Harvard, Dartmouth split home-and-home
Harvard and Dartmouth each defended its home floor in the first two Ivy League men's basketball contests of the year.
The Crimson beat the Big Green 76-74 in Boston on Jan. 2 behind Matt Stehle's career-high 25 points. Brian Cusworth added 13 points and nine rebounds for Harvard.
Dartmouth returned the favor six days later at Leede Arena, winning another close but lower scoring game 49-46.
Mike McLaren led the Big Green (4-9, 1-1 Ivy) with 15 points, all of which came in the first half. Stehle's 14 points led Harvard (5-9, 1-1), which was unable to come back from a 31-22 halftime deficit.
-- Zachary Levine
Crimson women fall to Big Green in key game
The Dartmouth women's basketball team justified its top spot in the preseason Ivy League rankings by beating second-ranked Harvard, 73-70 at home in overtime.
Last season's Ivy League Rookie of the Year Elise Morrison contributed a double-double with 17 points and 13 rebounds for the Big Green (4-7, 1-0 Ivy), and Jeannie Cullen added 19 points.
Harvard (8-6, 0-1) came back from a 46-27 deficit to tie the game, sending it to overtime on Jessica Holsey's jump shot with seven seconds left.
In overtime, Harvard again came back, this time from a seven-point deficit, but two Morrison foul shots gave Dartmouth a three-point lead that was not safe until Holsey missed a buzzer-beater.
-- Z.L.
M. Lax ranked No. 18 in first coaches' poll
The Penn men's lacrosse team had one of its most successful seasons in recent memory in 2004, finishing 7-7 (3-3 Ivy) and earning the programs first NCAA tournament birth in 15 years.
The Quakers were rewarded for last season's triumphs with a No. 18 ranking in the preseason coaches' poll by 2005 Face-Off Yearbook and Inside Lacrosse.
Penn faced one of the toughest schedules in the nation last year, losing to perennial power Johns Hopkins by a single goal to open the season and putting together key wins against non-conference opponents Loyola, Bucknell and Villanova.
The Quakers will have their hands full again this season as they go up against eight opponents ranked in the preseason top 25. Only one of the Red and Blue's 13 games this season will come against a team that did not receive any votes in the preseason poll.
Four other Ivy League schools also received top-25 preseason honors. Princeton was ranked third, Cornell ninth, Brown 19th and Dartmouth 23rd. All seven Ivy League schools that have lacrosse programs received votes in the preseason poll.
-- Jeff Greenwald
Teevens returns to Dartmouth after firing
Buddy Teevens will return to Hanover, N.H., to try and resurrect a Dartmouth football program that went just 1-9 last season.
Teevens was announced as the Big Green's new head man at a press conference Jan. 5 after being fired by Stanford at the end of November. The former Dartmouth coach and player spent three seasons with the Cardinal and finished each one with a losing record.
Teevens, 48, led Dartmouth to an Ivy League title as a quarterback in 1978 and then coached them to consecutive championships during the 1990 and 1991 seasons. He coached the Big Green from 1987 to 1991 before leaving for the head coaching job at Tulane.
"His accomplishments here as a student, an athlete and a coach, combined with his experience nationally and knowledge of the Ivy League, make him the ideal person to lead Dartmouth football," said President James Wright on Dartmouth's athletic web site.
-- J.G.
