The Big Green women's lacrosse team has had a long history of victorious seasons, and it looks like the team will be able to add this one to the list. After defeating the University of Pennsylvania and Penn State last weekend, the team is ranked seventh in the nation and holds a record of 8-7.
The beginning of the season was quite precarious for the Big Green. They returned to campus from their spring trip with two wins over Old Dominion (14-10) and Richmond (15-9), and one loss to William and Mary (8-6).
They then were defeated in sudden death triple overtime by Princeton, which is currently ranked third in the nation (10-9), and again by UVM (10-8). But that was enough disappointment for the Big Green, and the team members decided that it was time to regroup and conquer.
"The UVM game threw us back into reality," Jana Friedman '94 said. "We all realized afterwards that we needed to win the rest of our games in order to have a chance at the playoffs."
Friedman said Coach Amy Patton psyched up team members last week by claiming that "talk is cheap" and urging the team to prove through action how skilled they really are.
The Big Green did exactly that this past Saturday in their game against Penn. The score was tied 3-3 with five minutes remaining in the first half until Dartmouth made three fast breaks within two minutes, making the score 6-3.
The Big Green dominated the second half, allowing Penn only one goal and scoring four themselves.
"During the Penn game, our passing game was fantastic and we let them have very few turnovers," Friedman said. "Everyone played a solid, intense sixty minutes."
The team can boast of similar success for last Sunday's victory over Penn State. With nine and a half minutes left in the game and the Big Green down 5-3, Dartmouth scored five goals.
Three of these were scored by Lauren Holleran '95, who now leads the nation in total goals scored and points per game.
"Our success is due to our team camaraderie and spirit," Ellen Bruce '94 said. "Last year the team was skillful but was missing this camaraderie. This year, the closeness of our team will help us get to where we want to go."
Bruce was voted Ivy League defensive player of the week for her performance in the Penn and Penn State games.
The Big Green plays Cornell at noon this Saturday at Chase Field.
