Six down, one to go.
With Wednesday night's 14-7 win over Harvard, the Dartmouth women's lacrosse team (9-2, 6-0 Ivy) extended its winning streak to seven games. If the Big Green women can extend the streak to eight on Saturday when they take on top-ranked Princeton (13-0, 5-0 Ivy), they'll wrap up their third Ivy League title in four years.
"It wasn't our best effort of the year," Big Green head coach Amy Patton said of Wednesday's victory over the Crimson (5-8, 0-5 Ivy), "but it was much better than Penn, and that's all you can ask."
Patton also got all she could ask from goalkeeper Kelly Roy '06. With starting keeper Devon Wills '06 sidelined by illness, the Sykesville, Md., native stepped in and made four saves in 55 minutes en route to the win. "We're all really excited for Kelly," Patton said. "She's worked incredibly hard, she's a great backup goalie to Devon and she's put in a ton of time.
"I think as a backup, you just never know when your time is going to come, and it's really nice to see that she got her chance, and she did a great job."
Roy also got a great deal of help from the Dartmouth defense, as the Crimson were only able to take six shots in the first half, and of those six, only a free position shot by Allison Kaveney found the net. Meanwhile, goals by Katieanne Christian '05, Kate Killen '04, Annie Leibovitz '06, and Lana Smith '04 gave Dartmouth a 4-1 lead at halftime. While the Crimson were within three goals after 30 minutes, the slim margin belied the Big Green's dominance.
"The score was pretty low at halftime," Patton said, "but we were really controlling the game. We probably had the ball [for] at least three quarters of the first half. I thought we possessed it really well, and really created some great opportunities for ourselves."
If Dartmouth succeeded at creating opportunities in the first half, the second half would see the Big Green women convert on those opportunities early and often. The first 13 minutes of the second half saw Dartmouth put the game on ice with a dynamic 9-1 run.
Once again, Christian would start the scoring for Dartmouth, potting her second goal of the game on a free position shot 1:48 into the half. It was only 18 seconds before Kristen Zimmer '06 added her first tally of the evening, followed by Lana Smith's second goal 50 seconds later and Killen's second 34 seconds after that.
A minute later, Harvard's Jen Brooks broke up the Big Green run with a free position goal, but it was only 31 seconds before Sarah Sanborn '05 scored to put Dartmouth ahead 9-2. After a brief respite " just under three minutes " Katie Fahey '06 scored two goals just 16 seconds apart. Following a second goal from Leibovitz, Fahey converted on another free position shot to complete her first collegiate hat trick and cap off the Dartmouth scoring bonanza.
"I think we got our fast break going in the second half," Patton said, "which was nice to see, and I just think we played much better [than against Penn]."
With the game all but decided, the Crimson finally managed to beat Roy, scoring three unanswered goals, but Killen completed a hat trick of her own with 9:08 to go, making it 14-5 Dartmouth. The Crimson got the game's last two goals, but it was too little, too late, as Dartmouth earned a convincing win.
The Big Green will be looking for another win on Saturday, as Dartmouth heads to Princeton to play for the Ivy championship. The game will pit the nation's top two defenses against one another, as both Princeton (6.15) and Dartmouth (6.49) allow fewer than seven goals per game. While it is unknown at this time whether Wills will return to the cage for Saturday's game, the rest of Dartmouth's defensive unit is in fine form: the Big Green women converted on 10 of 11 clear attempts against Harvard, and allowed the Crimson only 11 shots on goal.
At the offensive end, the game will feature four nominees for the Tewaaraton Trophy, the top individual honor in college lacrosse. Dartmouth senior Lana Smith is one of five Ivy players nominated, and will look to prove herself against Princeton honorees Theresa Sherry, Elizabeth Pillion and Lindsey Biles.
Individual honors, however, will be secondary, as the Ivy League Championship and an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament will be on the line when Dartmouth and Princeton battle at 3 p.m. on Saturday at Princeton's Class of 1952 Stadium.
