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The Dartmouth
March 29, 2024 | Latest Issue
The Dartmouth

Dartmouth Women's Lax Wins Ivies: Big Green beats Cornell, Penn en route to title

"We did something [this weekend] that no other Dartmouth team has accomplished, and right now the sky is the limit," captain Sarah Plumb '12 said.

Coming off a semifinal win over Cornell University on Friday, No. 2 seed Dartmouth took on the No. 1 seed Quakers in the tournament final on Sunday. Penn started the scoring with a quick goal four minutes into the game. Dartmouth gained possession over the next several minutes and had many good chances, but the Big Green could not find the back of the net.

While keeping Dartmouth scoreless, Penn took advantage on offense, scoring twice more and taking a 3-0 lead by the 15-minute mark of the first half. After a Dartmouth timeout, the Big Green came back onto the field with refreshed energy, but the team still couldn't translate the opportunities into results. Finally at the 1:40 mark, a Penn turnover left Kirsten Goldberg '12 in front of a completely open goal. Goldberg put the Big Green on the scoreboard for the first time, reducing the deficit to 3-1 going into halftime.

"Even though we were down by two at the half, we knew as a team that we could play much better than we had been playing, and being able to really execute our game plan in the second half was awesome," Plumb said.

After a scoreless opening to the second half, the Big Green began to pick up momentum, moving the ball effectively on offense and making Penn's defense work to keep up. Lindsey Allard '14 broke open a Dartmouth scoring spree on a free position goal with 23 minutes left in the game. Dartmouth scored three more unanswered goals in the next few minutes to make the score 5-3.

"We were down by three for the majority of the first half, and fought back with a vengeance and a will to win," Goldberg said. "We altered our attacking game plan in the second half, and Penn was not prepared."

With 20 minutes left, Goldberg scored her second goal in the game from her left-hand side, Plumb scored a tally on a free position goal and Hana Bowers '13 found the opening twice in a row, taking advantage of fluid ball movement by her teammates.

"[Head coach] Amy [Patton] had us in a play we haven't run for a while, and we really worked it, staying patient and waiting for an easy look at net," defenseman Dana Brisbane '12 said. "It really frustrated the Penn defense, which fueled us."

After going up 6-3, Dartmouth held off Penn until there were only 42 seconds left in the second half, when the Quakers finally managed to sneak one past Big Green goaltender Kristen Giovanniello '14 to make the score 6-4. Plumb won the ensuing draw control, helping Dartmouth hold off Penn until the clock ran out. Between Penn's third and fourth goals of the game, Dartmouth's defense shut out the Quakers offense for nearly 45 minutes.

"Our defense again played an incredible game and kept the Penn attack to only four goals," Brisbane said. "They gave the attack a chance to hold onto our lead."

Going into the final, Penn averaged 11 goals scored per game. Dartmouth outshot Penn in the game, 15-12, while the Quakers led in ground balls, 17-16. Giovanniello stopped eight shots, while Penn goalkeeper Emily Leitner recorded nine saves.

In the semifinal match against No. 3 Cornell the day before, Dartmouth was involved in a game that came down to the wire, with the Big Green narrowly winning by a score of 9-8. With the temperature hovering in the low 80s at the start of the game, the Big Green needed every bit of its energy to fend off a furious Cornell comeback in the final minutes of the game. The Big Green defense, anchored by second team All-Ivy goalkeeper Giovanniello, prevented the tying goal with 30 seconds left.

"Even though we had a couple of stretches where we didn't play as well as we would have liked, I think that as a team we really banded together to pull out a win despite the heat and Cornell's attempt at a comeback," Plumb said.

The beginning of the game was marked by a relentless Dartmouth attack. The Big Green opened the game with four consecutive goals, eventually mounting a 6-1 lead over the Big Red.

"We really came out hard in the first half, and I think that really set us up to come out with a win in the end," Plumb said.

Dartmouth's four goals were scored within a three-minute period by four different players. Courtney Bennett '13 started off the streak, followed by tallies from Plumb, Goldberg and Allard. Although Cornell managed to find the back of the net a few minutes later, Bowers and Plumb responded with goals of their own.

Starting in the middle of the first half, Cornell had a four-goal run that ran into the beginning of the second half. With 26:20 left in the game, Cornell narrowed the deficit to one goal at 6-5.

The Dartmouth offense went on a crucial 3-0 run to re-establish a larger cushion, with tallies from Bowers, Plumb and Sarah Parks '12. All of the insurance goals proved necessary, as the three-goal burst marked the last time Dartmouth would score for the game.

After two Big Red goals that put the score at 9-7, Dartmouth won possession and held the ball on its offensive end. A missed shot, however, gave Cornell the ball, an opportunity that Cornell's Caroline Salisbury used to bring the score within one.

The Big Green took possession again following the goal, but Cornell won back the ball with 30 seconds left on the clock. The Big Red brought the ball to its offensive end, but the Dartmouth defense padlocked the goal, and Cornell was unable to get a shot off in the remaining seconds.

Plumb amassed a tournament record with six draw controls. Giovanniello saved eight shots in the game.

The Big Green will take on Syracuse University in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on May 13 at 4 p.m. in Stony Brook, N.Y.