HANOVER — Nearly two full years after its last non-exhibition game, it’s back to the basics for the Dartmouth College men’s lacrosse team.

The Big Green played just four games in 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic ground things to a halt, so only the seniors and fifth-years have played a full season. That 2020 season looked to be their best under head coach Brendan Callahan, as Dartmouth was 3-1 with only a one-goal loss to Vermont keeping them from perfection. The Big Green are still looking for its first Ivy League win since 2015, a streak now that spans 29 games.

“There’s a lot of things that just take care of themselves when your upperclassmen have (played) 45 games,” Callahan said. “As far as substitutions, transitions, knowing where to go, there’s no upperclassmen leading the way for the younger guys. We have to build everything back up as if we were coming in as a new coaching staff again.”

Dartmouth does have a good amount of returning production, given the circumstances. Fifth-year George Prince led the Big Green in points as a freshman in 2018 with 34, and he had 16 in just four games in the shortened 2020 season. Nine of those 16 points — six goals, three assists — came in a win over Merrimack, who Dartmouth will host in the 2022 season opener on Saturday at Scully-Fahey Field.

Matt Paul, another fifth-year, had a team-best 11 goals in 2020, with five of them coming in a win against UMass-Lowell. Callahan is also excited about freshman Colin McGill, a left-handed shooter out of suburban Philadelphia who the coach said has one of the hardest shots on the team.

“The biggest thing is learning the difference in game speed that comes with experience,” Prince said. “You can go out and practice every day at a certain level and speed, but when you play against another color, they’re going to throw surprises at you. (Those of us) who have played in games are just trying to educate the younger players on what they might need to expect.”

On defense, junior Andrew Johnston, standing at 6-foot-6 and 220 pounds, will be the Big Green’s anchor. Johnston, who grew up in Maryland, moved to Florida during the pandemic so he could train year-round, and Callahan said he came back an “absolute monster.” Senior captain Peter Rizzotti has been a starter since his freshman year, and freshman Joe Azelby was a top-100 national recruit, according to Inside Lacrosse.

Dartmouth also returns senior goalkeeper Daniel Hincks, who started all four 2020 games. Freshman Mason Morel will be the backup and sophomore Hunter Binney is third on the depth chart.

“If we play good defense in front of him, (Hincks) has all-league potential,” Callahan said.

The Big Green played two exhibition games last spring so that those seniors could put on the uniform one last time, losing to Tufts and beating St. Anselm. But Dartmouth is not on anything close to the same training schedule as its non-conference opponents, and that unusual offseason has led to quite a few injuries.

Sophomore Blake Brookes is dealing with back issues, sophomore Ben DiGiovanni has a shoulder injury and junior Tommy Rogan is working his way back from a hamstring injury. Callahan does not expect any of the injuries to be long-term.

Dartmouth travels to Bryant, ranked No. 19 by Inside Lacrosse, on Feb. 26, and three Ivy League foes — No. 7 Yale, No. 11 Penn and No. 17 Cornell — are also in the latest poll. Perhaps the highlight of the Big Green’s non-conference schedule is a trip to Ohio State on March 22, a game that will be played in the Buckeyes’ 100,000-plus seat football stadium.

“It’s a good mix of teams and levels,” Callahan said. “Some teams that want to run and get up and down the field, and some teams that are more settled. We’ll see both of those during conference play, so we tried to set up a slate where both from a style standpoint and in caliber of opponents, would challenge us in different ways.”

Benjamin Rosenberg can be reached at brosenberg@vnews.com or 603-727-3302.