Fortunately for the Dartmouth women, the loss will not keep them out of the tournament. The Big Green's 11-5 regular season record was good enough to give Dartmouth the seventh seed in this year's tournament. And with its 16-2 record, Duke took the top seed.
Duke, who was ranked third in the nation heading into the game, never trailed in its low-scoring victory over the then eighth-ranked Big Green. But Dartmouth constantly challenged the Blue Devil's lead.
"I have a lot of respect for [Duke]. They are one of the top teams in the country," said head coach Amy Patton, "But we can play with them."
And on Sunday, Dartmouth did play on Duke's level, out-shooting the team by the end. Unfortunately for Dartmouth, the Blue Devils had an easier time finding the back of the net.
"Duke executed its game plan a little better than we did," said Patton. "Their goalkeeper played really well. I think she was the difference."
Duke senior goalkeeper Megan Huether made 13 saves in her win. She only allowed four Dartmouth shots to pass her.
Entering Sunday's game, Devon Wills '06 had allowed the third fewest goals per game of all the starting goalkeepers in Division I women's lacrosse. Although she lowered her goals against average versus Duke's potent offense, Huether outplayed Wills in the end.
Duke's star senior Katie Chrest beat Wills about midway through the first half to open the scoring. Chrest had a hat trick in the game that left her with 56 goals for the season.
Four minutes after Chrest's first goal, Blue Devils junior Kristen Wagboo scored on Wills. Chrest soon added her second goal to extend Duke's lead to three goals.
With only a few minutes left in the opening period, Dartmouth seemed destined to reach the half trailing by a sizeable margin, but Kristen Barry '08 changed the tone of the game by scoring twice in the last seven minutes of the half to bring the score to 3-2.
Dartmouth might have carried momentum into the half, but Duke quickly turned the game around.
One minute into the second half, referees issued Dartmouth's Whitney Douthett '07 a yellow card, which put Douthett, one of the Big Green's best players, on the bench for three minutes.
Only 30 seconds after Douthett left for the sidelines, Duke freshman Carolyn Davis scored to put the Blue Devils back ahead by two goals. Chrest had an assist in the play.
A few minutes later, Jen Pittman '07 reduced the deficit to one. But Pittman's goal did little to slow Duke's scoring onslaught.
Duke freshman Meagan del Monte and Chrest each scored within four minutes of Pittman's goal.
As the clock wound down, Duke stalled successfully. In the final 24 minutes of play, Dartmouth kept only one possession long enough to score. With 1:53 to play, Douthett netted the game's final goal, which proved to be too little, too late for the Big Green.
Duke controlled the draw after the face-off and time ran out on Dartmouth's regular season.
Sunday's game drew 1,057 spectators because it was senior night and such an important match-up.
"I thought the crowd was phenomenal," Patton said. "It felt like a playoff game, and I thought the turnout was great."
Since the first round games of the NCAA tournament are played at the home of the higher seed, Sunday's game was not actually Dartmouth's last home game.
As the seventh-seeded team out of 16 to make the tournament, Dartmouth will host Boston University on Sunday, May 14 at 1 p.m. on Scully-Fahey Field. The Big Green defeated the Terriers 11-5 at home two weeks ago.
If the Dartmouth women get past BU on Sunday, they will likely confront second-seeded Virginia the following weekend. The Cavaliers were the only team to beat Duke this season, a feat they have accomplished twice.
Virginia plays the Ivy co-champion Princeton Tigers in the first round this weekend. The only other team from the Ivy League to qualify for the tournament is Cornell, who shared the 2006 league title with the Tigers.
The Big Green has already played seven of the 15 other teams in this year's tournament. Dartmouth went 4-3 in those games.
