Victory is sweet. Revenge is sweeter.
And sweet this victory was.
The fifth-ranked Dartmouth women's lacrosse team avenged heartbreaking overtime losses in each of the past two years when it toppled the number-one-ranked and defending national champion Princeton Tigers 10-9 Saturday afternoon at Chase Field.
The victory, while early in the season, gives Dartmouth a huge edge in the Ivy League title race and makes a strong case to voters to give the Big Green the top ranking when the Brine poll is released Tuesday.
With 8:35 to play,Kelly Hannigan '97 had a direct foul shot and scored, to put the Big Green up 9-6.
The battle for the win had begun. With 6:48 remaining in the game, in an intense fight for a goal, Princeton goalie Erin O'Neill fouled Sarah Devens '96 and was forced to clear the goal and start the play behind Devens, who was given a direct foul shot on an open goal from the top of the fan.
But the Princeton defense came up with a huge stop to deny Devens the goal.
Princeton took possession and Janice Petrella scored 25 seconds later to cut Dartmouth'slead to 9-7.
Perhaps the team remembered last year when Princeton, down 9-7 with nine seconds to play, scored twice and eventually won in sudden-death overtime.
With 2:54 left, Captain Lauren Holleran '95 scored what would be the game-winning goal, putting Dartmouth up 10-7. Princeton quickly followed when freshman scoring powerhouse CristiSamaras completed her hat-trick.
"Samaras started playing really well," Head Coach Amy Patton said. "We adjusted our defense and that worked."
With 30 seconds left in the game, Abigail Gutstein scored her second goal of the afternoon, cutting the lead to 10-9 and leaving the Dartmouth crowd to suffer through half a minute of agony.
Dartmouth won the draw and got the ball to goalie Kirsten Prettyman '95 who ran down the clock, giving Dartmouth a 10-9 victory.
Dartmouth took control right from the start, winning the first draw.
Butbefore anyone could score, only 1:17 into the game, midfielder Maura Schneider '96 went down with a leg injury. She would return later before re-injuring herself and leaving the game for good with 2:47 left in the first half.
Five and a half minutes into the game, Carrie Freeman '96 scored the first goal of the game. This goal proved to jump-start the Big Green and led to a series of scoring that left the Tigers frustrated and in a hole.
Just more than two minutes after Freeman's goal, defenseman Andrea Krumholz '97 found a way pastO'Neill and brought the score up to 2-0.
She was followed by midfielder Devens, who raisedDartmouth's lead by one just more than 10 minutes into the half.
At this point, Princeton called a time-out. If the plan was to break Dartmouth's momentum, it was a waste of time.
Back on the field, Princeton was able to bring the ball down the field to the Dartmouth goal but could neither keep it down there nor score. Dartmouth co-Captain Mya Mangawang was fouled and Dartmouth regained possession of the ball. The Tigers, still in shock from the three early goals, could not recover before Dartmouth scored three more goals.
As Dartmouth took control again, veteran attack Wallis Cook '95 went to goal and scored the first of this series 17 minutes and 41 seconds into the half.
Just 37 seconds after Cook's goal, Princeton fouled Holleran, putting her on the outside of the fan with only the goalie between her and the goal. Holleran scored on this play, the first goal of her hat-trick.
Holleran combined efforts with freshman standout Julia Morrill to score the last goal of this series,18:54 into the half. Morrill brought the ball into the zone and passed to Holleran who, waiting to the left of the goal, swung around and fired on O'Neill, scoring her second of the afternoon.
Princeton, now in a 6-0 hole, obtained possession of the ball for the first time in several minutes and was able to get a shot off, but Prettyman saved and accurately cleared the ball to her team.
It was not until there were four and a half minutes remaining on the clock in the first half that Princeton finally scored. The goal, scored by Gutstein, brought the score to 6-1.
With 1:43 left in the first half, Princeton's Amory Rowe was fouled and given a direct shot from the fan. Dartmouth's defense did not let her get that shot off, but instead took control.
Devens turned on the speed here and, running the ball the length of the field, scored, leaving the score at halftime 7-1.
At the half, Dartmouth could only think of one thing -- its loss to Princeton two years previous when the tigers overcame an identical 7-1 halftime deficit to win.
"It was like a recurring nightmare," Holleran said after the game.
And as the second half started, it looked like that might just happen again. "We have had problems holding onto the lead when we have it," Holleran said. "This time we had more confidence. The difference between this game and the past is we came out of it."
Dartmouth started off in control again, with Cook scoring her second goal on a direct foul shot.
Princeton, recognizing the hole it had dug itself into, realized it had to start playing like a number one team should. The team picked up the pace, out-scoring Dartmouth 5-0 in the next 14 minutes.
Rowe found the net first, 4:08 into the second half. Thirty-one seconds later, Samaras scored the first goal of her hat-trick.
Princeton, clearly picking up the pace of the game, continued this run with another goal from Rowe, followed by Samaras's second at 11:42 into the half.
About three minutes later, Melissa Cully scored Princeton's sixth goal. The score, now 8-5, reflected Princeton's domination in the half.
Dartmouth appeared to be letting down the strong defense it had used in the first half to its advantage. The team also began dropping a lot of balls in addition to not picking up the loose ground balls.
As Princeton crept up on Dartmouth, that memory of two years earlier must have popped into many minds because Dartmouth's play began to rise to its former level.
"It's feels awesome," Patton said. "It's been a long time coming. For a little while it looked like a mirror image of the past two years. The difference here was the seniors really pulled through. We had the composure that we didn't have before."
Prettyman had a great game in goal, earning a 62.5 save percentage, while O'Neill had a 47.4 save percentage. "Kirsten Prettyman had some saves at really crucial times," Patton said.
Turnovers were one key reason for Dartmouth's struggle in the second half. Dartmouth totaled 25 turnovers to Princeton's 15.
Not only did Schneider have to leave the game but Mangawang also sustained injuries to her ankle. She continued to play after being taped. "Losing Maura and Mya for part of the period really hurt," Patton said.
"What can I say? The feeling is one I'll cherish. If we play like this for the rest of the season, we're sitting pretty," Mangawang said.
