Hanover
Unforced turnovers, ill-advised penalties, poor shooting and abysmal man-up play deflated the Big Green (1-6). The score would have been even more lopsided had Harvard (5-3) not also struggled with turnovers and penalties.
“When you get into the league games, you can’t make a lot of the mistakes that we made today,” said third-year coach Brendan Callahan, whose team hit the right post on three consecutive shots during the fourth quarter. “In half-field defense, we played pretty well, but off the loose balls and in transition, some scramble situations went their way.”
Dartmouth committed 22 turnovers, many of them on what should have been simple throw-and-catch exchanges. That’s been a longstanding problem for the program, but one that seemed to diminish last season, despite the Big Green’s 1-13 record. The hosts took 36 shots Saturday, but forced Harvard goaltender Robert Shaw to make only six saves. Dartmouth’s man-up unit was scoreless in seven opportunities.
“We gave them too many second chances and made too many mistakes,” said Callahan, whose team cleared its own end successfully just 11 of 18 times.
Dartmouth trailed, 6-3, after a quarter and 10-6 at halftime and an announced gathering of 237 repeatedly groaned as the home team shot itself in the cleats. There was the time a Big Green player dropped his 6-foot pole, allowing an opponent to run past him and start a scoring sequence.
Dartmouth lost possession once on an interference penalty when the ball carrier benefited because his defender was hooked by a fellow Big Green player. At another point, Callahan shouted in frustration when a Harvard attacker missed a catch in the offensive end, allowing the ball to roll to the center line. No Dartmouth attackman was alert enough to be waiting for it.
Late in the first half, a Harvard player was “locked in” for a minute-long penalty, meaning the visitors wouldn’t regain full strength regardless of how many times Dartmouth scored during that span. In short order, however, the hosts lost possession by stepping in the Crimson crease, going offside and committing a slashing foul.
During another man-up opportunity, the Big Green got off one shot — a Jack Korzelius effort from what would be the top of the key in basketball. The rubber was released at head height and traveled directly into Shaw’s stick on the same plane. It was essentially an uncategorized turnover.
A late play that capped a bad day for Dartmouth began with the Big Green throwing the ball out of bounds in the offensive end. Standing in front of the Dartmouth bench, Harvard defenseman Ryan Norton restarted action with a pass that was long gone when he was belted to the ground by Big Green attackman Richie Loftus. The subsequent penalty led to another Crimson goal.
“We know we can do better,” said sophomore defenseman Austin Meacham, one of his team’s few standouts. “I don’t think it’s any one thing. It’s a collective team thing.”
Meacham, a star football and lacrosse competitor at Connecticut’s Brunswick Academy, played in every game last season and started 12 times, leading Dartmouth in ground balls. His 5-foot-11 height probably prevented him from landing higher up the college lacrosse food chain.
“He’s a tremendous athlete and at times freakish with his speed and the plays he can make in the middle of the field,” Callahan said. “He’s a high-motor, play-hard guy and a lot of the way we want the program to look like overall, he brings that to the field.”
Another bright spot is freshman goaltender George Christopher, who made six saves while facing 33 shots.
Despite a goals-against average of 11.98 and a .475 save percentage that will rank him near 50th in the next batch of updated NCAA Division I statistics, the Washington D.C., product has shown poise under fire.
“George has been a great boost for us and given us a chance to win games,” said Callahan, who himself started as a freshman goaltender during his stellar playing days at Stony Brook. “He’s feeling it out as a young guy but we have to play some better defense in front of him.
“He’s got a flair for the big save in tight or on guys coming around the net. We just need him to have better consistency in his shot-stopping.”
Meacham perked up when asked about the rookie backstop.
“He’s an amazing goalie,” Mecham said. “I haven’t seen a true weakness in the kid and he has so much potential. He’s been so mature in such a challenging role. I have a lot of respect and admiration for him.”
Dartmouth received two goals from Korzelius and one each from Loftus, Harrison Lane, Ben Martin, Tucker Brown and defenseman Timmy Burke. Wiley Osborne had two assists for the hosts and Morgan Cheek had four goals and four assists for Harvard, which improved to 1-1 in Ivy play. The Big Green next visits Cornell, which is an uncharacteristic 1-6 overall and 0-2 in league action.
Notes: Big Green sophomore Tucker Brown won 13 of 23 faceoffs. … Dartmouth senior midfielder Evan Key is out for the season after recently undergoing the second knee surgery of his career. His father, former Big Green football and lacrosse standout Nigel Key, said on Saturday his son might return to Dartmouth for a fifth season, continue his playing days as a graduate student at another school or, if offered the opportunity, dispense with lacrosse altogether and work for New York City investment giant Goldman Sachs. … The Big Green used 20 of the 34 players on its roster. Harvard used 29 of its 42. … Harvard midfielder Nigel Andrews, a freshman midfielder from New York City and Massachusetts’ Deerfield Academy, was ranked as the No. 9 recruit in the high school class of 2016 by Inside Lacrosse Magazine. He had two goals on Saturday.
Tris Wykes can be reached at twykes@vnews.com or 603-727-3227.