Dartmouth's women's lacrosse had another perfect showing on their home field Tuesday afternoon, defeating competitor No. 12 Syracuse in a decisive 13-8 victory.
Syracuse's Meghan O'Connell came out hard as she netted two goals both assisted by Jill Depetris in the first seven minutes of the game. Coach Amy Patton was not about to let Syracuse take off with momentum, so directly after O'Connell's second goal Dartmouth called a timeout with 7:46 off the clock. The timeout proved successful as Kristen Zimmer '06 took the faceoff and teammate Kristen Barry '08 won draw control. A minute later sophomore Sarah Szefi went to goal and scored unassisted for her only point of the game.
Just over a minute later junior Lizzy Cuneo made a ground ball pickup and Whitney Douthett '07 scored unassisted for the Big Green. With the score tied at 2-2, senior Katieanne Christian was ready to show Syracuse who they were really up against. Less than 30 seconds after Douthett's goal, Christian scored unassisted and followed up with another goal off of a free position making the score 4-2.
After giving up four straight goals Syracuse called for a timeout but were unsuccessful due to the strength of Dartmouth's defense lineup. A turnover caused by senior co-captain Erin Osborn led to a free position goal by Barry.
In an attempt to come back ,Syracuse's Depetris and Long each scored one a piece, closing the score to 5-4 Dartmouth. Once again the Big Green turned up the heat and netted four goals in the remainder of the first half. Douthett and Barry each scored their second goals of the game and Christian scored two more, ending the first half with four goals.
Christian scored her 100th career goal with 16:28 gone from the clock of the first half. If Christian continues on this streak with a conservative average of three points per game she will become a part of Dartmouth's top 10 in career scoring. Although Christian has an impressive offensive record, she is an integral defensive player as well.
After Dartmouth's Ivy win against Cornell Christian was named Ivy defensive player of the week. In the April 9th contest Christian had seven caused turnovers, five ground balls and two draw controls. Dartmouth's defense is no newcomer to this scene as goalkeeper Devon Wills '06 and Osborn received this same honor in March.
The second half witnessed some fire from Syracuse as they came out and scored four of the first five goals of the half, making the score a close 10-8. Zimmer tried to break their momentum with an unassisted goal at 14:58. Then, with about ten minutes remaining in the second half Barry began a seven minute stretch in which she and Douthett netted their third goal of the game and Christian her fifth. This secured the Big Green's victory and ended the game at 13-8.
Goalkeeper Wills made six saves in the game, five of which were in the second half. Several national rankings were just released and Wills is ranked second in goals against, allowing a mere 6.66 per game. She is 15th in save percentage at .553. With a little more than half of its regular season games played, the Big Green tops the nation in ground balls per game, averaging 31.11 and is first in caused turnovers with an average of 13.67. This top ranked and winning team takes on its next opponent this Saturday as they travel to face off against No.16 Penn at 12 p.m.
