When the 2004 season began, Dartmouth's women's lacrosse team knew it wanted to end the season at Princeton, the host school for the NCAA championships. Sure enough, the season ended in the Garden State.
As for the quest for an NCAA title, the Big Green women came up one week -- and one goal -- short.
Sunday at Princeton, Dartmouth (11-6, 6-1 Ivy) turned in one of its best performances of the season, playing evenly with the top-ranked Tigers for 60 minutes. But another six minutes were not so kind to the Big Green, as Princeton advanced to the Final Four with a 6-5 overtime victory.
"It was a heck of a game," said Dartmouth head coach Amy Patton. "Pretty typical Dartmouth-Princeton game."
Princeton head coach Chris Sailer agreed. "I thought it was a great game," Sailer said. "We were really having a tough time against Dartmouth in the first half. I thought they had a great game plan, and they played a great game. It's a game that it's a shame someone has to lose."
In order to get to Princeton, Dartmouth needed to get past UNH, who traveled to Hanover on Thursday for a first-round tilt at Scully-Fahey Field. Victims of a 10-5 beating from the Big Green at the beginning of the season, the Wildcats looked to make a better impression the second time around an succeeded.
Sarah Sanborn '05 scored the Big Green's first goal with 1:56 gone in the first half, but with five minutes gone, the Wildcats were on top, courtesy of goals by Jess Burnap and Kelly Blaney. Dartmouth continued to score, as co-captains Lana Smith '04 and Kate Killen potted their first tallies of the afternoon, while Sanborn followed with her second. The Wildcats had an answer each time, though, with Sarah Cahill, Katie Leland, and Laura Dodsall putting the ball in the net for the visitors.
The Wildcats would have no answer for Dartmouth's next three goals, as Dartmouth took the lead behind three veteran players. Elizabeth Right '04, who made her third start of the season against the Wildcats, scored off of a pass from Kristen Zimmer '06 to start the rally. Katieanne Christian '05 followed suit, going to goal for an unassisted tally 1:10 later, and Right fed Molly Jenkins '04 for a third straight goal. Dodsall interrupted the run with an unassisted tally of her own, but Killen notched her second goal with four seconds left in the half to cap off a 4-1 Dartmouth run that gave the Big Green an 8-6 halftime lead.
Dodsall opened up the second half scoring with her third goal, but Sanborn completed at hat trick of her own, and Christian added another goal to give Dartmouth a 10-7 lead. The Wildcats cut the lead back to one on Dodsall's fourth goal and Burnap's second tally, but another 4-1 Dartmouth run, led by Casey Hazel '06 gave the Big Green women all the room they'd need.
Hazel '06 started the rally with a Killen-fed goal at the 12:12 mark. Leland answered with just under nine minutes to play, but the ensuing draw led to a Dartmouth fast break that saw Hazel feed Lana Smith for the goal. Christian scored her second solo goal of the day one minute later, and Hazel finished off the run with an unassisted tally of her own.
UNH tried to make one last comeback, as Leland and Burnap each completed hat tricks, but Burnap's third goal with 2:41 closed the scoring, leaving Dartmouth with a 14-12 win and the right to face Princeton, who handed Dartmouth its worst loss of the season with a 17-8 triumph in April. The top-seeded Tigers vanquished Colgate with an 18-6 win later that night.
"It was an incredible game for both teams," Patton said. "UNH played really well, and I'm impressed with how much they've improved. It was a hard-fought battle."
If the first-round matchup between Dartmouth resembled a Wild West shootout, Dartmouth's second-round game against Princeton was a horse of an entirely different color. Where the opening of the Dartmouth-UNH game was marked by a flurry of offense from both sides, the Ivy League rivals went scoreless for the first 13:52 of their return engagement.
The drought had two main sources: stalwart play by Dartmouth goalkeeper Devon Wills '06 and her Princeton counterpart, Sarah Kolodner (the first- and second-team All-Ivy goalkeepers, respectively); and a key defensive adjustment by the Big Green that prevented Princeton's top scorers from getting open in front of the net.
When the ball finally went into the net, it was from a Dartmouth stick, that of Christian, who made a brilliant move to the goal after receiving a pass from Hazel. The next goal wasn't long in coming, as Hazel scored a goal of her own two minutes later. Four more minutes passed, and Zimmer scored to give Dartmouth a 3-0 lead. Princeton finally scored with 4:47, as Ivy Rookie of the Year Kathleen Miller connected on a free position shot, but Dartmouth went to halftime with a two-goal lead.
The two-goal lead became three again early in the second half, as Christian scored her second goal of the afternoon. However, goals by Elizabeth Pillion and Tara Hardiman brought Princeton within one with 10:46 to play.
Dartmouth needed another goal, and the Big Green got it, courtesy of Jenkins, who played both games with a cast on one hand after she missed Dartmouth's regular-season finale against North Carolina. Zimmer found Jenkins by the side of the net, and the senior from Alexandria, Va., connected to put Dartmouth back up by two with 6:49 to play.
Princeton had more in the tank, though, as Theresa Sherry scored her 45th goal of the season with 5:20 to play, and Tara Hardiman tied it up with 4:32 left in the game. Those last four minutes passed without a goal, despite a free position chance for the Tigers in the closing seconds.
With the score tied at the end of regulation, the teams went on to overtime, where Jamie Sundheim scored the only goal 1:32 into the first overtime session. Dartmouth struggled to get a shot, and while the Big Green defense came up with key loose balls and kept the Tigers from padding their lead, the Dartmouth attackers were fighting for a loose ball in front of the Princeton net as time expired.
"We came in with a completely different game plan than we did when we played them the first time," Patton said. "I think that took them by surprise, and I think they had trouble against what we were trying to do for most of the game until the last minute."
While Dartmouth certainly succeeded in giving the Tigers plenty of trouble, it will be Princeton going to its fifth straight final four next weekend at Princeton Stadium. This game, meanwhile, was the final game for the five Dartmouth seniors: Jenkins, Killen, Right, Lana Smith, and fellow All-Ivy First Team member Rowan Smith '04. The class put together an impressive list of accomplishments over the past four years, including three NCAA quarterfinal appearances, two Ivy League titles, and multiple All-Ivy selections, a performance that will be well remembered by their teammates, who will return to Scully-Fahey Field next year in pursuit of the Ivy and NCAA titles.
