Despite outshooting the Dartmouth women's lacrosse team, Cornell was unable to come up with a win this weekend as Dartmouth swept past the Big Red 17-7.
Dartmouth boosted its record to 7-1, 3-0 in the Ivy League, while Cornell drops to 6-3, 2-2 in the Ivy League. Yale's loss to Princeton this weekend gives Dartmouth a share of first place in the Ivy League.
Dartmouth came out strong, gaining a 7-4 lead by halftime.
Although the team was ahead at halftime, Coach Amy Patton was not completely pleased with its performance. "The defense was not at its usual level," Patton said. "They seemed very frazzled. They've been playing very consistently so I was concerned. It was one of their poorer performances as a group."
Since the beginning of the season, the team's goal has been to play 60 minutes of continuous lacrosse. Previously, the team has had difficulty duplicating its performance in the second half, resulting in a few near losses.
"The attack really picked it up in the second half," Patton said. The team picked up 10 more goals to Cornell's three, pulling off another win.
Senior co-Captain Lauren Holleran led the team in scoring, tallying an unbelievable nine goals.
"Lauren was in a zone. Her shooting was incredibly on target," Patton said.
Freshman phenomenon Julia Morrill racked up four goals for her record. Wallis Cook '95 had two goals and two assists, while Sarah Devens '96 and Kim Mendelson '97 each put in one goal.
Kirsten Prettyman '95 had an "excellent game" between the posts, according to Patton. Prettyman saved 17 shots to help secure Dartmouth's win.
"It was an excellent game in that we played really well for the full 60 minutes," Prettyman said. "In the past we've had letdowns where we've let the other team score a lot of goals. Cornell did score but it wasn't a letdown on the part of the defense. Instead the Cornell attack really picked it up."
The one aspect of Cornell's game that Dartmouth had concern for before the match-up was Cornell's use of the zone defense. It proved to be of no consequence to the Big Green offense as they easily sailed past the zone.
"Breaking the zone was never a problem, even when we weren't executing the fast break," Patton said. "I never thought, 'oh my gosh, their zone is a lot more difficult than we thought.'"
Captain Mya Mangawang '95 said "We broke the zone by moving the ball well and attacking from the sides. We managed to nullify their defense on most goals by running the fast break which didn't allow for them to get set up."
Throughout Cornell's zone play, Dartmouth continued to make the right cuts at the right time and was able to get many shots off.
"We went into the game knowing full well what to expect and we handled it masterfully," Mangawang said. "The win is a tribute to our coach for the diligent preparation and our team for the execution."
Another decisive factor in Dartmouth's win was the draw controls. Dartmouth dominated the controls, giving them more opportunities to score.
Dartmouth moves on this week to host three games at Chase Field, two of which are Ivy League games. On Tuesday, the team will face Yale in a game that could determine the top of the Ivy League. On Thursday, Dartmouth will make up a game against Vermont. Next Saturday's game versus Brown will wrap up the week.
