Dartmouth Wins Ninth Straight over Feisty Cornell
from press release
ITHACA, N.Y. -- The ninth-ranked Dartmouth
women's lacrosse team won its ninth straight game, taking a 9-6
victory at Cornell this afternoon.
Dartmouth (9-1, 4-0) Ivy caught Cornell (3-7, 1-3 Ivy) fresh off a
huge upset of then #17 Princeton, but avoided the same fate with a
6-0 run spanning both halves, effectively putting away the Big
Red.
It was the ninth straight win for the Big Green which remains
unbeaten in Ivy play, setting up a huge matchup against the only
other unbeaten, Penn (4-0 Ivy) next Saturday at Scully Fahey
Field.
While the offense was not abundant for Dartmouth, it was, as
always, balanced. Once again the Big Green had seven players record
a point, with only 11 points on the day. Kirsten Goldberg
(Cockeysville, Md.) led the way with three goals while Sarah Parks
(Ellicott City, Md.) scored two goals on two shots to move her
perfect streak to four games. She has now scored 13 goals on her
last 13 attempts, with a season shooting percentage of 88.9
percent.
Senior goalie Julie Wadland (Andover, Mass.) made seven saves and
grabbed three ground balls. As a team, Dartmouth was outshot,
17-16, and had eight draw controls to Cornell's nine. Loose ball
play went to Dartmouth, with 21 ground balls to Cornell's 14.
Dartmouth got the first three draws of the game and, fittingly,
the first two goals, both scored by Goldberg. The first came just
1:05 into the game after she earned a free position and her second
just 36 seconds later off a nice move in front of the cage. The Big
Green actually put a third in the goal minutes later but was called
for a crease violation.
With that turnover gained, Cornell worked a long offensive
possession and it paid off when Lauren Halpern put the Big Red on
the board to make it 2-1 at 25:47. Her team tied the game up after
again working a patient offense when Jessi Steinberg converted a
free position at 22:24.
Both teams continued to duke it out in midfield, but Dartmouth
regained the upper-hand at 18:52. Hilary Smith (Bronxville, N.Y.)
had her free position attempt saved, but emerged from a scrum with
the ground ball to earn another wide open FP, but she passed it to
teammate Parks who converted for a 3-2 lead at 18:52. Cornell did
well to respond, however, as Shannon McHugh got a free position
past Wadland to tie it, 3-3, and Kyla Dambach stonewalled the Big
Green's next shot attempt.
Junior defender Shanne MacKenzie (Greenwich, Conn.), who had three
ground balls on the day, drew a charge on the next Cornell
possession. However, a false start gave the ball and a free
position back to Cornell and Steinberg gave the Big Red a 4-3 lead
at 12:43. Cornell drew its fourth free position of the half at
10:35 but Wadland managed to stop it and get the ground ball.
Parks scored an impressive goal at when she went through the arc
twice, mobbed by defenders, but powered a shot in to make it 4-4 at
7:52 despite the tight coverage, once again showing her remarkable
finishing ability. Cornell won the ensuing draw but turned it over
quickly and the Big Green burned some clock, maintaining possession
for three full minutes, including three missed shots, before rookie
Hana Bowers (Old Greenwich, Conn.) put Dartmouth back on top, 5-4,
at 4:54.
Cornell won the next draw but Wadland made a nice save and Dana
Brisbane (Locust Valley, N.Y.) caused a Big Red turnover, setting
up another eventual score for Dartmouth when Greta Meyer (Denver,
Colo.) put her team up 6-4 with 35 seconds to play.
Dartmouth started the second half just like the first, winning the
draw and Goldberg taking it right to Cornell just 28 seconds in for
an early 7-4 lead. After some back and forth play, the Big Green
doubled up the Big Red with a goal by Plumb at 25:44, up 8-4.
Though Cornell won the ensuing draw, Brisbane turned the Big Red
over and pushed it upfield where Meyer fed the ball to Erin Massimi
(Westwood, Mass.) for her first goal of the day and a 9-4 lead at
23:24.
Cornell finally stopped the 6-0 Dartmouth run, by scoring the next
two unanswered goals starting with Steinberg off a feed from Libby
Johnson that made it 9-5 at 19:39. Five minutes later, Julie
Klatkin fed the ball to Katie Kirk to cut the lead to 9-6. The Big
Red threatened even further after winning the ensuing draw, but
Wadland made a nice point blank save on an offering from Kirk.
The Big Red successfully kept Dartmouth off the board for the last
23 minutes, but Wadland and the defense did not allow Cornell to
get any closer than three goals. Dartmouth gained control on
offense for the last four minutes and could have gone to goal on
multiple occasions, but chose to run out the clock and secure the
9-6 win.
#9 Dartmouth puts it on the line next weekend when it hosts #6
Penn on senior day. Game time is set for 12 p.m. on Saturday, April
17 at Scully Fahey Field.
