Going into the 2006 campaign, Dartmouth was ranked third in the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association's national preseason poll. But after starting the season slow with a 4-3 record, the Big Green dropped to 19th in the IWLCA's latest rankings.
Stanford, on the other hand, exceeded early expectations. Unranked in the preseason poll, the Cardinal climbed the charts, and Stanford is now the 16th-ranked team in the country.
However, Thursday's win will likely push Dartmouth ahead of its west coast rival once more. The Big Green improved its record to 5-3, while Stanford dropped to 5-4.
Jen Pittman '07 scored five goals for Dartmouth, giving her 20 for the season. She has notched a goal in every game thus far.
Casey Hazel '06 added three goals of her own, making it her second straight game with a hat trick.
Dartmouth led 6-5 at the half, but the game was back-and-forth early.
Kristen Barry '08 and Hazel scored the game's first two goals for Dartmouth, but Stanford countered quickly with three goals of its own.
Down and in danger of another early-season loss, the Big Green regrouped, retook the lead and never looked back.
Hazel's second goal tied the score at 3-3 with 21:26 remaining in the first half, and Sarah Szefi '07 put Dartmouth ahead 4-3. Stanford managed to tie the game again, but Pittman's first and second goals put the Big Green ahead to stay.
The Cardinal pulled within one right before the half, but Pittman scored twice early in the second frame to build on Dartmouth's advantage.
Hazel scored her third goal with 20:34 left in the game, completing her hat trick and giving Dartmouth a 9-5 lead.
Stanford wasn't able to make a close game out of the remaining 20 minutes.
Whitney Douthett '07 scored twice late. Those two goals along with her three assists gave her five points in the game.
Devon Willis '06 played well in net, saving eight shots. Laura Shane, Stanford's goalie, was able to grab 16 saves with Dartmouth out-shooting Stanford 34-20. Twelve of Shane's saves came in the first half, when Dartmouth launched 21 shots.
Dartmouth only turned the ball over 13 times, while Stanford had 22 turnovers.
Pittman added three more goals and an assist on Sunday when Dartmouth defeated the Brown Bears 11-9 in an overtime thriller.
The Big Green trailed by two goals with just over two minutes to play in regulation, but with the clock ticking down and its back against the wall, Dartmouth responded with some good old-fashioned heroism.
Pittman and Szefi scored 11 seconds apart to tie the game and force overtime.
Douthett netted the game-winning goal in the game's first three-minute overtime period, and Barry tallied another goal for insurance before the game ended.
Douthett, Barry and Szefi each had two goals in the Brown game. Margo Duke '07 and Hazel had Dartmouth's last two goals. Pittman now has 23 goals this season.
Willis made four saves in the Big Green net.
Dartmouth's third straight win improves the team's record to 6-3 and keeps the Big Green alive in the Ivy League with a 2-1 conference record. Brown fell to 3-6 (0-1) with the loss.
Dartmouth won't play again until next Saturday at Cornell in Ithaca, N.Y., at 1 p.m. Cornell is coming off a loss against eighth-ranked Princeton.
The Big Red has a 6-2 record and is currently ranked 12th nationally. But its ranking is just as likely to drop after the Princeton loss as is Dartmouth's likely to rise with the Stanford win.
