Big Green Set to Host Brown on Senior Day Saturday

By: Justin Lafleur

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GAME 12
Dartmouth (6-5, 1-4 Ivy League) vs. Brown (5-8, 1-4 Ivy League)
Dates: Saturday, April 29, 2023 – 1 p.m.
Location: Hanover, N.H. – Scully-Fahey Field
All-Time Series: Brown, 54-20
Watch Live | Live Stats
 
Today’s Game
The Dartmouth men’s lacrosse team returns home on Saturday for Senior Day as the Big Green wrap up a strong season of progress with a matchup against Brown. Opening faceoff is set for 1 p.m. on ESPN+. With a win, Dartmouth would clinch an overall winning record for the first time since 2006. The Big Green are also eyeing their first win against the Bears since 2007.
 
Nine total Big Green players will be recognized on Senior Day, with nine seniors in the class of 2023 along with Rizzotti, a fifth year. The senior ceremony will happen at the conclusion of the game. Saturday is also Mental Health Awareness Day with a table set up outside Scully-Fahey Field.

Neither Dartmouth nor Brown will advance to the Ivy League Tournament; the winner of Yale at Harvard will earn the final spot. The Big Green are 1-1 in home Ivy League games this season, looking to win two league games at Scully-Fahey Field in the same season for the first time since 2008 (when they beat Yale and Princeton).
 
Saturday will mark just Dartmouth’s fourth home game of the season, compared to eight road contests. Most recently, the Big Green dropped a 17-6 final at No. 15 Penn. The Quakers outscored Dartmouth 5-1 in the first and second quarters, which the Big Green couldn’t overcome. Early on, fifth-year Peter Rizzotti scored his first goal of the season on a transition opportunity set up by junior Ben DiGiovanni. In the end, six different Dartmouth players scored a single goal, with sophomore Brandon Ventarola dishing two assists to tie a career high. DiGiovanni’s two assists were his career high. Sophomore Holden Deck scored a fourth-quarter goal in his return to game action after nearly two months.
 
Senior Mitchell Myers was strong at the faceoff X, winning 17-of-26 with seven groundballs. Saturday marked the first time this season Dartmouth has lost when holding the groundball edge (29-25 on Saturday). Rizzotti also caused two turnovers, marking his sixth straight game with multiple caused turnovers as he’s up to 19 on the season and 60 in his career. That streak of six is a new career high, more than three straight as a freshman in 2019 when he finished with 27. That total marked a Big Green single-season record, while the 60 in his career are most all-time at Dartmouth (caused turnovers became an official NCAA stat in 2010).
 
Last Saturday, the Big Green scored a man-up goal for a 15th straight game dating back to last season, the longest active streak in the nation. Only Dartmouth and Syracuse have scored a man-up goal in every game this season. Saturday’s extra-man goal was scored by sophomore Colin McGill, who is up to 41 points on the season (27 goals, 14 assists). With three points, he would tie George Prince (last season) for the distinction of most points scored under head coach Brendan Callahan (whose first season was 2015). With four, he would own the most points by any Big Green player since Ari Sussman had 47 in 2008. As a team, Dartmouth has reached 129 goals on the season, its most since 2011 (when it scored 131). With three more goals, the Big Green will have their most goals in a season since 2008 (when they scored 150).
 
With a Win…
– Dartmouth would win its seventh game of the season, marking its most wins in a season since 2008.
– The Big Green would clinch a winning regular season record for the first time since 2006 (when they were 8-7).
– Dartmouth would win a second Ivy League game in a season for the first time since 2010 when it finished 2-4 with wins over No. 6 Cornell (8-6) and Penn (15-11).
– The Big Green would win two home Ivy League games for the first time since 2008.
– Dartmouth would snap a 13-game losing streak against Brown and beat the Bears for the first time since Mar. 24, 2007, a 9-8 victory in four overtimes.
– The Big Green would pull within 54-21 in the all-time series.
– Dartmouth would beat a second reigning NCAA Tournament team (along with Harvard).
– The Big Green would beat Harvard and Brown in the same season for the first time since 2006.
 
Scouting Brown
Brown stands 5-8 on the season heading into Saturday’s season finale. The Bears are 1-4 in the Ivy League and tied with the Big Green in the standings. Brown’s win came over Penn at home, 12-11. The Bears began the season 3-1, but have lost seven of their last nine. Included were a pair of one-goal losses against Harvard and at UMass. One of the wins came at No. 6 Villanova.
 
Brothers Devon and Aidan McLane lead Brown in scoring. Devon leads the way with 46 points via 26 goals and a team-leading 20 assists. Aidan has a team-leading 28 goals while adding nine assists for 37 points. The two are far and away No. 1 and 2 on the Bears in shots, with Aidan firing 123 and Devon tallying 84. Three others also own 21 points in Matteo Corsi (17 goals, four assists), Jack Kelly (15 goals, six assists) and Griffin King (15 goals, six assists). Matthew Gunty leads the Ivy League and stands ninth nationally in faceoff percentage (62.0, 184-of-297). Tyler Blackburn’s 12 caused turnovers are tops on the Bears. Connor Theriault has started all 13 games in goal, recording a 13.24 goals against average and 50.1 save percentage.
 
