Hanover
Life as a worker bee turned out just fine for the Hanover High graduate, however. The senior midfielder was part of three consecutive Ivy League title teams and has been granted early acceptance to Dartmouth’s prestigious Geisel School of Medicine.
“I wasn’t sure if I could play Division I soccer, and I knew that it was a reach,” said Barth, whose playing days ended last month with the Big Green’s second-round loss at Syracuse in the NCAA tournament. “But growing up in Hanover, it was a dream of mine. I didn’t know how much I’d play, but I knew it would push me a lot and it felt right to go for it.”
Barth was so small when he earned a varsity roster spot as a Hanover High freshman that Marauders coach Rob Grabill issued him a joke jersey with the number 0.5 on the back. Barth still has it and can afford to chuckle over the memory, for he eventually became an All-New England player for Hanover.
“He made every drill better because he was so good technically,” Grabill said. “In games, he never held the ball long enough to get tackled, but if you grow up as the youngest of three brothers, you’re used to getting bowled over.”
Barth was thinking he’d play Division III college soccer. However, when he and his mother sought the advice of then-Dartmouth coach Jeff Cook, the Big Green boss offered the youngster a slot on his team if he could gain admission to the school on his own. Barth had previously been a ball boy during Dartmouth games and attended the program’s summer camps.
“That was a shock and it changed everything,” said Barth, whose mother, Kathy, is a school nurse and whose father, Richard, is a Dartmouth-Hitchcock surgeon. “I applied to Dartmouth early decision.”
School has gone swimmingly for the classics major, who traveled to Greece, Turkey and England for school. He’s also handle a pre-med track and plans to take a year off after graduation next June so he can travel a bit more and generally unwind before returning home for medical school.
On the pitch, however, Barth didn’t see game action as a freshman or a sophomore, although he grew two inches to 5-foot-11 and added 15 pounds to reach 155. He played in eight games and started twice as a junior and got into seven contests with one start this fall.
Conquering self-doubt and understanding how he best handled pressure were big parts of Barth’s college soccer experience. Watching a freshman take playing time at his defensive midfielder position this year wasn’t easy.
“I realized I play a ton better when I stop worrying about how I’m playing and if I’m going to make mistakes,” Barth said. “Just go into it with nothing to lose, because if I mess up or not, I’m probably still going to be on the bench.
“It sounds negative, but it allowed me to have more fun and it brought me back to my roots and why I was playing soccer.”
Chad Riley, Dartmouth’s fourth-year coach, credits Barth with helping raise the program from a losing record his freshman year to three consecutive championship campaigns. A onetime star at Notre Dame, Riley said he’s never been around a better team player.
“He might not show up on the stat sheet as much as some other guys, but his appreciation of the opportunity rubs off on people,” the coach said. “You never took for granted how great he was in his role in any particular moment and how he affected our group mentality.”
Barth’s friends and acquaintances can’t wait to see him put his people skills to work in medicine. Brusque bedside manners aren’t unheard of in that profession, but the trend is away from condescension and toward empathy, which is one of the 21-year-old’s strengths.
“He’s Eddie Haskell without the dark side,” Grabill said with a chuckle. “As a captain, he was always looking out for the guys on the margins of the squad and including them. That’s an invaluable skill in life, not just in athletics.”