No. 9 Dartmouth Rolls Over Siena
from press release
HANOVER, N.H. - The ninth-ranked Dartmouth women's
lacrosse team used a balanced effort with 21 players seeing action
and eight recording a point to put away visiting Siena, 18-6.
It marked the fifth game in 14 days for Dartmouth (8-1, 3-0 Ivy),
but there was no let down in the convincing victory, its eighth
straight. As usual, seven different players scored goals and an
eighth added an assist, with seven players recording at least four
points each. The Big Green showed a true team mentality as each
player who scored a goal also assisted a teammate. Unselfish play
all day long led to 15 assists on 18 goals.
Sophomore Sarah Parks (Ellicott City, Md.) paced the attack with
six points on three goals and three assists while juniors Abigail
Holden (Alexandria, Va.) and Greta Meyer (Denver, Colo.), each
tallied five points, a career-high for Holden.
Conversely, Dartmouth's defense stifled Siena (4-6) into scoring
just six goals, all unassisted. The Big Green also played a role in
causing 18 of the Saints 24 turnovers and scooped up 28 ground
balls to Siena's 18. Dartmouth also held a 28-11 shot
advantage.
Dartmouth opened the game on a 5-0 run and never looked back. The
Big Green showed early that its spread offense would give the
Saints fits, with five goals from four different players leading to
that 5-0 lead at 21:03. Meyer struck first off a feed from
sophomore Sarah Plumb (Wellesley, Mass.) and then returned the
favor when she fed the ball to Plumb for Dartmouth's second score.
Kirsten Goldberg fired in an unassisted goal at 23:19 before Meyer
scored off a feed from rookie Hana Bowers (Old Greenwich, Conn.)
and then Bowers got one of her own off a pass from Plumb 15 seconds
later for the 5-0 lead.
Siena finally got on the board with a Caitlin Mikel tally at 18:29.
The rally was short-lived for Siena, as Dartmouth scored three
goals in less than three minutes starting with a score by Goldberg
off a feed from Holden at 16:39. Hilary Smith (Bronxville, N.Y.) go
her first of three goals on the day assisted by Plumb and then
Holden nailed a free position to make it 8-1, Dartmouth at
13:57.
Siena got another goal, a free position by Kristin McMillan at
12:58, but again the Big Green answered with three straight in a
period of just 2:15. Holden again fed a teammate with an assist on
Goldberg's score to open the run, followed by a Smith goal off a
feed from Bowers at 6:41. Smith won the draw and dished to a
teammate, allowing Parks to score for an 11-2 lead at 6:23.
Each team got one more goal in the half, with Siena's Michelle
Andreo striking at 5:45 and Parks finding Smith in front of the
cage with five seconds left to make it 11-3 at the half.
Dartmouth opened the half on a 3-0 run spurred by more unselfish
play. Bowers got her second goal of the game just 52 seconds into
the period with another helper from the sniper Parks. Parks then
did what she does best, scoring at a seemingly impossible angle and
making it look easy off a great look from classmate Dana Brisbane
(Locust Valley, N.Y.). Meyer made it 15-3 Dartmouth with an assist
from Holden, who had a career day, at 24:26.
The teams actually traded goals in the final 19:41, starting with a
goal by Siena's Erin Hepper to make it 15-4, but the Saints could
never score two-straight to stop the running clock. Meyer scored
her team-leading 25th goal of the season off a feed from Goldberg
before Siena's Kristin McMillan converted a free position to make
it 16-5 at 14:35. Parks found Holden to reinflate the lead on the
next Dartmouth possession before both teams went scoreless for
nearly 12 minutes.
Siena's last goal came off a free position by Andreo, but the Big
Green was not to be outdone, forcing another late turnover by the
Saints and pushing the ball up to Goldberg, who scored at the
buzzer for the 18-6 win.
Siena's Kristin Concordia made six saves in goal while Julie
Wadland (Andover, Mass.) and Chelsea Kirk (Hunt Valley, Md.) made
one saved each for Dartmouth.
Freshman defender Kelsey Johnson (Hingham, Mass.) had a great day
with a team-high five draw controls along with three ground balls
and one caused turnover. Colleen Olsen (Avon, Conn.) caused three
turnovers and picked up four ground balls while Smith added a
team-high six ground balls and four caused turnovers to her four
points.
In the last three games, Parks has not missed a single shot,
scoring 11 goals on her last 11 attempts to bring her amazing
shooting percentage to 88 percent on the season (22-of-25). Meyer
did not miss today either and is shooting an impressive 67.6
percent while running the attack.
The Dartmouth women turn their minds back to the Ancient Eight this
weekend, heading west to face Cornell in Ithaca, N.Y. this Saturday
at noon.
