The leaves are beginning to change and while the temperature hasn’t dipped just yet, fall is fast approaching. With it comes the full fury of a packed athletic slate for Dartmouth College.

Last week was dominated by the Big Green’s women’s sports programs. The women’s cross country team picked up right where it left off following a first-place finish at its season-opening meet, the women’s rugby squad handled an Ivy League foe in dominant fashion, and the women’s soccer team continued its early-season success in coach Taylor Schram’s second year.

Here’s how Dartmouth’s sports team fared this past week:

Cross country builds on early-season momentum at home

After nabbing first place at the Shawn M. Nassaney Invite on Sept. 7, the Big Green returned home to host the Maribel Sanchez Souther Invite. Welcoming MIT, Vermont and Colby-Sawyer to Hanover, Dartmouth secured another win on Saturday.

Led by senior Madeleine Locher, who placed first with a time of 21 minutes, 52.9 seconds, five Big Green runners finished inside the top 10. Senior Caroline Livingston was the next-fastest runner for Dartmouth, finishing in third with a time of 22:11.5, followed closely by juniors Katherine Strong and Andie Murray.

Locher was named the Ivy League’s athlete of the week for women’s cross country on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the Big Green men’s team finished behind MIT in the two-team meet on Saturday. Senior Ben Williams paced Dartmouth with a time of 25:51.4, coming in fourth place.

Women’s rugby routs Princeton

Building on a season-opening 49-5 victory of Army on Aug. 31, Dartmouth moved to 2-0 early in the 2024 15’s campaign after dispatching Princeton 93-0 on Saturday.

Sophomore Paola Arredondo Almeida and first-year Sierra Santiago each nabbed a hat trick of tries in the rout of the Tigers. Dartmouth is now 3-0 against Princeton, which began fielding a varsity team in 2022, and has outscored the Tigers by 286 points in those three meetings.

The Big Green will attempt to maintain their perfect record when they travel to Annapolis, Md,, for the program’s first meeting with Queens University (N.C.) on Sunday.

Women’s soccer picks up two victories

The Big Green wrapped up their final match in a three-game road trip with a 2-0 win over Colgate.

Senior midfielder Aleana Seales’ right-footed rocket from outside the box handed Dartmouth a 1-0 lead in the fourth minute. Fellow senior midfielder Danielle Burke’s tally in the 55th minute, her first goal of the season, secured the two-goal victory.

Dartmouth returned home Sunday for a date with Hofstra, nabbing a second consecutive triumph, 2-1, following junior midfielder Hailey Rorick’s game-winning finish in the 87th minute, her third goal in four games.

The Big Green face their final nonconference opponent, an away match at UMass Lowell, on Saturday before Ivy League play begins on Sept. 28 at 7 p.m. against Yale at Burnham Field.

Sailing notches top-five finishes over the weekend

Dartmouth participated in five regattas on Saturday and Sunday, highlighted by the two-day NEISA Women’s and Open Singlehanded Championships in Providence, R.I., where the Big Green placed third and 17th, respectively.

Dartmouth’s second-best finish of the weekend came at the Regis Trophy, where it finished fourth. The Big Green notched a fifth-place finish at the Barnett Trophy and a ninth-place finish at the Hatch Brown Trophy.

Women’s golf begins season in South Carolina

Dartmouth, the reigning Ivy League champion, traveled to Pawleys Island, S.C., to open its 2024 season at the Golfweek Invitational.

The Big Green placed 12th out of 18 teams at Caledonia Golf & Fish Club, posting a tournament total of 892 (40 over par). Junior Sophie Thai was the highest individual finisher for Dartmouth, shooting 1-under across three days of play to secure a tie in 11th place.

Field hockey splits pair of contests

Dartmouth won its first game of the season on Sunday, knocking off Sacred Heart, 3-2, at Chase Field. A brace from junior Zoe Schaffer and a goal from sophomore Ella Bowman helped end the Big Green’s season-opening three-game losing streak.

Dartmouth suffered a 4-2 defeat earlier in the week to Providence, doomed by a three-goal effort in the second quarter from the Friars.

The Big Green commence Ivy League play on Saturday at Chase Field at noon against No. 8 Harvard, which swept the conference’s regular season and tournament titles in 2023.

Volleyball secures two wins at UConn Invite

Dartmouth headed south to Storrs, Conn., over the weekend for the second of three round-robin invitationals to open the 2024 campaign.

The Big Green eked out a five-set thriller against Albany on Friday, needing victories in the fourth and fifth sets to nab the win. Dartmouth followed that up with a convincing three-set sweep of Delaware State on Saturday before falling 3-1 to unbeaten UConn on Sunday.

Junior outside hitter Kauany Gutz followed up her opening weekend display of 57 kills with a team-high 49 kills across three matches, while sophomore right-side hitter Maddie LaFata added 31 kills.

The Big Green welcome Providence, Siena and Quinnipiac to Leede Arena this weekend for the Dartmouth Invitational before Ivy League plays begin on Sept. 27 at Harvard

Men’s tennis hosts
Dartmouth Invite

The Big Green kicked off the fall individual season hosting Bryant and Williams at the Thompson Outdoor Courts over the weekend.

Juniors Waleed Qadir and Miles Groom, who posted a team-best 11-4 record as a doubles pairing last season at No. 3, picked up victories on Saturday and Sunday in doubles. Dartmouth won 18 singles matches and 10 doubles matches across three days of play.

Men’s soccer drops lone game

The Big Green dropped their second game of the season in a 2-1 home defeat to UConn on Friday.

After conceding twice in the first 47 minutes of play, sophomore forward Trenton Blake’s long-range effort in the 60th minute shrunk Dartmouth’s deficit to one goal, but it was unable to net a would-be game-tying second finish. Coach Bo Oshoniyi’s squad maintained an attacking advantage throughout the match, outshooting the Huskies 21-8, including an 8-2 advantage in shots on goal, but only Blake’s tally, his third of the season, found the back of the net.

The Big Green conclude a five-game nonconference home stand with matches against UMass on Tuesday and Bryant on Saturday.

Alex Cervantes can be reached at acervantes@vnews.com or 603-727-7302.