all being Rookies of the Year. The others were Ari Sussman (2007), Jamie Coffin (2003), Brian Merritt (1994) and Jenkins Marshall (1981).

This also marked the first time Dartmouth had multiple players named first or second team All-Ivy in consecutive seasons since 2005-06. Myers was named to the first team and Daniel Hincks to the second team last season.

Milestone Watch
A number of Big Green are within striking distance of career milestones in the near future.

Henry Bonnie
40 points (10 away from 50)

Nate Davis
42 goals (8 away from 50)

Peter Lapina
49 points (1 away from 50)

Quinn Moore
41 Points (9 away from 50)

Mason Morel
101 saves (Reached on Apr. 30 at Princeton)

Mitchell Myers
474 faceoff wins (26 away from 500)
238 groundballs (12 away from 50)

Emmett Paradine
39 points (11 away from 50)

Tommy Rogan
39 goals (11 away from 50)

Follow Along
Saturday's game can be seen live on ESPN+.

Next Up
After this weekend, the Big Green return home to host No. 10 Yale next Saturday at 4 p.m.