Lacrosse Makes Crimson See Red

By Thomas Monahan | Friday, May 13, 2005

On a wet and dreary Saturday evening, over 2,000 screaming fans stormed Scully-Fahey Field to watch the Indians capture the Ivy League Championship with a 10-7 victory over Harvard.

Michael Audet

—Senior midfielder Matt Nielsten takes the ball upfield.—

Now, as a rugby player, I find lacrosse to be a baffling game. There are lots of lines, and some guys cannot cross them, and they have these sticks with a net—it makes very little sense, and I have quite the difficulty understanding it. But the crowd at the game was spectacular as the student section was packed with belligerent Indian supporters. Junior Alec Hufnagel, who had two goals and an assist on the evening, said "the fan support at a game like Harvard was really important [to] us and definitely gave us that extra motivation we needed down the stretch. It's great to see Dartmouth's true feelings for a school like Harvard come out at a time like that." The crowd, while boisterous, was constantly being hassled by the glorified campus rent-a-cops otherwise known as Safety and Security. When muscle-bound junior Will T. Price called out "Hey #18, your mother swallows!" he was immediately scolded by the nearest officer, but he quickly pointed out that he had not referenced exactly what she had swallowed.

The attempts to quiet the crowd's taunting of the Harvard players ultimately proved fruitless as chants of "Harvard Sucks" erupted periodically. Much of the chanting was led by a veritable "ruckus posse" of individuals. The crew was a mass of people in outlandish garb, most notably a man dressed as a giant phallus. After a brief conversation with the huge member, I discovered that he called himself Harry the Dartmouth Penis and considered himself a protégé of the College's other unofficial mascot, Keggy the Keg. He declared that he "found the game extremely stimulating and was proud to stand erect as a fan of Dartmouth men's lacrosse." While strange happenings continued in the crowd, the Indians played a top-notch game. All-Ivy Senior Ben Grinnell treated the eager Dartmouth fans to a stand-out performance with three goals and three assists. While Dartmouth never trailed, the game was always close, and the Indian defense protected the lead with a vengeance. Senior goalie Andrew Goldstein kept the Crimson down with some particularly savage hits that left Harvard players flat on their backs; he totaled 10 on the night. Hufnagel described the victory as "a team effort where the defense played extremely well, as they have all season, and the offense gelled extremely well to generate enough high quality offense to win." He felt "it was a great way to say good-bye to the senior class."

It appeared Dartmouth had sealed a 9-7 victory when junior Brad Heritage scored a final goal with two seconds remaining, adding a special sting for Harvard. In a tremendous self-call, Brad gloated about his final goal: "In any other game with two seconds left on the clock and the team up by two I would've held the ball. Against Harvard? Well, I guess actions speak louder than words." As the fans swarmed across the field, the echoes of "Harvard Sucks" rang into the damp Hanover night. One junior dressed as a marching band member, Mark Goodson expressed the sentiment of the crowd. "It was an honor to play host to Harvard. With their collectively small stature and morally casual girlfriends, they practically heckled themselves."

However, despite the victory, the Dartmouth men did not receive an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. While certainly a disappointment for the team, at least they will be on campus to partake in the copious libations over Green Key Weekend.

Lacrosse Makes Crimson See Red

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