Dartmouth led the Tigers (7-6, 4-2 Ivy) early in the game with the score at 3-1 and then again at 4-3, but as the game progressed, the margin tipped increasingly in favor of Princeton.
Lindsay Allard '14 scored the first goal less than two minutes into the game, and Kirsten Goldberg '12 followed suit three minutes later. The teams went on to trade goals, but the Tigers pulled away by notching six of the next eight scores to gain a 7-5 lead by halftime. The Big Green had not faced a halftime deficit against any Ivy League opponent all season.
"We made a lot of uncharacteristic mistakes and had some mental lapses at bad times," defenseman Dana Brisbane '12 said.
Although Courtney Bennett '13 started the second half with a tally that brought the score to within one, the Tigers smothered Dartmouth's comeback by scoring three unanswered goals. Goldberg scored two goals and brought the gap down to two with just over five minutes left in the game, but the Big Green managed only one more before the final buzzer, a goal by Sarah Plumb '12 sandwiched between two more Princeton goals.
"We had some good looks on goal at the end of the game, [but] our shots just didn't fall," Goldberg said.
The Big Green feels confident that it can leverage this loss to its advantage, strengthening the team before its final Ivy League match against Harvard University, according to midfielder Hilary Smith '12.
"It was a disappointing loss, but we're going to take away a lot of good things that will really set us up for success against Harvard," Smith said.
If the women defeat the Crimson (8-6, 4-2 Ivy) on Friday, the team will have a good chance of earning the right to host the Ivy League Tournament at home at Scully-Fahey Field.
"We are really getting into the most exciting part of our season with the Ivy Tournament and the NCAA Tournament just around the corner, so learning from this game will hopefully help us to be even stronger as we enter into those really important games," Plumb said.
Despite the loss to the Tigers, the Big Green can take away some positives from the game. Goldberg led the offensive attack with four goals and six points, and Allard racked up two goals and four shots on net.
Plumb eclipsed the Ivy League record in draw controls during the game. She had five draw controls in the game, bringing her career total to 141. The previous record of 140 was set by Cornell University's Jamiee Reynolds in 2002. Plumb also added a goal and three ground balls.
Smith had four caused turnovers, setting the game high while also matching her career high. She recorded two ground balls and a draw control as well.
Dartmouth outshot the Tigers, 25-23, and scooped up more ground balls, 13-12. The two teams tied in draw controls with 11 each on the game. Big Green goalkeeper Kristen Giovanniello '14 recorded eight saves in the loss while Princeton's Annie Woehling stopped nine shots.
Not accustomed to facing late-game deficits, Dartmouth showcased its resilience as a team at the end of the game, Brisbane said.
"Bright spots from the game were that in the last 10 minutes, we got the ball back multiple times," she said. "They were trying to stall, and we showed a lot of heart in getting the ball back."
Cassie Pyle led the Princeton offense with four goals and Erin McMunn added three more. Erin Slifer and Charlotte Davis each tallied two goals for the Tigers.
Dartmouth will close out its regular season against the Crimson on Friday at 7:30 p.m. The contest will be important not only in terms of deciding home field advantage for the Ivy League Tournament, but also for postseason seeding.
"We have to go out on Friday and play to win so that we can have home field advantage for the Ivy League Tournament," Goldberg said.
