Equestrian Finishes Second At ECAC Equestrian SD Championship

Saturday, March 22

Charleston, S.C.

Dartmouth College

No. 3 Sacred Heart

Equestrian following the 2025 ECAC Championship

Equestrian Finishes Second At ECAC Equestrian SD Championship

3/23/2025 11:16:00 AM | Equestrian

CHARLESTON, S.C.--The Dartmouth equestrian team rode to a second-place finish in the ECAC Single Discipline Women's Equestrian Championship in Charleston on Saturday.

To begin the day, the team roared back from a 3-2 halftime deficit to knock off Sacred Heart 6-4. The two teams completed the flat section of the meet on Friday and completed the fences portion on Saturday morning.

On the flat, Samantha Takacs '27 and Chloe Terestchenko '25 won their matchups 85-71.5 and 83.5-69.5 respectively. Despite trailing, the Big Green held an 18.5 raw score lead over the Pioneers.

Takacs went on to win the meet's Most Outstanding Performer (MOP) for the flat.

Needing a strong performance over fences to not only mount a comeback, but to set up a would-be conference title meet against the College of Charleston, Dartmouth needed to take at least three of the five fences matchups in the second half. Its 4-1 effort secured a 6-4 win.

Takacs (88-82), Terestchenko (85.5-82.5), Cassidy Exner '27 (83-77.5), and Elise Stephens '28 (83.5-39) won their contests. Stephens was named the meets MOP over fences.

"Even though we were behind at the half, we were confident we could come back the next morning and win the points we needed," Head Coach Tenley Walsh said.

Later in the day, Dartmouth squared off against the College of Charleston with the ECAC title on the line. The Cougars prevailed 7-3, edging the Big Green 4-1 on the flat and 3-2 over fences.

Exner earned MOP honors on the flat for her 86-79.5 performance, while Takacs and Kileigh Van Ness'28 picked up team wins over fences (85-84.75 and 76.5-53 respectively). Exner and Terestchenko each missed winning their fence matchups by a half of a point (84.5-84, 81.5-81).

"Give credit to Charleston, they rode really well. But I'm happy with how we competed," Walsh said. "We dropped three contests by two points or fewer, and only needed two of those to win."

The team finished with a higher raw score and the highest cumulative raw score of the three teams for the weekend.

Takacs and Exner were both named to the ECAC All-Tournament team for fences, and Exner also was selected for the ECAC All-Tournament flat team.

The Big Green now await to see if they will be traveling to the NCEA National Championships on April 17-19 in Ocala, Fla. The participating teams will be announced on April 1.