For the sixth consecutive time this season, the margin of victory in a Dartmouth football game was within four points. But Saturday’s homecoming tilt with Harvard marked the first instance this fall where the Big Green emerged as the loser in a one-score ballgame.

The loss ended Dartmouth’s unbeaten season and knocked it off its perch alone atop the Ancient Eight standings. The Big Green (6-1, 3-1 Ivy), the Crimson (6-1, 3-1) and Columbia (5-2, 3-1) currently sit in a three-way tie for first place in the Ivies.

Don’t ask coach Sammy McCorkle about the now-clouded Ivy League title picture, either. He’s only focused on the next opponent, which happens to be Princeton in a Friday night road game.

“We don’t worry about the title, we don’t worry about three (remaining) games, we worry about the next game,” McCorkle said. “We’re going to watch this tape, we’re going to learn from it, we’re going to make some corrections. And there’s a lot of good plays out there today … and we can build on that.”

They say basketball is a game of runs, but Dartmouth and Harvard did their best impression of James Naismith’s sporting invention this past weekend.

The Crimson opened up a 10-0 lead in the first quarter, followed by 20 consecutive points rattled off by the Big Green. The two teams exchanged touchdowns before Harvard ended the game scoring 14 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to win 31-27.

The last time Dartmouth played six consecutive games within a one-score margin was the 2017 season, when the Big Green finished in a second-place tie in the Ivies. In a stretch from late September through the entirety of October, Dartmouth managed four wins by three points or fewer and dropped a pair of games by three and five points, respectively.

The Big Green’s season has been defined by their ability to grind out one-score wins in any form or fashion. Whether it’s the late overtime comeback at Yale, staving off Columbia in Manhattan or relying on sophomore kicker Owen Zalc late in games — Zalc earned Ivy League special teams player of the week honors again following a program-record 54-yard field goal against the Crimson — Dartmouth has gotten it done.

But following the loss to Harvard, senior linebacker Micah Green had a simple answer regarding the main takeaways from the defeat: “Stop having close games,” he said.

“The goal is just to get a lead and keep the lead and play hard with your brothers,” Green said.

Here’s how Dartmouth’s other fall sports programs fared:

Women’s rugby finishes regular season undefeated: With a commanding 60-19 victory over Brown on senior day at Brophy Field on Saturday, the Big Green finished their regular season campaign with a 7-0 record, the third time in four seasons the program has entered the postseason unbeaten.

Dartmouth jumped out to an early 17-0 lead over the Bears, propelled by tries from Katelyn Walker, Paolo Arredondo Almeida and Katija Crawford. The Big Green would cruise to an eventual 41-point victory, becoming the only National Intercollegiate Rugby Association (NIRA) team to finish the regular season undefeated.

Dartmouth will host a semifinal match at Brophy Field on Nov. 16 as it tries to capture its fourth national title.

Equestrian topples Charleston: Dartmouth, which entered Saturday’s match in Etna ranked third nationally, took down No. 2 Charleston, 6-4, to improve to 3-0 this season.

Sophomore Cassidy Exner and senior Chloe Terestchenko kept the Big Green’s hopes of a victory alive in the flats portion of the match, registering wins of 98-95 and 95-85, respectively. Exner’s score of 98 was a program record.

Exner and Terestchenko carried their success over to the fences sequence of match play, each picking up a victory. Wins from sophomore Samantha Takacs and freshman Elise Stephens saw Dartmouth take four of the five fences matchups, securing the team’s third consecutive win this fall.

The Big Green will attempt to remain unbeaten in their final match of the final this fall when they host Sacred Heart on Sunday.

Women’s soccer ends season with win: It’s only fitting that Dartmouth’s final goal of its 2024 campaign came off a connection between three graduating players.

In the 85th minute of play, fifth-year goalkeeper Emily Hardy restarted play in her own half, lifting a ball into a cluster of players just beyond midfield. Fifth-year forward Daisy Granholm was the first to the ball, flicking it on to senior forward Hannah Curtin, who calmly slotted the ball into the back of the net to secure a 1-0 win over Brown. Curtin’s tally broke the team’s 402-minute scoreless streak, which dated back to an Oct. 9 clash with Harvard.

The Big Green, who will graduate 13 players from this year’s squad and started the season 6-2-1 before conference play, finished the fall at the bottom of the Ivy League table.

Men’s ice hockey seeing early success: For the first time since the 2007-08 campaign, the Big Green have started the season 2-0-0, picking up wins over Harvard and Stonehill.

