Women's lax wins ninth straight
The women's lacrosse team can do more than claim success for its efforts this past week. The Big Green can also boast of a historic upset and record breaking season.
Dartmouth's 12-10 victory over No. 4 ranked University of Virginia Saturday was possibly the biggest win in the history of Big Green women's lacrosse and virtually secured them a bid to the NCAA tournament, boosting their ranking up two spots to No. 5.
Less than a month after being named Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week, Ellen Bruce '94 earned Honor Role credit for her efforts against UVA.
After the UVA game, Sarah Devens '96 was named Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week, the third time a Dartmouth player has received this honor since the start of the season six weeks ago.
The team tied and then broke the school women's lacrosse record for consecutive wins by beating University of New Hampshire and University of Massachusetts on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively. The old record of eight was set in 1987 and tied in 1989.
The team's ninth consecutive victory raises its record to 11-3 overall, 4-1 in the Ivy league.
Dartmouth's suffered its lone Ivy loss to a still undefeated Princeton team in double overtime early in the season. The Tigers have secured the Ivy title outright this season for their first time ever.
In the UMass game, Lauren Holleran '95 set a school record for highest career points, 169, breaking Anne Moelering's 1989 record. With one season left, Holleran has a chance to break many other records.
Devens, the team's second leading scorer behind Holleran, set a new Dartmouth record for assists in a season with 17, beating Beth Hunt's 1986 record.
Ten Dartmouth players earned points for goals or assists in the 18-6 victory over No. 13 ranked UNH.
Bruce opened the scoring 31 seconds into the first half with the first of her two unassisted goals and added two second half assists. Before two more minutes had passed, Wally Cook '95 scored off a pass from Devens and Holleran had a goal assisted by Kim Mendelson '97.
Devens scored twice and Holleran and Margaret Field '93 each added a goal before UNH was able to get itself on the board. Holleran added her third and last goal of the game and Mya Mangawang '95 earned a point before the half closed with a 9-1 score.
UNH was the first to score in the second half, but in less than a minute Field answered with the first of her four second half goals. Carrie Freeman '96 added three goals in the second half and assisted Betsy Bennett's goal. Bruce added her second goal of the game midway through the second half.
UNH scored four goals in the last five minutes of the game, but a dozen points still separated the teams when the game closed.
Dartmouth outshot UNH 37-21 while senior goalie Kim Cohen recorded a 77.8 save percentage before sharing time in goal with Kirsten Prettyman '95.
Relieved her team did not let down after its huge win over UVA, Coach Amy Patton said, "Overall I am extremely pleased with our level of play against UNH. We had a few mental errors but we looked very sharp, especially on attack."
After beating UNH 18-6, the women's lacrosse team travelled to Amherst and beat UMass by the same point spread the next day.
Although outshot 51-18 overall, UMass scored first, less than two minutes into the game. Dartmouth again scored three times in three minutes with a goal apiece from Jenny Edwards '95, Cook and Bruce.
UMass scored twice and Holleran added to the Dartmouth total in a minute and 15 second spurt in the middle of the first half, but the last seven goals of the half belonged to Dartmouth.
UMass began the second half by again scoring first, but a fired-up Big Green team allowed only two more goals as they registered six.
Ten Dartmouth players scored and three more added assists to make the games point totals a team effort. Holleran led the team with four goals and three assists, followed by Devens with three goals and two assists and Field with two goals and two assists. Cook scored three times and Jana Friedman '94 added a goal and an assist.
Although pleased to have recorded another win, "The game was very sloppy, we played down to their level rather than playing 'Dartmouth' lacrosse," Patton said. "We may have been a little tired and looking ahead."
The Big Green have reason to look ahead now, as they face Ivy rival and No. 5 ranked Harvard Saturday.
"I feel great going into this game," Patton said. "Overall we are playing very well and are mentally prepared [to beat Harvard]."
The game was postponed from last week due to rain but the showdown between the two teams, currently tied for second place in the Ivy League, will take place Saturday on Chase Field at 2:30 p.m.
