Meyer soon got to work restoring the Big Green's fortunes, however, starting in midfield as a freshman and earning Second Team All-Ivy honors.
"Our freshman year was unique," Meyer said. "From the beginning, everyone in our class played, which doesn't normally happen."
Meyer said the team was inexperienced her freshman year, recalling a 2008 game against Syrcause University in which the team lost badly, 18-5, in an early-season road match-up.
"I think seven or eight of the people on the field were freshmen or sophomores," she said "And we were running around like chicken with our heads cut off."
Now at the end of the 2011 season, Meyer has helped lead an impressive four-year turnaround of the program, culminating in an NCAA tournament bid and a share of the Ivy League regular-season title. Meyer was named All-Ivy for all four seasons.
A Colorado native, Meyer brought an impressive resume to Dartmouth. She picked up lacrosse in fourth grade and continued playing through high school, earning All-State honors and being named to the Under Armour All-American team her senior year.
Meyer came to Dartmouth after choosing the College over Princeton University.
"[The team] was really close, and everyone was so nice and so amped about the school and the program," she said.
Midfielder Dana Brisbane '12 said that Meyer's playing style is consistent and collected on the field, adding that Meyer has an accurate shot and that her field vision makes her adept at assisting.
"She definitely has a calming presence, and it's comforting to know that she has the ball," she said.
By last season, two years of team rebuilding had begun to pay off.
Head coach Amy Patton also moved Meyer from midfield to low attack, which Meyer said was a substantial change.
"As a midfielder, your job is just to run and get the ball down the field," she said. "But when I became a low attacker, I had two weeks to learn all the plays inside out and direct the whole attack."
Meyer embraced the position change, which she said better complemented her playing style. She earned First Team All-Ivy at the end of the season, and was nominated for the Tewaaraton Award, which recognizes the best player in the nation. She was also named a co-captain for her senior year, which she called her "proudest moment."
"Junior year was probably my best year," Meyer said.
Meyer returned to her post as low attacker in 2011, and the team had its most successful season since before she arrived at Dartmouth. Not only did the Big Green win the League title and reach the NCAA tournament, but it knocked off defending national champion University of Maryland.
"Most of the time they're on a completely different level of play, so it just showed how good we had become," she said. "Everybody had the feeling that this year was our year."
Meyer said she is proud of the team's accomplishments, calling the Big Green "an incredible program."
"Despite a couple not-so-great seasons, my junior and senior years we did so well and brought the reputation of Dartmouth women's lacrosse back to where we think it should be," she said.
