After two losses to begin Ivy League play, the men’s lacrosse team came through last weekend by defeating Penn. The No. 19 Elis (6–2, 1–2 Ivy) will look to increase that tally when they face Dartmouth on Saturday.
The Bulldogs hit the road to Hanover, N.H., coming off a two-win weekend at Reese Stadium. Yale notched victories against both the Quakers and Detroit Mercy, and attacker Brian Douglass ’11 scored 13 goals between the two games to top his 2009 goal total of 12 in just one weekend.
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Yale has the No. 15 scoring offense in Division I lacrosse with a combined 90 goals after eight games this season. Douglass currently leads the team in scoring, with 24 goals on the season — a tally that ranks him sixth nationally for goals per game. Attacker Matt Gibson ’12 has the second-most tallies on the team with 16, and the most points of anyone on the roster with 32.
Midfielder Max Rodman ’10 has also been a key contributor to the Bulldog squad. As Yale’s starting faceoff man, Rodman is 17th in the nation at his position and has won 98 of 170 matchups. Yale collectively ranks ninth in the country in face-off win percentage.
But the Big Green (3–4, 1–1) will enter the weekend’s competition with some momentum of their own. Dartmouth most recently upset No. 6 Cornell with an 8–6 win at Gillette Stadium last Saturday — its first win against the Big Red in 13 years. Goalie Fergus Campbell stopped 23 shots for Dartmouth, and attacker Ari Sussman scored four goals.
“They’re an excellent lacrosse team, and they’re extremely well-coached,” head coach Andy Shay said of the Big Green. “They just beat Cornell, and they’re coming in with a whole lot of momentum.”
Yale holds a 44–33 lead in the all-time series against Dartmouth. But the Big Green has more recent success to show, with wins in the last two meetings and six of the past seven. The Bulldogs have not won a game at Hanover since 2002.
Sussman currently leads his squad in goals and points, with 15 and 26, respectively. Attacker Josh Etzion trails as the team’s second-most goal scorer, with 12 on the season. Campbell has largely split time in net with goalie Michael Novosel — each playing in five of seven games so far this spring. Dartmouth is ranked fourth nationally for saves per game with 13.57 on average.
Goalie Johnathan Falcone has posted the most time between the pipes for Yale. Falcone tallied 24 saves last weekend and has 68 for the season. His 9.61 goals-against-average puts him 24th in Division I lacrosse.
While the Elis earned a pair of wins last weekend, Shay said play was sloppy in the game against Detroit on Sunday.
“We got out of the weekend with two wins, but we shouldn’t feel overconfident about where we are,” Shay said. “I hope we have our normal performance [this weekend] where we play hard and we play smart.”
Saturday’s game is slated to begin at 1 p.m.