Co-captain Jenna Newgard '09 scored five goals for the Big Green in the victory and was named player of the game. Co-captain Catey Pease '09, Aoife Duffy '11 and Hayley Carstensen '12 provided the rest of the team's goals. The Big Green took 19 shots to the Knights' five in the match.
Pease said that the team drew on strategies they had focused on in practice to earn the victory.
"Our defense shut their offense down, and our counterattacks were really good," she said. "We worked together better than we had in other games, and it was really good to see the whole team coming together."
Although the team finished the tournament run with a decisive victory, the Big Green was overpowered by the No. 7 University of Utah in the first round.
The Utes took control of play from the game's outset, scoring the match's first three goals. Although Duffy struck just before the half to score the Big Green's first goal, Utah immediately retaliated, bringing the score to 4-1.
Pease opened up the second half with a pair of back-to-back goals, but her efforts were not enough to stop the Utes' strong offense. Carstensen contributed a late-game goal, bringing the final score to 8-4.
Newgard explained that Utah would have gone into the tournament as the No. 4 seed, but missed a divisional tournament and was instead ranked in the 10th slot.
"I'm not making excuses -- we didn't play our best game," she said. "But we played a team that was much better than they were ranked, so we were automatically bumped from the top eight."
The Big Green's second match against the University of Texas saw much tighter competition, as a last-minute goal by Pease brought the Big Green just one goal short of the win.
The Longhorns opened up the scoring with two goals in the first period, and, though Dartmouth kept pace throughout the match, the Big Green was never able to attain a lead.
A goal from Nicki Williamson '10 near the end of the third period brought the game to a 5-5 tie. This stalemate did not last long, however, as Texas retaliated to notch a quick goal, and then scored again in the last quarter.
With less than three minutes left to play, Pease scored to cut the Longhorn's lead to one. Dartmouth, however, was unable to fully recover, falling by a final score of 7-6.
Dartmouth had 11 ejections in the match, compared to only four for the Texas squad. Three of the Longhorns' goals came on Big Green fouls.
Newgard said that the Big Green was "pretty happy" with their finish, noting that many of the teams at the tournament, such as the squad from California Polytechnic State University, consisted of women who have years of experience with the sport.
Pease said that the team's league play did not prepare the Big Green for the strong defense they faced from tournament competitors Utah and Texas.
"They both had pretty good defensive lines, and we were trying to get our offense going," she said. "They had strong lineups, and big teams, too. We were one of the smallest teams there."
Big Green goalie Denise Hasson '09 was a force between the pipes throughout Dartmouth's campaign this weekend. Hasson had 13 saves over the course of the tournament, blocking six shots in the Texas game alone.
After strong performances in league tournaments this winter, the Big Green entered their regional championship in April with the top seed. The team defeated Boston University, new to the league, by one point in the championship game to earn a ticket to the national tournament. This was the Big Green's first trip to nationals since 2007, although the team came within one point of winning the regional championship last year.
Newgard said that great coaching by Nick Riolo Tu'09 and Kelly Parkes, a former Australian Olympic water polo player, were crucial to the Big Green's success this season.
"Out of the four years I've played at Dartmouth, this is by far the best team we've ever had," she said. "In the past, there have been superstars, but we really came together this year. It was an honor to go and play against such amazing teams."
