Never mind that Dartmouth dropped from No. 12 to No. 14 in the most recent Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches' Association Poll, because the team certainly isn't worried.
"We have never paid attention to polls and rankings Ivy League or otherwise," co-captain Katy Cuneo '02 said.
Indeed, the Big Green's attention was in a much more useful place Wednesday afternoon. Rather than thinking about its diminished ranking, the Big Green women were busy with more useful numbers, like the six Big Green players who scored goals as Dartmouth defeated the Minutewomen of the University of Massachusetts, 15-5, in Amherst yesterday afternoon.
The win improves Dartmouth's record to 5-2 on the season, and gives the Big Green a three-game winning streak heading into Saturday's key Ivy League matchup at Cornell. Co-captain Jen Newitt '02 commented on the team's momentum heading into Saturday's game against the eighth-ranked Big Red.
"We have really good positive energy right now. We had a great practice yesterday, we played a great game today, and we have a really good feeling heading into Saturday."
"Positive energy" is an understatement when describing the Big Green's effort against the Minutewomen. After taking an 8-5 lead into the locker room at halftime, Dartmouth held UMass scoreless in the second half. On the offensive end during this period, Alison Moulin '02 continued to lead the Dartmouth scoring attack with three of her six goals, as the senior midfielder turned the highest single-game total by a Dartmouth player all season while matching her own career-best (a six-goal outburst against Columbia on March 25 last year).
"I actually didn't know I had that many goals," said Moulin.
"I was just getting really great passes from my teammates all day. We had our best practice all year yesterday, so we just had a really good feeling about this game."
Even though Moulin single-handedly outscored the Minutewomen, it wasn't as if she was wanting for help on offense. The Big Green got 2-goal performances from Amy Frazier '02 (who also had a game-high 3 assists), Whitney Jamison '03, Kate Killen '04 and Molly Jenkins '04, and a single goal from Newitt.
Lana Smith '04, coming off a three-goal performance against Brown, contributed an assist, as did Jamison. According to Newitt, "Everything really clicked today, especially on the attacking end. It was an overall great team effort."
Dartmouth will be hoping for another "great team effort" on Saturday in Ithaca, as the Big Green women look to finish their three-game road stretch the same way they started it " with an Ivy League win.
The Big Red is sure to be hungry, though, as it takes the field for the first time since losing to No. 2 Princeton on March 30. Game-time is 1 p.m. at Cornell's Schoellkopf Field, as Coach Amy Patton's squad looks for one more big road win before it returns home to face Boston University on Tuesday, April 9.
