Following an impressive win over No. 15 Princeton two weeks ago, the Brown men鈥檚 lacrosse team (3-10, 2-3 Ivy) celebrated Senior Day at home on Saturday, defeating Dartmouth (3-9, 0-5 Ivy) 14-11. The win marks Bruno鈥檚 second victory in Ivy conference play and the first time the team has won consecutive games this season.
鈥�(We鈥檙e) happy to get a win on Senior Day,鈥� head coach Mike Daly said in an interview with Brown Athletics. 鈥淭here鈥檚 still a lot to improve on and we will keep working and improving.鈥�
鈥淎fter beating Dartmouth, we are happy but not satisfied,鈥� Jackson Wolfram 鈥�27 wrote in an email to The Herald. 鈥淚 believe we are starting to play our best lacrosse, and we have more games ahead to prove how good we truly are.鈥�
Even with the team鈥檚 recent return to form, history heavily favored Brown coming into this game. In their 65 meetings since 1926, Brown has beaten Dartmouth 46 times, with an unbroken win streak since the 2007-08 season when the Big Green narrowly eked out a 9-8 victory.
Getting win No. 46, however, was no certainty until the final buzzer.
Just over a minute into the first quarter, Dartmouth鈥檚 Brandon Ventarola opened the scoring with a slash and shot from the right wing. Brown found their first real scoring opportunity two and a half minutes later. Off a lofting cross-field pass from Aidan McLane 鈥�25 towards Dartmouth鈥檚 left goalpost, Spencer Hughes 鈥�25 launched the ball straight-on, before it ricocheted off the goalie鈥檚 hands and into the stick of Ben Locke 鈥�24. Locke had a point-blank view of the net, but a Big Green defender shoved him to the ground, committing a penalty to prevent a shot on goal.
With 10:45 to go in the first, Brown dissected the opponent鈥檚 zone defense just before Dartmouth returned to full strength. The midfield swung the ball around the perimeter to McLane on the right corner. McLane found an optimal entry pass angle to Tanner Burns 鈥�25 on the edge of the fan, who fired it into the net to tally his fifth goal of the season and McLane鈥檚 fourth assist.
Just 38 seconds later, Bruno鈥檚 Ben Scandone 鈥�26 scored unassisted, curling towards Dartmouth鈥檚 goal from their X. The two teams clashed in deadlock until less than seven minutes remained in the first quarter, when Big Green midfielder Emmett Paradine slotted the ball into the bottom left corner of the net off a solo carry from the right side.
This goal unleashed an offensive outburst from the away side, as two other players scored within 40 seconds of Paradine鈥檚 run. Scandone registered his second goal of the day to close the first quarter with a scoreline of 3-4 favoring Dartmouth.
The second quarter emulated the same dynamic as the first, with Dartmouth scoring four goals and Brown three. The Bears launched in two early goals before succumbing to the same on the defensive end. At the half, Bruno trailed 6-8.
Before this matchup, opponents have outscored Bruno in the second half in every game of the season so far, a pattern repeated for most of the third quarter. Goals from McLane and Wolfram alternated with goals from the Big Green to keep the scoreline at 8-10 with 5:25 left in the third. Then, with 3:46 to go, Hughes put another behind the net, rocketing the ball from close to the midfield line, stutter-stepping left to right to record his 16th goal of the season.
This effort fueled McLane to showcase how he became Bruno鈥檚 leading goalscorer. He scored again with 2:13 left in the quarter to tally his 27th of the season. At the end of the third, Brown and Dartmouth were tied at 10-10.
鈥淕oing into a tied game in the 4th quarter, we knew we had to simply outwork them. We kept things simple, rode hard and took advantage of our opportunities,鈥� Wolfram wrote. He scored the first goal of the quarter with 12:10 left to play off an assist from Scandone to give the Bears the lead. 鈥淎fter scoring the first goal of the 4th, we were immediately focused on the next play, looking to beat Dartmouth one minute at a time.鈥�
In the proceeding three minutes and 33 seconds, Forrest Demetri 鈥�25, Charlie Cave 鈥�26 and Locke each contributed one goal to give Brown a 14-10 lead. Overall, nine Bruno players contributed to the winning score.
Except for a Dartmouth goal at 8:31, the Bears managed to stave off the Big Green offense for the remainder of the fourth quarter to repeat history.
Brown renounced its winning streak this Tuesday following a 7-10 loss to Bryant, but the team will continue to search for its potential against Harvard this weekend and the Ivy Tournament the weekend after.
