Co-Ivy Player of the Year, Katieanne Christian '05 scored five goals to propel the No. 5 Dartmouth women's lacrosse team to a 9-8 win over No. 12 Syracuse in the first round of the NCAA tournament Thursday afternoon.
The Ivy League champion Big Green, who was 15-2 for the season, will now face No. 4 Georgetown (13-4) in the second round of the tournament at 1 p.m. on Sunday at Scully-Fahey Field. The Hoyas squeezed past their first round game against Towson with a 15-14 overtime win on Thursday.
This was the second time this season that Dartmouth defeated the Orangewomen. The first Green win was in a 13-8 contest on April 12. Though this was a much closer game, Syracuse was still unable to stop the crushing Christian, who notched a monstrous 10 goals in the two games against 'Cuse this year.
Despite the rabid fans and beautiful New Hampshire skies, the Lady Laxers were outscored in the first half, 7-4. Consequently, the Big Green gathered in their half-time huddle knowing they would have to tie their largest comeback this season in order to stay alive in the tournament. The Big Green was certainly up for the challenge, and was successful in overcoming a halftime deficit to win for the first time in three tries.
The first half started with two goals from Christian and one by sophomore Whitney Douthett, a unanimous First Team All-Ivy pick. Dartmouth forged a 3-1 lead just 6:22 into the first half. But the breathing room wouldn't last as Syracuse countered with a pair of goals to tie the game. Christian's third goal of the game would give the Big Green its last lead of the half, 4-3, at 17:53 as the Orange turned up the offensive pressure and rattled off four straight tallies to take a 7-4 lead at halftime.
Dartmouth went into a defensive lockdown in the second half, allowing only one goal on three shots on the cage.
Sophomore Jen Pittman started a Green rally with a goal off a free position shot at 27:41. Christian then shortened the Orange lead to 7-6 after catching the ball about 10 feet outside the top of the arc, spinning and driving past defenders, and beating Syracuse goalie Jen Kasel at 24:31.
Pittman fired home her second goal at 20:25 to knot the score, and junior Kristen Zimmer put the Big Green back on top at 19:11 off a helper from sophomore Sarah Szefi.
"I thought our kids really responded in the second half," Dartmouth head coach Amy Patton said.
The Big Green then padded its lead when Christian lost the ball near the Syracuse crease, but neither side was able to recover the ground ball as it bounced past Kasel and into the cage.
However, Syracuse would not go away, as Orangewoman Allison Furstenburg bounced a shot past Dartmouth junior goalie Devon Wills at 14:28 to make it a 9-8 game before both teams began eating the clock.
With about 10 minutes left, the Orange started a possession in the Dartmouth end that lasted for two minutes, but Syracuse was able to fire off only one shot before the Big Green took control. As Dartmouth passed the ball around looking for an open shot on net, 4:30 elapsed from the clock and Syracuse began to press.
Syracuse eventually recovered a turnover at 2:30 but was able to make only one shot over the next two minutes, as the Zimmer made a crucial play, stealing back the ball with 30 seconds remaining and helped the Big Green wind down the clock.
"I can't say enough about our defense in the second half," Patton said. "We made some big stops at the end."
"If we play the kind of game we're capable of playing and play consistently, take our second half today and play that way for an entire game, we have a reason to be very confident," said co-captain Erin Osborn '05.
The Big Green improved to 10-0 at home this season behind seven saves from Wills. Kasel also had seven stops for the Orange. Dartmouth is now 6-9 in NCAA Tournament games.
