Big Green women's water polo earned its fifth consecutive trip to the National Championship Tournament with its victory last weekend over Yale. The team's strong performance this season earned the first place seed in the New England regional qualifying tournament, held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology April 16 through April 18.
The first round games brought little competition, with matches against Williams and Bates. Dartmouth defeated the Ephs 13-4 Friday, and rose early Saturday to crush the Bobcats 17-1.
The comfortable victories meant the Big Green had to step up their level of play for the Sunday game. In that championship contest, the women faced familiar rival Yale for the second year in a row. The Bulldogs came out firing, putting themselves on the scoreboard first. This was the last time Yale would find itself with the lead, however, as two-meter specialist Sam Klau '05 launched a hole shot by the Yale goalie for Dartmouth's first score.
A few minutes later, a four-meter shot drawn by Kelly Cameron '04 was scored by Klau, giving the Big Green the edge. The Bulldogs could not fight back before being penalized again, giving another four-meter opportunity to Klau after a pull-back penalty against Kristin Simunovich '06. Yale scored again before the half, giving Dartmouth a narrow 3-2 lead
The third quarter went well for Dartmouth. The Big Green drew an ejection giving them a man-up advantage that was converted by Cameron and on an outside shot by Lindsey Pryor '05, giving Dartmouth a 5-2 lead. Yale tossed an arching lob shot over senior goalie Gillian Morshedi's outstretched arms to cut the lead to 5-3.
Big Green and Yale traded goals to start the fourth quarter. Not ready to relinquish the title yet, Yale increased its tenacity and scored again. Dartmouth found itself furiously defending a narrow two goal lead, until Cameron scored again on a man-up situation to make the score 7-4. By now the team felt comfortable with its lead and started to coast: not a wise idea against this tough Bulldog squad. With less than four minutes left to play, Yale scored a two meter shot and soon after scored again on a man-up play.
With only two minutes left in the game, Dartmouth found itself clinging to a one-goal lead. This played on the nerves of the many Dartmouth supporters in attendance, as well as coach Jim Wilson, who was noticeably on edge. However, the Big Green women settled in, drawing on their superior endurance and patience, and successfully defended the onslaught, winning the match 7-6.
The weekend's high scorers were Cameron, Klau, Simunovich, Sarah Rosa '07 and Pryor. On the defensive side, Lauren Wondolowski '04 and Morshedi were leaders.
This coming weekend, the women travel to California Polytechnic University of San Luis Obispo, where they will enjoy the third place seed they secured last year by virtue of their finish in the National Tournament. Friday afternoon, the women begin their pursuit of a National Championship title with a first round match against Rice University followed later that evening by another tough match against Miami University of Ohio.
