Increasing its winning streak to five straight games, the Dartmouth women's lacrosse team soundly defeated Cornell University on Saturday, 13-7. With the win, the Big Green (8-2, 4-0 Ivy) remains unbeaten in Ivy League games, which bodes well for Dartmouth's matchup against the University of Pennsylvania which also has a perfect conference record next weekend.
Dartmouth exhibited a balanced offensive approach, with three different players recording hat tricks. Co-captain Kat Collins '11 buried four goals, while Hana Bowers '13 and co-captain Greta Meyer '11 both had three goals and one assist.
The Big Green controlled the game beyond just the scoreboard the team outshot Cornell (3-7, 1-4 Ivy), 30-18, and held a 14-8 margin in draw controls. Dartmouth goalkeeper Kristen Giovanniello '14 had seven saves, while Cornell junior goalkeeper Kyla Damback had six.
Despite Dartmouth's overall dominance, the score remained close in the beginning of the first half.
"I think both teams came out fired up to play, which was clear for the first 10 minutes," Meyer said.
When Cornell opened scoring with an unassisted goal from junior Katie Kirk, Meyer responded by setting up Bowers to put away one of her own.
Although a relentless Kirk fought back by assisting junior Jessi Steinberg, Dartmouth broke away with three unanswered goals.
"I think the turning point was when we started to really get the draw consistently," Meyer said. "Because then we started getting so many more looks on attack."
After Courtney Bennett '13 assisted Meyer for a goal, Collins tallied her own to take a 3-2 lead. Shortly after, Kirsten Goldberg '12 made a skillful pass, and Bowers converted.
When Cornell narrowed the gap with one more goal, the Big Green players responded by scoring four goals in five minutes. Meyer opened and closed the run, ending the half by capitalizing on a solid pass from Sarah Plumb '12 with just 12 seconds to play.
During halftime, head coach Amy Patton stressed the importance of leaving the locker room with as much energy as at the beginning of the game.
The team has had trouble generating second-half energy in the past, allowing other teams to catch up on the scoreboard. Meyer said the team's ability to maintain intensity against Cornell was "huge."
After Collins added another Big Green score, Dartmouth and Cornell exchanged free-position goals two for Cornell and one for Dartmouth to make the score 10-5.
With 15:50 left on the clock, Collins further solidified Dartmouth's lead with another goal. Kirk resisted with two goals for the Big Red, but Dartmouth stifled any further push by maintaining possession.
At 5:27, Goldberg scored on a free position. After Dartmouth won the next draw, Sarah Parks '12 lofted a pass to Dana Brisbane '12, who put away her first goal of the season to make the score 13-7.
Dartmouth then worked the ball in its offensive half until the clock ran out.
Despite the solid performance, Meyer said the team will still work to improve in some areas.
"I think the one thing we could improve upon from this game is ground balls," she said. "We're great at causing turnovers, but we could always improve at picking up the ball off the ground."
The Big Green will play Penn (8-2, 4-0 Ivy), one of Dartmouth's strongest rivals, on Saturday in Philadelphia.
Meyer said Dartmouth will focus on maintaining its own style of play, rather than disrupting Penn's game.
"If we play well and do the little things right, we should definitely beat them," she said.
