After playing three straight games on the road, the 18th-ranked Dartmouth women's lacrosse team was undoubtedly glad to be home for Tuesday's game against the Terriers of Boston University.
"It's been a tiring couple of weeks, especially with that long ride to Cornell," midfielder Alison Moulin '02 said.
The game against BU was tiring in its own right, but when it was over, Coach Amy Patton's squad emerged with a 13-9 victory.
The game opened with a light rain falling on Scully-Fahey field, but the Big Green women were creating a formidable storm in their own right. Co-captain Jen Newitt '02 opened the day's scoring off a free position three minutes into the contest, and Whitney Jamison'03 dominated in the seventh minute of play, scoring two goals a mere 18 seconds apart.
BU took a timeout to regroup after Jamison's second goal and got on the scoreboard 9:33 into the game, as freshman midfielder Alyssa Trudel scored off a free position.
Lana Smith '04 responded a mere 15 seconds later off a pass from Alison Moulin, and Moulin scored two of her three goals to give Dartmouth a 6-2 lead with 11:14 to play in the half.
The last 10 minutes of the first half, however, belonged to the Terriers. Trudel scored her second and third goals a little more than a minute apart, and Ericka Hergenroeder waited less than a minute before adding a goal. BU leading scorer Kristen Abruzzese had an unassisted tally with 49 seconds left in the half to cut the Big Green lead to just one entering halftime.
The opening of the second half resembled the opening of the first. Once again, rain fell on the field, and once again, BU goalkeeper Brooke Barrett faced an offensive downpour from the Big Green. Dartmouth scored five of the half's first six goals, including Newitt's second, third and fourth goals of the game and Jamison's third tally.
Trailing 11-6 with less than 13 minutes left in the game, the Terriers regrouped and scored three of the next four goals, reducing the Dartmouth advantage to three goals with six minutes left in the game.
BU's offensive effort, however, turned out to be not so much a second wind as a last gasp of air, as Dartmouth's defense contained the Terrier attack over the last six minutes, and Jamison scored her fourth goal of the game to close out the day's scoring and ice the game for the Big Green.
When asked about playing in the rain, Newitt -- whose second consecutive four-goal game brought her season total to a team-leading 28 goals -- said, "It's not so much of an issue on turf, because your footing stays the same. You do have to be more careful when you catch and throw, though, because your stick gets kind of slippery. Rain kind of makes it fun though and we're used to it after UMass last week."
The game was the first of three in six days for the Big Green, as they host the University of Pennsylvania on Saturday and play against No. 10 Penn State on Sunday.
"It's tough, because you don't have a day in between to prepare," Newitt said.
"But sometimes it's almost better to just get out and play. Also, it's good to be home for our first home weekend of the term. Our fans are like no other."
The Big Green women hope to give their fans plenty to cheer about against their two opponents from the Keystone State, and make up lost ground in both the Ivy League standings and the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches' Association poll. The Green will get its chance this weekend, as both games start at noon on Scully-Fahey Field.