On the road Friday at Harvard to open the season, Dartmouth used a pair of first-period goals off the sticks of senior Braiden Dorfman and freshman Hayden Stavroff to snag a 2-1 victory over the Crimson. Returning to Hanover to host Stonehill at Thompson Arena on Sunday, the Big Green scored four second-period goals en route to a 5-2 win over the Skyhawks.

Coach Reid Cashman’s squad will travel to Quinnipiac and Princeton this weekend, looking to keep its early unbeaten record intact.

Women’s ice hockey still winless: Hosting its first two games of the 2024-25 season at Thompson Arena, Dartmouth was unable to knock off Brown or No. 14 Yale this past weekend.

The Big Green took a 1-0 lead in the second period against the Bears off a power play but quickly squandered their slim advantage just four minutes later. A third-period power play from Brown secured a 2-1 win.

On Saturday, just 31 seconds after Yale had taken a lead in the first period, senior Laura Fuoco found an equalizer on a power play. But a second period score saw the ranked Bulldogs secure their third win of the season, 2-1, dropping the Big Green to 0-6-0 as a result.

Dartmouth will attempt to win its first game of the season when it hosts Quinnipiac and Princeton on Friday and Saturday, respectively.

Men’s basketball sets program record: Dartmouth ranked 351st nationally in offensive efficiency during its six-win campaign last season, according to KenPom. Its 79 points scored in a victory over Westfield State was the team’s highest point total.

The Big Green needed only one game to eclipse that mark this season. Dartmouth scored 129 points — a single-game program record for points scored — in a season-opening 129-47 win on Monday against Vermont State University-Lyndon, an NCAA Division III program. Senior forward Cade Haskins led the way for coach David McLaughlin’s squad, pouring in a career-high 32 points.

The Big Green will play their first Division I opponent on Saturday when they host Sacred Heart at Leede Arena.

Cross country competes at Ivy League Championships: Running in Princeton, N.J., at the conference’s championship meet, the Dartmouth women placed fourth, paced by senior Madeleine Locher.

Locher, who earned second team All-Ivy honors on Saturday, recorded a time of 20 minutes, 32.9 seconds to finish in ninth place. Senior Caroline Livington was the Big Green’s next-fastest runner, clocking a time of 20:57.0 to finish 23rd overall. Junior Andie Murray (26th) and seniors Ellie Tymorek (37th) and Bella Pietrasiewicz (40th) wrapped up Dartmouth’s scoring, each runner finishing inside the top 40.

The Big Green men, paced by senior Maclean Hadden’s 27th overall finish, placed seventh in their meet. Sophomore Ashton Bange joined Hadden as Dartmouth’s other top-50 runner.

The team now has nearly two weeks to prepare for the NCAA Northeast Regional on Nov. 15, held in Hopkinton, N.H.

Women’s volleyball splits games: Dartmouth broke its four-game skid Friday in the Big Apple with a three-set sweep of Columbia, completing a season sweep of the Lions. Junior outside hitter Kauany Gutz once again led the way for the Big Green, registering 13 kills in the victory.

Coach Kevin Maureen Campbell’s squad was unable to nab a second consecutive victory, though, falling in four sets to Cornell.

Dartmouth (10-10, 3-7 Ivy) will travel to Yale (14-4, 9-1), which has already clinched an Ivy League tournament berth, and Brown (7-13, 4-6) this weekend.

Field hockey falls in season finale: Last season, Dartmouth won six games, its highest win total since 2018.

After a couple years of incremental growth under coach Mark Egner, the Big Green wrapped up a disappointing 2024 campaign with a 4-1 loss at Columbia on Sunday, ending the season with a record of 3-13-0.

Men’s soccer slips up against Princeton: Senior midfielder Kristian Feed’s left-footed rocket in the 72nd minute of play appeared to give Dartmouth life, shrinking Princeton’s lead to just one goal Saturday night at Burnham Field. But the Big Green were unable to find an equalizer, falling to the Tigers on senior day, 2-1.

Dartmouth has just one game remaining on its docket this fall, an away match at Harvard on Saturday. The Big Green, who currently sit fourth in the Ivy League table with seven points, are vying for the final spot in the conference tournament.

Currently one point clear of the Crimson, a win in the regular-season finale would ensure a berth in the Ivy League Tournament. However, a loss would end Dartmouth’s season and a draw would leave it needing Brown to draw with or lose to Yale, the team currently at the bottom of the table.

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