Men's Lacrosse Faces No. 2 Virginia on National Television

Live Stats

HANOVER, N.H. - The Dartmouth men's lacrosse team will look to build on its first Ivy win on Wednesday at Yale with a tough task against second-ranked Virginia on Saturday at 12 p.m. on CBS College Sports Network.

LAST TIME OUT
The Big Green gave up a five-goal lead in the final quarter, but the Big Green got the overtime game-winner from senior captain Brian Koch to pull off the 14-13 win in Ivy League action against Yale on Wednesday evening. Dartmouth got a team-high three goals and an assist for four points from Koch, while junior Ari Sussman tallied two goals and two assists with one of the goals coming with 54 seconds left in regulation to tie the game. The Big Green also got a pair of goals from senior Jimmy Mullen, junior Towny Swiggett and junior Josh Gillam. Freshman Fergus Campbell made nine saves for the Big Green in his third win of the season.

AGAINST RANKED TEAMS
This will be Dartmouth's fourth contest against ranked opponents this season. The Big Green is 0-4 against the top teams in the nation. Dartmouth's first game against a ranked opponent came at Notre Dame vs. the eighth-ranked Fighting Irish. The Big Green fell 19-7 in the matchup in its second game of the season. Other top teams included losses against Brown, Duke and most recently Cornell. Dartmouth has been outscored 64-27 in those games with each opponent reaching double-digits.

OLD FRIENDS
The Big Green and Virginia grad student Chad Gaudet will be reuniting this Saturday as Gaudet will be playing in his first game against his former team. He graduated from Dartmouth last year and joined the Cavaliers as he had an extra year of eligibility. Gaudet was a two-year starter for the Big Green. He finished his career with three goals and four assists for seven points. He was Dartmouth's primary man in the X. Gaudet had a career winning percentage of .562 with 221 career wins at the X for the Big Green in two seasons.

HOME KOCH-ING
Senior captain Brian Koch leads the Big Green with 26 points on a team-high 21 goals and five assists after a four-point game in the win over Yale. At Scully-Fahey Field, he has posted 11 goals and three assists for 14 points, while 10 of his goals have come on the road. Nine of the 21 goals came in two games. On April 7 against Providence he tallied a team-high four goals and added an assist for five points in the 8-4 win. He netted a season-high five goals against Bryant in the 12-9 loss back on Feb. 24. Koch reached the top-10 list for Dartmouth's all-time leading scorers on Saturday with a goal and an assist. He currently has 146 points in his career, as he passed Scott Hapgood '97 at No. 10. He has jumped to No. 6 all-time in goals with 98 in his career and he is now tied with Joseph Wilder '42. Koch is second in the league with six man-up goals.

ROOKIE SAVE-IOR
Freshman netminder Fergus Campbell has stepped in as the Big Green's top netminder since earning the start against Brown on March 21. He made 10 saves against Brown in the 14-8 loss, but followed that performance with his first collegiate victory in a 10-9 win over Holy Cross. Campbell made 13 stops in the win and with a career-high 17 saves against 10th-ranked Duke he earned Ivy League Rookie of the Week honors. He has been credited with double-digit saves in four of his six starts this season. He is currently second in the Ivy League with 10.67 saves per game.

TWO-SPORT ATHLETES
The Big Green entered this season with four players that compete in multiple sports while at Dartmouth. Seniors Jimmy Mullen and Ted Newhouse compete in football and squash, respectively, while junior Robby Pride was the 2008-09 Dartmouth men's basketball co-captain. Classmate Josh Gillam also joined the team following the winter season as a forward on the Big Green's men's hockey team.

CONSISTENCY AT MIDFIELD
Senior Jimmy Mullen has been productive this season for the Big Green with 13 goals and three assists for 16 points, which is second on the team. He was named Ivy League Player of the Week back on Feb. 23 after tallying four goals, including the game-winner in an 11-10 overtime victory over Hartford in the season opener. He followed that performance with two goals against Bryant in the first loss of the year. He leads the team with four multi-goal games this season, including three against No. 10 Duke on March 28.

FACE-OFF CAROUSEL
The Big Green has had seven different players in the X this season with senior Tim Daniels leading the way with 105 opportunities, winning 53 of those face-offs for a .505 winning percentage. Mullen has also taken his share of face-offs with 22 wins in the X, while classmate Kyle Lagratta has recently came on and has won 24-of-52 draws. Lagratta has been the most successful lately with 12 wins in 15 chances against Providence on April 7. He won a face-off at the start of the second half, which turned into a quick seven second strike and jump started Dartmouth into a 5-1 advantage in the second half en route to an 8-4 win.

CLOSE GAMES FOR DARTMOUTH
Dartmouth has played in seven games this season in which the margin of victory was three-or-less goals. The Big Green is 3-4 in those games with wins over Hartford (11-10), Holy Cross (10-9) and most recently Yale (14-13(ot)). The others included back-to-back 11-9 losses to Vermont and Lehigh. Dartmouth has reached double-digits in just two games this season, both coming as victories. The Big Green has held its opponents under 10 tallies just three times this season with the season low coming against Providence in an 8-4 win.

ROOKIE IMPACT
In addition to Campbell, rookies Kip Dooley and Colin Delaney have made their impact on this year's squad. Dooley started the season on fire with six goals in his first two games. and eight points in his first three. He posted three goals and added an assist in the season-opening win over Hartford and followed that with two goals against No. 18 Brown on March 21 in the Ivy opener. He has 10 goals and four assists to lead all freshmen with 14 points. Delaney also started out hot with five goals in his first four games. He had two in the win over Hartford and after going scoreless against Bryant, he registered a goal at Notre Dame and posted three points in the loss at Vermont on two goals and an assist. He has struggled lately with one point in his last six games.

FAMILY AFFAIR
The Big Green has brothers on its squad with junior Chris Root and his younger brother, freshman Tim Root. Last weekend against Cornell, senior captain Jon Livadas returned to the field after missing 10 games due to a leg injury and competed against his brother, who plays defense for the Big Red. Livadas tallied his first goal of the season on a man-up situation. Since making his return, Livadas is primarily the addition to the man-up attack for the Big Green. Despite having the same last name, John and Thomas Mattimore are not brothers.

SCOUTING THE CAVALIERS
The second-ranked Cavaliers enter Saturday's contest with a 12-1 record after dropping its first game last weekend at Duke. Virginia is led by Danny Glading, who has posted 45 points this season on 22 goals and 23 assists, while Garrett Billings is just one point behind with 44 on a team-high 29 goals and 15 assists. Steele Stanwick has netted 28 goals and added 12 assists for 40 points. Surprisingly, the Cavaliers have managed just 12 man-up goals with Brian Carroll and Gavin Gill leading the way with three apiece. Chad Gaudet is the face-off man for Virginia as he has won 140 draws in 252 chances for a .556 winning percentage. In net, Adam Ghitelman has appeared and started in 12 of the 13 games and has made 116 saves this season with a .550 save percentage and a 8.11 goals against average.

SERIES HISTORY
This will be the eighth meeting between these two schools with Virginia posting a 6-1 record against the Big Green. Dartmouth's lone win came back in the first meeting in 1938 with a 14-0 shutout of the Cavaliers. This is the third-consecutive season these two teams have gotten together and the Cavaliers have been ranked in the top five nationally all three times.

Schedules