The payoff was huge.
With one win, the women's lacrosse team jumped from the number five position in the country to a highly coveted number two slot.
In the history of the women's lacrosse program, Dartmouth has never ranked this high. Before the win, Dartmouth had never defeated the top-ranked team in the country.
The defending national champion and formerly top-ranked Princeton Tigers, the loser in that all-important game Saturday afternoon, lost two positions, falling to number three in the latest Brine/IWLCA poll, released yesterday.
Maryland took a step up to assume the number one position. Maryland's record soared to 6-0 with its recent 16-2 thrashing of Old Dominion.
Although it's certainly too early for speculation, Dartmouth and Maryland, both undefeated, are on track for a dramatic regular season-ending showdown when the Big Green host Maryland on May 6.
But until then, Dartmouth will face many intense and highly ranked opponents. Dartmouth must continue to focus on its game and not the ranking in order to stay where it is.
"We can't be looking towards the Maryland game.We have UVM [today] and we lost to them last year, which basically killed our bid to the NCAA tournament. We have got to take it one game at a time," defenseman Samantha Sparks '96 said.
But what does this really mean? For Dartmouth, it means the road to the Ivy-League Championship and a possible NCAA bid is much clearer; if the team can continue to play as it did last Saturday when it sent Princeton home disappointed. Dartmouth beat Princeton 10-9 in a game that came down to the last 30 seconds.
Each Ivy League school plays the other seven schools just once, so Princeton won't have another shot at Dartmouth in the regular season.
Only six teams receive a bid to the NCAA tournament each season.
Last year Dartmouth was denied a bid to the tournament in a somewhat controversial decision, despite finishing 11-4 and defeating the then defending national champion Virginia Cavaliers.
"I really feel that the rankings aren't that important," co-Captain Lauren Holleran '95 said. "Basically, I just want to be in the top six at the end of the season so we get a bid to the tournament. Besides that, I try not to focus on it too much."
Dartmouth faces the University of Vermont at home today on Chase Field at 3:00 before hitting the road this weekend for a Saturday game at the University of Pennsylvania and a Sunday match-up against number-eight Penn State.
For her stellar play this week against Boston College and Princeton, Holleran was named Offensive Player of the Week by the Ivy League for the second week running.
Holleran added seven goals and three assists this week to bring her record totals to 157 goals and 193 points.
Since the Boston College game, Holleran has held the Dartmouth record for both goals and points. She also is ranked second nationally for number of goals scored per game.
Goalie Kirsten Prettyman '95 was given Honor Roll status by the Ivy League for her total of 28 saves in games against Boston College and Princeton.
"We are excited to have finally earned respect in the lacrosse world, but we have got to maintain our focus and continue to work hard, not taking any game as a given," Sparks said.