All-Time Against The Bears
Brown leads the all-time series with Dartmouth, 54-20, which includes 13 straight wins. The Bears have won seventh straight by four goals or more. There was a stretch between 2010 and 2013 of four straight games that Brown won by one or two goals, including two overtime contests. Dartmouth’s last win came on Mar. 24, 2007 at home in four overtimes, 9-8.
 
Drought Over
Dartmouth came back from a 9-5 fourth-quarter deficit vs. Harvard on Mar. 25 for its first Ivy League victory since 2015. The Big Green beat the Crimson, 10-9, behind a Colin McGill goal with 1:35 left in overtime. In regulation, the Big Green scored four goals in the span of 5:23 to force the extra session. Ironically, the 2015 win also came at home vs. Harvard, with that coming in double overtime. The Mar. 25 win marked Dartmouth’s first overtime win of any kind since that 2015 Harvard victory.
 
Surging Offense
Dartmouth’s offense has impressed this season, currently standing 33rd nationally in scoring offense (12.30) with 123 goals through 10 games. The Big Green already have exactly as many goals as they did all of last season. Here’s a rundown of Dartmouth’s goal totals since 2008 in full seasons (excluding 2020 and 2021) for comparison.
 
2023: 123 (10 games)
2022: 123 (13 games)
2019: 101 (13 games)
2018: 110 (13 games)
2017: 92 (13 games)
2016: 89 (14 games)
2015: 114 (13 games)
2014: 99 (12 games)
2013: 109 (14 games)
2012: 123 (14 games)
2011: 131 (13 games)
2010: 113 (13 games)
2009: 121 (15 games)
2008: 150 (14 games)
 
Other items of note:
– The Big Green reached double-figure goals in eight of the first nine games of the season, the first time that’s happened since 1995.
– Dartmouth has scored 17 or more goals three times: at Holy Cross (17), at Hobart (20) and at Hampton (18). It’s the first time that has happened since 1996.
– The Big Green have scored an extra man goal in each of their first 10 games of the season, the first time that’s happened under head coach Brendan Callahan. Dartmouth and Syracuse are the only remaining Division I men’s lacrosse teams to have scored a man-up goal in every game played this season. Dartmouth, Syracuse and Marquette are the only three to begin the season with 10 or more straight games with a man-up goal.
 
Myers Named Midseason All-American
Off to an impressive start to the season, senior faceoff specialist Mitchell Myers was named an honorable mention Midseason Media All-American on Friday, Mar. 31. After the Cornell game on Apr. 1, Myers stood among the nation’s best in faceoff percentage (61.8) and groundballs per game (7.88). Myers was 16th nationally in groundballs per contest, and 17th in faceoff percentage, which are also good for first and second in the Ivy League, respectively. Myers began the season by winning 17-of-26 at Merrimack before winning 17-of-21 at Holy Cross and 19-of-23 vs. Siena. He won 21-of-39 at Hobart with a career-high 13 groundballs, one of four times this season with double-figure groundballs. At Cornell, Myers bounced back from a tough start to win 14 of his final 24 faceoffs. Myers also won five of his last six faceoffs taken in a comeback, 10-9 overtime win over Harvard.
 
Paradine Named Rookie of the Week Again & Named to USILA Team of Week
One day after earning Ivy League Rookie of the Week honors, freshman Emmett Paradine was named to the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) National Team of the Week on Tuesday, Mar. 14. Paradine is one of 10 student-athletes nation-wide recognized. He follows senior Tommy Rogan as Big Green named to the team this season; Rogan received the honor following the season opener at Merrimack.The two honorees are tied with Cornell for the most in the Ivy League through four weeks this season. Brown, Penn and Yale have all had one honoree thus far.
 
The honor came after Paradine was named Dartmouth’s fourth straight Ivy League Rookie of the Week to begin the year (and Paradine’s second in a row). He finished the 20-16 win at Hobart on Mar. 7 with 10 points via seven goals and three assists. Paradine became the first freshman nationally to reach double figures in a game this season and the first Ivy League freshman to reach 10 points in a game since Jeff Teat of Cornell during the 2017 season. Paradine had a hand in half of Dartmouth’s 20 goals for the game, with all of his points proving important in a high-scoring affair. Following a goal and two assists in the first half, Paradine exploded for six goals and an assist in the second half. There was one stretch in which he scored four goals in the span of 9:32 bridging the end of the third and beginning of the fourth quarters, helping the Big Green turn a 9-9 tie into a 16-12 lead.
 
Road Warriors
The Big Green are road warriors in 2023, with eight of its 12 games coming away from home. Five of Dartmouth’s six nonleague contests were on the road, with the exception of the home opener vs. Siena on Saturday, Mar. 4.
 
Follow Along
Saturday’s game will be streamed on ESPN+ with Matt Corsetti on the call.
 
What’s Ahead
Saturday marks the season finale for the Big Green.