Big Second Lifts No. 9 Big Green Over BU
from press release
HANOVER, N.H. - This year's edition of the Dartmouth - BU
women's lacrosse rivalry was as hotly contested as ever, but the
ninth-ranked Big Green overpowered the Terriers in the second for a
15-10 win.
From senior Julie Wadland's (Andover, Mass.) eight saves in goal to
classmate Colleen Olsen's (Avon, Conn.) six draw controls to junior
Greta Meyer's (Denver, Colo.) five goals, No. 9 Dartmouth (6-1, 2-0
Ivy) dug deep to gut out a critical victory.
No. 18 Boston University (5-5, 1-0 America East) was playing its
fourth ranked opponent of the month and came to Scully Fahey Field
primed to break through. They lived up to their pregame hype,
taking a 3-1 lead five minutes in and 7-6 halftime advantage.
Dartmouth had other ideas in the second half, however, with a
tremendous comeback effort to outscore BU, 9-3, and move to 3-0
against fellow ranked teams.
Dartmouth outshot BU, 31-25, and collected 18 groundballs to BU's
11. The draw proved critical as well, with Dartmouth controlling 17
to Boston's 10. Dartmouth once again showed its offensive balance
with eight different players recording a point.
"I'm proud of our team," said head coach Amy Patton. "We showed a
lot of character out there today to battle the way we did. It was a
team win and we really needed a big win."
Meyer led Dartmouth's offense as she has all season with five goals
and one assist while sophomore Sarah Parks (Ellicott City, Md.)
scored four goals and classmate Hilary Smith (Bronxville, N.Y.)
tallied two goals and two assists.
Boston's McKinley Curro led her team with four points while Olsen
and the defense shut down BU's top goal-scorer, Traci Landy,
holding her to just one goal.
Dartmouth opened the game on the right note as Meyer converted a
free position goal just 52 seconds into the contest. The Terriers
surged right back, however, with Curro, Molly Swain and Hannah Frey
scoring three goals in just 2:30 to give their team a 3-1 lead at
25:16.
Coach Patton called a timeout and Dartmouth came out and cut the
lead to one when Sarah Plumb (Wellesley, Mass.) fed the ball to
Meyer, who scored her second of the game at 24:12. Boston's
Danielle Etrasco answered right back for a 4-2 lead, but the Big
Green rallied with its own 3-0 run paced by two free position goals
from Smith and a great looking goal by Erin Massimi (Westwood,
Mass.) off a feed from Abigail Holden (Alexandria, Va.) for a 5-4
Dartmouth lead at 14:49.
It continued to be a back and forth game, however, as Boston got
the lead right back with two goals less than two minutes apart
before Meyer tied it at 6-6 with a free position goal at 10:54.
Both offenses quieted until Landy scored her lone goal of the day
with under two minutes left in the half for a 7-6 Terrier lead.
Patton coached them up at halftime and Dartmouth wasted no time
tying it up in the second half, when defender Shannie MacKenzie
(Greenwich, Conn.) secured the draw and made a rare foray into the
offensive end. She found a streaking Meyer who fired one past BU
keeper Rachel Klein to knot it at 7-7 just 17 seconds in. Parks
took a feed from Smith just three minutes later to put the Big
Green ahead, 8-7, for just the second time in the game.
The teams traded goals in the next three minutes with Curro tying
it on a free position for BU before Meyer put Dartmouth back ahead,
but Frey made it a 9-9 game at 20:51. Little did the Terriers know,
they would get just one more goal in the contest.
Plumb got things going for the Big Green as her defense led to
offense, first picking up a ground ball off a miss by Dana Brisbane
(Locust Valley, N.Y.) and putting the Green ahead for good, 10-9 at
19:59. MacKenzie picked off a pass on BU's next possession and got
the ball ahead to Smith who fed Parks for the Green's first
two-goal lead of the game, up 11-9 just over a minute later.
BU coach Liz Robertshaw called timeout but it proved fruitless
despite winning the ensuing draw. In what was ultimately the play
of the game, Plumb went right after Boston's Rachel Collins
stripping the ball from her and taking it right to goal beating a
retreating Klein high. That goal put the Big Green up soundly, 12-9
with 17:45.
Xan Weitzel had to work for Boston's 10th goal of the game, earning
a free position that Wadland saved but breaking through on her
second but Dartmouth's Erin Massimi answered right back to keep it
a three-goal lead, up 13-10 with 12:48 to play.
Boston won the ensuing draw control and went right to goal, but
Wadland came up with a huge save against Weitzel at 12:40 and
Dartmouth converted on the other end when Meyer found Parks for a
14-10 at 11:11. The Big Green won the draw and ultimately
maintained possession for a full five minutes before the Terriers
finally got the ball back in their offensive zone at 7:39. Once
again Wadland made a big stop to get the ball back for her team and
Parks struck again, this time off a feed from Brisbane to go up
15-10 and dashing Boston's upset hopes.
Plumb had a well-rounded effort for Dartmouth, adding four ground
balls, four draw controls and two caused turnovers to her three
points. Rookie Kelsey Johnson (Hingham, Mass.) did a nice job
defensively and added three ground balls, a draw control and a
caused turnover to her statline.
The ninth-ranked Big Green is back in action this Saturday, April 3
when it heads to Brown for an Ivy tilt set to start at 12 p.m.
