Big Green Breaks with Big Win over No. 8 UND
from press release
SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Five goals from Kirsten
Goldberg (Cockeysville, Md.) and 12 saves by Julie Wadland
(Andover, Mass.) highlighted an impressive 12-8 victory by the #20
Dartmouth women's lacrosse team at #8 Notre Dame today.
It marked the first loss of the season for No. 8 Notre Dame (2-1),
while No. 20 Dartmouth improved to 2-1 with its second victory of
the week.
The Big Green held a 4-1 halftime lead and also outscored the
Irish in the second to make a statement in South Bend. Goldberg, a
sophomore, came off the bench to score her career-best five goals,
putting five of her six shots on goal and converting on all of
them. Junior Greta Meyer (Denver, Colo.) continued her productive
week with two goals and three assists along with three caused
turnovers.
Dartmouth outshot Notre Dame, 30-23 and also outhustled the Irish
with 27 ground balls to their 15. Wadland, a senior co-captain, was
stellar in goal, making 12 saves, including eight in the second
half to keep Notre Dame at bay. She also picked up a team-best five
ground balls.
"Our kids played with a lot of grit, determination and intensity
but were also very composed," said head coach Amy Patton. "There
were many things we learned from this game, but most importantly we
stuck to our game plan and the players never deviated from it,
which was critical. To come all the way out here this early in the
season and get a win was great."
It took quite a while for either team to get anything cooking
offensively, but Dartmouth finally got on the board first at 15:18
with a Hilary Smith (Bronxville, N.Y.) tally. That started a bit of
a flurry of activity as Goldberg scored her first goal of the game
off a feed from Meyer at 13:47 and Notre Dame's Kailene Abt got her
team on the board, making it 2-1 just over a minute later.
Goldberg answered right back with two more goals in the final nine
minutes of the half, one off a feed from Sarah Plumb (Wellesley,
Mass.) and one unassisted to deliver a 4-1 halftime lead.
The Irish wasted little time getting things going in the second
half, winning the opening draw and Maggie Tamasitis scoring just
eight seconds in. Notre Dame won the ensuing draw and scored again,
this time Abt from Tamasitis to make it 4-3 at 29:14.
The Big Green weathered that storm and made a powerful statement
on the other end of the field as sophomore Erin Massimi (Westwood,
Mass.) found classmate Sarah Parks (Ellicott City, Md.) to start a
5-0 Big Green run at 26:53. Meyer made it a 6-3 game less than a
minute later off a feed from classmate Kat Collins (Darien, Conn.)
and Goldberg extended the lead to 7-3 at 24:37.
Dartmouth cooled off offensively for a 10-minute stretch but its
defense kept the Irish off the board, allowing another scoring
burst featuring Meyer to make it 9-3 at 13:04. Meyer assisted a
goal by Parks at 13:57 before scoring one of her own off a feed
from Plumb that gave the Green its six-goal lead.
The teams combined to score seven goals in the last 8:38 of play,
and traded scores back and forth during that time, starting with a
Tamasitis goal, followed by Goldberg's fifth of the day to make it
10-4 at 6:23. It was another back and forth with Ansley Stewart
cutting the deficit for the Irish and Collins taking it right back,
up 11-5 at 4:04. Notre Dame's Gina Scioscia got one back but Meyer
fed Massimi for a 12-6 Big Green lead with 2:31 to play.
"At the end of the game we made big plays to get the ball back
when we needed it," said Patton. "In the last 10 minutes we stayed
composed and did what we needed to do to win."
Notre Dame did get two late unanswered goals on the board to make
it 12-8, but Wadland came up with two saves in the final minute of
play to keep the Irish from getting any closer.
Dartmouth's defense did a solid job all afternoon, led by Shannie
MacKenzie's (Greenwich, Conn.) three ground balls and two caused
turnovers. Plumb also grabbed five ground balls and caused three
turnovers by the Irish.
The victory was a great way for Dartmouth to enter its 10-day exam
break, returning to action on Wednesday, March 17 for its Ivy
League opener against Columbia. Opening draw is set for 12 p.m. at
Scully Fahey Field
