Going into Sunday's contest at Maryland, the women's lacrosse team set goals of how it could compete with the top-ranked Terrapins.
Head Coach Amy Patton's first challenge to the Big Green squad was to prevent Maryland from scoring in the first minute of the game, a challenge only two other teams had been able to accomplish all season.
Dartmouth responded, winning the opening draw and possessing the ball for the early part of the contest.
While the possession did not amount to a score, it was a victory for the Big Green, one of the small victories that added up to give Dartmouth a feeling of accomplishment on the afternoon.
Certainly the Big Green's 16-4 loss was not the Cinderella season-ending performance that the players had dreamed of on the long bus ride down to College Park.
However, for the Big Green, who ended the season 9-6, the loss was filled with dignity and pride, as the team left the field feeling as if it had competed well with a team that had disposed of 53 straight regular season opponents in the last three years.
"While the loss was disappointing, I think that it showed us that at times we can play right with the top teams in the country," Jennifer Greene '98, whose 21st assist of the season set the Big Green single season record for assists.
Dartmouth had no answer for Maryland's All-American Kelly Amonte, whose four goal, 10- point performance on the afternoon was more than enough to put away the Big Green, who fell behind early in the first half and were never able to recover.
"She is one of the best players in the country and arguably one of the best players in the history of the sport," Samantha Sparks '96 said.
"I think that [Sunday], despite the score, we really played well and met almost every team goal that we set for [Sunday's] game," co-Captain Maura Schneider '96 said of her final game playing for Dartmouth. "They are an outstanding team with unbelievable talent and at times we played with them. We didn't just hand them the win, we made them work for it."
"We tried to stick to our game plan and have fun. We forced them into some mistakes and as a result we had some great plays. When the final whistle blew, we left the field not with the feelings of frustration and disappointment as in previous games such as Princeton, Harvard and Brown, but rather feeling we had played hard and well. It was an honor to play a team as talented as Maryland," Sparks said.
The play of the returning cast next year was a definite bright spot for the Big Green, as the nucleus of next year's squad shined through.
Junior attacker Kim Mendelson '97, whose offensive explosion in the season's final games has propelled the team, scored two goals to push her season ending total to 37 tops on the squad. Mendelson finished the year with 41 points to lead the Big Green, two points ahead of fellow 30-plus goal-scorer Julia Morrill '98.
The season saw the Big Green finish ranked 14th in the nation after grabbing the sixth spot in the preseason poll. However, all six of the Big Green losses came to teams ranked in this week's poll, with four of them coming to teams in the top five spots.
The Big Green had no trouble beating non-conference opponents. If it had not been for two mid-season lapses against Brown and Harvard in Ivy League play, the Big Green would have had an outstanding season, finishing second in the Ivy League with their only loss coming to a second-ranked Princeton squad, a team that also fell victim to Maryland.
"It was a disappointing and very frustrating season," Schneider said. "Coming off three such strong years, in all of which we were among the top six teams in the nation, made it very difficult to swallow a mediocre year especially when it has to be your last year," she said.
There was more optimism for those who were returning for next year's campaign.
"I think with the amount of returning players that we are going to have next year, we can look forward to a promising season," Greene said.
