Despite a strong effort against the undefeated No. 2 University of Pennsylvania, the Dartmouth women's lacrosse team succumbed to a late defeat in overtime, 7-6, in Philadelphia on Saturday. The loss marked the end of No. 13 Dartmouth's undefeated Ivy League run, and was the team's second in overtime this season.
The Big Green (6-4, 3-1 Ivy) kept up with Penn (11-0, 5-0 Ivy) for all 60 minutes of play, generating a halftime tie of 4-4 and ending the second half at 6-6.
The resulting three-minute overtime period saw Penn capitalize to secure a victory and maintain the team's undefeated season.
"What was heartbreaking about this game was just our breakdown," co-captain and goalie Julie Wadland '10 said. "It was just so basic, so it really hurt."
The low scoring was unusual for Dartmouth, which defeated Cornell in its last game 12-8, but the Big Green faced intense pressure from the Quakers' defense, pulling off a game total of only 11 shots, compared to Penn's 28.
"I just think Penn, to give them credit, has a great defense, and they ran it very well," Wadland said. "They did a great job containing some of our best attackers and, in general, we didn't get as many chances as we would have liked. But at the same time, we did manage to score on more than half of our shots."
It was the Big Green, however, that scored the first goal, courtesy of Sarah Parks '12 three minutes into the first half from a free position shot. It took the Quakers five minutes to respond, but they finally found a hole in Dartmouth's defense, killing Dartmouth's only lead of the game.
Penn fed off of the momentum of its first goal, quickly netting two more to put Dartmouth on edge. The Quakers pelted the Big Green with 14 shots in the first half, pushing Wadland to step up and produce five of her game's 12 saves.
Co-captain Katherine Chiusano '09 soon responded, delivering two unassisted goals over a span of four minutes in the first half. Dartmouth's goal-scoring leader Kat Collins '11 followed suit, tying the score at 4-4 at the half.
Penn opened the second period of play with a goal just over a minute into the half on a free-position shot. It took more than 12 minutes for Dartmouth to cut the lead, but Sarah Plumb '12 was eventually able to score on an unassisted shot that tied the score again at 5-5.
Plumb contributed four shots in the game, the most by any Big Green player, and secured her 19th point of the season. Meanwhile, rookie Parks is also on a good run, as her goal marked her 24th point this year. Collins still leads the attack with 37 points this year.
After Plumb's strike, another goal-famished stretch ensued, as Penn regained its lead with only nine minutes to play. Eliza Bennett '10 was then fed by Chiusano to cap off Dartmouth's scoring at 7:04.
At 6-6, the two teams headed into overtime, but the Big Green could not gain control, and only offered one shot on goal, struggling as the team committed four fouls in the last three minutes alone.
"I was really proud of our team, but I think we need to take things a step further," Wadland said. "It is not good enough to just stay with these teams throughout a game -- we need to figure out a way step up and come away with a win."
Dartmouth will have little time to recuperate from the loss as it faces Harvard (4-8, 1-3 Ivy) this Wednesday, and then No. 7 Princeton (10-1, 4-0 Ivy) on Saturday at Scully-Fahey Field. Wednesday's game is scheduled to start at 4 p.m., while the game on Saturday is at 1 p.m.
"We're definitely taking everything just one day at a time, so now our focus is on Harvard," Wadland said. "I hope for everybody that what they felt they didn't bring before, to just bring it on Wednesday."
