Editor's Note: This is the first in a series of articles profiling members of the Class of 2004 on twelve Dartmouth sports teams.
Their college lacrosse careers may be only half over, but it seems as though the '04 members of the Dartmouth women's lacrosse team already have an entire career's worth of memories to look back on. Their first season featured a trip to Australia, an Ivy League title, and an NCAA quarterfinal appearance, while the 2002 campaign was marked by disappointment, as a loss to Syracuse at the end of the season kept the Big Green out of the NCAA tournament.
How, then, have the '04s' first two years of Dartmouth lacrosse met and/or differed from their expectations?
"Every season's really different, I think," says attacker Lana Smith. "I think the first season went above and beyond all of the expectations I've had, [but] both seasons have been unbelievable. I've had so much fun in both of them and learned a lot."
"Freshman year, I think that people really underestimated us," adds midfielder Kate Killen. "We surprised ourselves. This year, I felt we had really high expectations, but we just didn't meet them."
For midfielder Rowan Smith, the experience of arriving at Dartmouth exceeded her expectations. "I think the first year, being freshmen, it was really intimidating coming into a Division I program, and our team was so close, the seniors were so welcoming, that it really made it that much more special."
Another thing that has made the Dartmouth lacrosse experience special has been the ubiquitous support of players' parents at every Dartmouth contest. When asked about the effects of having such a dependable cheering section, defender Jaclyn Strife said, "I think it's great. It's also amazing how many alumni's parents come to our games too. That just gets people even more excited, when someone who graduated last year's parents are in the stands watching us this year."
Rowan Smith adds, "I think it's good when we go away, too. We don't have our friends who can come, but we know we're going to have thirty to forty parents there." According to Lana Smith, "We usually have more parents [at away games] than the home team. At UNC last year, we had so many more fans there than they did. It was great."
And it is with their parents watching that the members of the class of 2004 are becoming the veterans of the team. As they prepare for their junior season, the '04s will have the opportunity to pass on the knowledge that they have acquired to the incoming class of 2006.
"I think that we're really excited," says Killen, "because it's a huge class, and there aren't that many upperclassmen. We only have Whitney [Jamison '03] and Meredith [Roy '03] as our seniors. It's kind of disappointing, because we're all off in the fall, so we're not going to be here for them. But it's going to be exciting, because they're going to make up half our team, and I just hope that they become close with everyone else. One of the things that our team tends to do well is bond."
The incoming freshmen aren't the only ones who the '04s will be bonding with in preparation for the 2003 season. Recently graduated Duke goalkeeper Kristen Foster was hired as an assistant coach. As for the Big Green's old foe joining the coaching staff, Killen said, "A couple of us had an interview with her, and she was great. She's at the [Classic Elite Lacrosse] Camp right now. It's a lot different when she's not in goal, and doesn't have her equipment on! I think she'll bring a lot to the team, especially our defense."
Lana Smith adds, "Duke and Dartmouth have very similar styles coaching-wise, and I think that'll transfer really well next year. I think she'll bring a lot, especially because we have two freshman keepers coming in, so she's going to be working a lot with them."
Still, though, the memories of recent Duke-Dartmouth games rear their heads as Foster arrives in Hanover. According to Lana Smith, Foster was playing goal at a recent camp game, "[she] had her Duke helmet on, and she was playing on the turf, and Molly [Jenkins] and I were reffing. I said, 'you've got good memories from this field, don't you?' She said, 'Not at all.'"
While Foster might not have good memories of this past April's 7-6 Dartmouth victory (where the game-winning shot by Jen Newitt '02 struck Foster's foot before entering the goal), that game is just one of many happy memories the '04s will take with them as they embark on the second half of their Dartmouth careers.
Strife has particularly fond memories of a quadruple-overtime victory over Cornell in 2001. "When Suzy [Gibbons '01] scored the last goal, we just went nuts. It was crazier than when we won the Ivy League. We just jumped on each other and we were all crying."
According to Killen, "I think what helped us a lot last year is that we got to go to Australia. I mean, that was just the most awesome experience. I definitely think that helped our team bond."
And according to attacker Elizabeth Right, that bonding will stand as the defining memory of her entire exsperience with lacrosse at Dartmouth.
"I think that the unity we have is what makes Dartmouth lacrosse so great," says Right. "We're such a small team, and that makes us stand out from other teams. I think that that's what's going to be the one memory throughout our whole careers, how close we were on and off the field. It's not just a lacrosse team; it's like a family. Other teams always comment on how close we are, and how there's not a lot of animosity. We respect each other for our own strengths, and as long as that keeps happening at Dartmouth, nothing's going to stop us from winning the NCAA title."
Bold words, to be sure, but according to Right, "In the next two years it will be done."