Junior Kelly Hannigan's goal with three seconds left in regulation gave the women's lacrosse team a critical 8-7 come-from-behind win over 11th-ranked Yale yesterday afternoon in New Haven. The win gave the Big Green, ranked 12th in the nation, a 3-1 record in Ivy League play (7-3 overall) and sole possession of second-place.
Tied 7-7 with 30 seconds left, Dartmouth was able to gain control of the ball in the Yale attack zone. The Big Green's Catherine Passano '98 held the ball behind the Yale net before finding a cutting Kim Mendelson '97.
Mendelson got off a good shot, but her quick-stick attempt hit the right post before careening to Hannigan, who was able to sweep the ball off of the ground in a field hockey manner and roll it into the Eli net to give the Big Green the lead and the victory.
"Kim [Mendelson] had a great challenge to goal, and it just bounced off the post, and then it was just a matter of being in the right place at the right time," Hannigan said of her second goal of the afternoon.
"It came down to the fact that we had enough poise when we got the ball with 30 seconds left to go at them and put the ball in the cage," said Jennifer Greene '98, who tallied an assist on the afternoon. "It felt really good to be on the winning side of this type of game."
Hannigan's goal capped a furious second-half rally by the Big Green, who found themselves playing even with Yale but behind 5-2 at halftime.
Dartmouth was able to tie the game at 5-5 in the second half, before eventually taking a 7-6 lead on senior Samantha Sparks's netter with just over four minutes left in the game.
Yale came back with a response, however, knotting the game at 7-7 by scoring a goal with just one and a half minutes remaining.
Head Coach "Amy [Patton] told us at halftime that she was tired of telling us how good we are, she wanted to see us play like we know it," Greene said. "I really feel that we went out there in the second half and showed everyone that we are a good team. We didn't have as many turnovers, we played team defense and team attack- both of which were key."
"In the first half, we were playing pretty well but seemed like we were scared of handling the ball, and we weren't taking enough shots. We just needed to put together a total team effort in the second half, and we were able to dedicate ourselves and do that," Allison Wiener '99 said.
Passano and Mendelson each added two goals for the Big Green, who were outshot 35-28. Mendelson's goals continued her scoring tear (eight goals in the last two games) that earned her a spot on this week's Ivy League Honor Roll.
Sarah Carlson '99 had 13 saves between the posts for the Big Green.
The win broke a second-place tie in the Ivy League with the Elis, putting the Big Green one game back of first-place Princeton.
However, since the Big Green lost to Princeton earlier in the season, they will need the Tigers to suffer two losses in their final three Ivy games to capture the Ivy League crown.
For the Big Green to even be in position to challenge for the title, they need to continue their three game Ivy win streak when they travel to Brown on Sunday.
"This was a great team win and a great team effort," Hannigan said. "Hopefully, this win will give us some confidence going into the game against Brown."
