Dartmouth hung right with Northwestern for most of the game, even holding a one goal lead with 23 minutes remaining. While the Big Green's stifling defense held Northwestern, the nation's top offense, to its lowest output of the season, Dartmouth never got things going on offense, and the defending champs pulled away as time ran down in the second half.
Bidding for the College's first women's national title, Dartmouth came out strong. With the Big Green's first shot of the game, Kristen Barry '08 fired a bullet over Northwestern goalie Morgan Lathrup's left shoulder off a feed from Whitney Douthett '07.
"It was kind of a relief to score. I was kind of nervous coming in, and it was good to know that we could actually score," Barry said.
The Wildcats quickly countered with two quick goals, their only two scores in the first half.
Dartmouth was able to regain the lead before the end of the half after both Casey Hazel '06 and Jen Pittman '07 scored. Each one drove from behind Northwestern's goal before turning and beating Lathrup.
The many Dartmouth supporters in the stands were happy to see their team hold a 3-2 halftime advantage, but the Big Green led despite being outshot 15-6 in the first half.
The lack of offensive chances would catch up with Dartmouth in the second half. The teams traded goals before Northwestern tied things up at four with about 22 minutes left in the game.
Shortly afterwards, Aly Josephs, who scored four times for Northwestern, netted the Wildcats' next goal in particularly morale-smothering fashion. Josephs threw a weak pass that ended up floating towards the Dartmouth net rather than toward its intended target. However, the ball fluttered its way past the stick of Devon Wills '06 for the go-ahead goal.
"That was just a fluke. I wish I could have had it back," Wills told reporters. "That could have been a momentum shifter."
After taking the lead, Northwestern used the clock to its advantage. The Wildcats held possession for most of the remainder of the game and watched the clock run down. The Big Green could not create enough offensive opportunities in the remainder of the half to make up for the stroke of bad luck.
Josephs scored twice more in the second half to bring the game to its final 7-4 score.
"The glaring thing that stands out to me is we took ten shots," Dartmouth head coach Amy Patton told reporters. "You can't win a national championship only taking ten shots."
"Our defense played amazing. And I guess on offense, we couldn't really handle their pressure D as we should have. We didn't have our best game. We just picked a bad day to have a bad game," Barry said.
Dartmouth won its national semifinal game by combining great defense and lots of scoring. The Big Green defeated Notre Dame 14-8 to advance to the final in a game that was never close.
Dartmouth opened a 4-0 lead early and never trailed. In fact, the Big Green never led by fewer than two goals after the fast start.
It was the first time the Irish, who scored two of their goals in the final 30 seconds, had been held to single digits all year.
Douthett led Dartmouth scorers with four goals and two assists. Kristen Zimmer '06 also had six points with a trio of goals and assists. Barry, Hazel and Sarah Szefi '07 each added two goals. Ann Leibovitz '06 recorded the other.
Hazel made two assists against Notre Dame, while Szefi had one to give her three points. Wills added four assists in the semifinal.
The team finished its season with a 14-6 record. After being ranked third in the national preseason poll, a poor start to the season made even getting a tournament bid questionable. The Big Green then rallied in the second half of the season, winning eight of nine before the championship game.
"[Playing in the national championship game] was an awesome way to cap off what has been an amazing four years for the seven seniors," Leibovitz said. "We are so proud of how the team was able to turn our season around from what could have been mediocrity to unprecedented achievement."
Dartmouth's Final Four appearance was its second straight. The Big Green will look to make it three in a row next season, when it returns three of its top four goal scorers on the season.
"I think we're going to have a great team. We have nine freshmen coming in. The seniors are going to be different leaders, but I think they'll be just as good," Barry said of the team's prospects for next year.
