Worcester, Mass. — The Dartmouth College men’s hockey team battled back from a 3-0 deficit but eventually fell to Holy Cross, 5-3, in its season opener on Friday night at the Hart Center.

The result marked the Big Green’s first loss on the road to the Crusaders (3-0-2), having played to a 2-2 tie in the only prior contest in Worcester back in 2009.

Holy Cross was 4-for-6 on the power play, while Dartmouth was 1-for-4 with the man advantage.

The Crusaders were paced by Scott Pooley’s hat trick, which included a power-play goal in each of the first two periods.

After a Johnny Coughlin tally sandwiched between pair of Pooley goals in the first made it 3-0 in favor of Holy Cross, sophomore Daniel Warpecha got the Big Green on the board just 6 seconds later.

Kevan Kilistoff picked up the assist by winning the ensuing center-ice faceoff and moving the puck up to his streaking winger.

Sophomore Ryan Blankemeier finished off a play with Corey Kalk and Brendan Less just 39 seconds into the middle frame to pull the Green within one. The game was tied less than three minutes later as Kilistoff redirected a point shot on the power play from Cameron Roth.

Freshman Joey Matthews picked up an assist on the third goal and joined Less as the two Dartmouth rookies to earn their first career points in the game.

Pooley capped his hat trick at 12:27 of the middle frame put the Crusaders ahead for good. Ryan Ferrill’s first of the season came with 2:06 left in regulation for the insurance goal.

Holy Cross goalie Paul Berrafato stopped 30 shots — including 15 in the third period. Dartmouth counterpart Devin Buffalo made 24 saves.

The Big Green remain on the road with a Sunday night tilt at No. 3 Harvard, the ECAC Hockey opener for both teams. Puck drop from Cambridge is set for 7 p.m. and can be seen live on NESN.

Women’s Volleyball

Cornell 3, Dartmouth 0

New York — In its first of four straight road games, the Dartmouth (7-11, 3-6 Ivy) fell to Cornell, 25-15, 25-18, 25-12, on Friday evening. The Big Red is 9-9 and 5-4.

Freshman Mallen Bischoff led the Big Green with nine kills and was tied for first with nine digs with classmate Lauren Douglas, while fellow freshman Tori Dozier had nine assists and seven digs.

Dartmouth will take on Columbia at 5 p.m. today.

Cross Country

Dartmouth Women Second at Heps

New York — The Dartmouth women battled Columbia for 6 kilometers, but were bested by just seven points at the Ivy League Heptagonal Championship on Friday morning.

The Big Green posted 73 points en route to a second-place finish behind only the Lions’ 66. It was the closest margin between any two teams in the standings.

Junior Olivia Lantz paced Dartmouth with a fifth-place finish, earning All-Ivy League first-team honors in the process. Lantz ran a 21:17 on the 6-kilometer Van Courtlandt Park course.

Sophomore Julia Stevenson (11th) and freshman Ella Ketchum (13rg) each garnered second-team recognition has they crossed in 11th and 13th, respectively.

Seniors Leigh Moffett (19th) and Bridget O’Neill (25th) rounded out the scoring spots and gave the Big Green five top-25 finishers.

Princeton’s Gabrielle Forrest narrowly edged out Yale’s Andrea Masterson for the individual crown. Forrest ran a 21:02.3, beating out the Bulldogs’ top runner by six-tenths of a second.

The Dartmouth men claimed fifth place at the Heps on the 8K course at Van Cortlandt Park. The Big Green posted 138 points. Princeton and Columbia dueled at the top of the standings, but the Tigers came out on top with 28 points to the Lions’ 43.

Dartmouth senior Will Shafer claimed 19th overall in 25:34.8, while classmate Pat Gregory took 28th in 25:48.0.

Columbia’s Ryan Thomas was the top male finisher, crossing in 24:57.0, just under two seconds ahead of second-place Noah Kauppila (24:58.7), of Princeton.

Women’s Golf

Big Green Competes in Atlanta

Atlanta — Dartmouth junior Catharine Roddy finished the first day of the Atlanta Athletic Club Highlands Ladies Fall Intercollegiate Invitational with a 9-over-par 81, the low score for the Big Green, which ended the day in 13th place with a 339 (51 over).

Georgia State edged out Dartmouth for 12th place by a single stroke, while Georgia leads a field with three top-50 teams, including host Louisville, with an 11-over 299.

Roddy provided two of the three Big Green birdies on the day to finish the round tied for 38th. Senior Isabelle Kane carded an 84, while classmate Jessica Kittelberger shot an 86.

Freshman Moon Cheong and Maddie Nelson also competed for Dartmouth, tying for 66th and 68th, respectively.

The second round of the three-day tournament will tee off at 8:30 a.m. today.