Dartmouth Women Race Past Princeton
from press release
HANOVER, N.H. - The 14th ranked Dartmouth
women's lacrosse team got an inspiring 15-10 victory over Ivy rival
#15 Princeton in a rainsoaked contest at Scully-Fahey Field
today.
With the win, #14 Dartmouth moves to 9-3 overall and 5-1 in Ivy
play while #15 Princeton, who recently knocked off #8 Penn, drops
to 7-6, 4-2 Ivy. The win for Dartmouth, coupled with a Harvard
(9-4, 5-1 Ivy) win over Columbia sets up a showdown for a share of
the Ivy League Championship on Friday night in Hanover. Penn (6-1
Ivy) clinched the Ivy title today but will have to share the crown
with either Dartmouth or Harvard. Because of its wins over the Big
Green and Crimson, however, Penn has clinched the right to host the
Ivy League Tournament on May 6-8.
The Big Green had yet another balanced scoring effort, with seven
different goal scorers and nine players total recording a point.
Sarah Parks (Ellicott City, Md.) led all scorers with four points
(three goals, one assist) while Kirsten Goldberg (Cockeysville,
Md.) also tallied three goals.
Kristen Giovanniello (Old Brookville, N.Y.) made seven saves in
goal and had four groundballs while her counterpart, Erin Tochihara
also made seven saves. Dartmouth held a 30-19 shot advantage and
grabbed 22 ground balls to Princeton's 13.
Dartmouth came out firing on all cylinders and jumped out to a 4-0
lead within the first five minutes of the game. Courtney Bennett
(Darien, Conn.) started the game with a nice goal off a feed from
Hana Bowers (Greenwich, Conn.) for a 1-0 lead just 22 seconds into
the contest. Bowers then got in on the scoring herself with an
assist from Plumb at 28:19.
The Big Green's next two goals came off free positions by Plumb and
Greta Meyer (Denver, Colo.) to go up 4-0 with 25:43 on the clock.
Princeton capitalized on its first free position attempt of the day
when Lizzy Drumm slipped one past Giovanniello to make it 4-1 with
21:38 on the clock.
Dartmouth's defense got to work and a turnover caused by Kelsey
Johnson (Hingham, Mass.) led to a beautiful unassisted score by
Kirsten Goldberg (Cockeysville, Md.) for a 5-1 lead with 17:51 to
go. The Big Green kept pouring it on and led 6-1 with 15 minutes
left in the half after a nifty goal by rookie Liz Calby (Darien,
Conn.).
After a brief Tiger offensive set, Dana Brisbane (Locust Valley,
N.Y.) got the ball back defensively for Dartmouth and the Big Green
used the opportunity to take some time off the clock with a long
possession. After recovering the ball and then turning it over,
Princeton's Tochihara made an amazing play to dive in front of the
goal and save a shot when Plumb appeared to have an open goal. It
was all for naught, however, when Meyer converted her second free
position of the day after an ensuing scrum for a 7-1 lead.
Dartmouth increased its lead to 8-1 with Plumb's second goal of the
day before Princeton finally got back on the scoreboard when
Caroline Franke battled through the defense for a goal at 3:54. The
Big Green kept the pressure on, however, and back-to-back goals
from Goldberg made it a 10-2 lead with just 31 seconds to play. The
Tigers' Drumm converted once more before the half, however, for a
10-3 Dartmouth halftime lead.
Princeton came out much more composed in the second half, and
outscored the Big Green 3-1 in the first seven minutes to slice the
lead to 11-6 with 23:30 on the clock. Dartmouth got the lead back
up to a more comfortable half dozen, however, when Bennett beat
Tochihara at 22:37 for the 12-6 advantage.
The teams continued to play back-and-forth lacrosse and each goalie
had her share of solid plays. Giovanniello made a point-blank stop
on Drumm at 18:32 and the Big Green pushed the ball in transition
before Tochihara made an equally impressive save for the Tigers.
That ultimately led to a free position for the Tigers on the other
end and it was Drumm cutting the lead to 12-7 with 17:23 on the
clock.
The Big Green got to 13 when senior Broghan Cully (Duxbury, Mass.)
fed the ball to Parks for her second goal of the day with 15:03 to
play. The Tigers quickly got it back, however, when Jaci Gassaway
converted off a feed from Sarah Lloyd to make it a 13-8 game with
12:55 on the clock.
After killing some clock, Bowers made it a 14-8 lead with an assist
from Parks with 6:54 to go. Princeton won the ensuing draw but
Shannie MacKenzie (Riverside, Conn.) turned the Tigers over and got
the ball back into the attacking end, where Parks made Princeton
pay, scoring off a feed from Meyer for a 15-8 lead.
Princeton's Cassie Pyle scored two unanswered goals for the Tigers
to keep things interesting, making it a 15-10 game with 3:30 to
play. Giovanniello made two more saves in the final three minutes,
however, and Dartmouth was able to maintain possession and run out
the clock for the win.
Dartmouth hosts Harvard this Friday night at 7 p.m. on Scully-Fahey
Field with the share of the Ivy Championship on the line. Head
coach Amy Patton, who recorded her 200th career win earlier this
season, will be looking for her 100th career Ivy League win as
well.
