Dartmouth Women's Lacrosse Wins 2005 Ivy League Title

April 23, 2005

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HANOVER, N.H. -- Sophomore Jen Pittman (New Canaan, Conn.) had a career-best four goals, leading the No. 4 Dartmouth women's lacrosse team to a 12-9 victory over No. 3 Princeton and the 2005 Ivy League championship.

The Big Green strung together a perfect 7-0 Ivy League record, while handing the Tigers (5-1) their first conference loss of the year. Entering today's game, Princeton had won a school-record 16 Ivy League matchups and had a five-game win streak against Dartmouth.

The first 30 minutes of the game didn't decide anything as the score was deadlocked, 6-6. Dartmouth seniors Katieanne Christian (Agawam, Mass.) and Sarah Sanborn (Owings Mills, Md.) gave the Big Green a quick 2-0 lead in the opening 1:26, before Princeton's Lindsey Biles and Kathleen Miller answered for a 2-2 tie.

The Big Green held a 6-4 lead on freshman Kristen Barry's (Duxbury, Mass.) goal with 3:23 to go before Katie Lewis-Lamonica had a pair of free position goals for the 6-6 score.

Pittman stepped up, scoring three of her game-high four after the break. She had an unassisted goal just 26 seconds into the second half, and then potted a free position attempt to make it 8-6 with 5:12 gone.

Barry then sandwiched a pair of goals around one by Princeton's Christine Dobrosky, giving Dartmouth a 10-7 advantage with 13:19 to go.

Lewis-Lamonica got the Tigers back within two less than a minute later, but Christian and Pittman scored four minutes apart for a 12-8 Big Green lead with 5:14 remaining.

Dartmouth outshot Princeton, 25-20, including 15-10 in the second half. In the nets, the Big Green's Devon Wills (Denver, Colo.) made six saves, with five coming in the second half. For Princeton, Sarah Kolodner made four saves in the first 36:38 before giving way to Colleen O'Boyle, who made one in the final 23:22.

One of the keys to the game was Dartmouth's defense, which was credited with 17 caused turnovers while holding Princeton's leading scorer, Biles, to two goals.

"Understanding our defense starts with our attackers," said senior co-captain Erin Osborn (Holyoke, Mass.). "I think that's one of the strongest things about our team is our re-defending. We just have so much heart. And every time we turnover the ball, no one puts their heads down. Every single person on this team just goes after it.

"I think we really played together and played connected today, and that was the difference," added Osborn. "And we believed the entire time."

The Ivy title was the first for Dartmouth since 2003 when the Big Green shared the crown with Princeton and Yale. It was the 10th in school history for Dartmouth and the Big Green's first outright championship since 2000.

Dartmouth earned the NCAA automatic bid and also continued its school-record 13-game win streak.

"This is definitely one of the most special teams I have ever coached," said Dartmouth head coach Amy Patton. "The seniors deserved this. They have been the heart and soul of this team, and I'm so proud of the entire team, but especially the seniors.

Christian, Sanborn, Osborn and classmate Leah Skypeck (Longmeadow, Mass.) round out the senior class who still has some work to do with three more regular season games, including road trips to No. 6 Boston University (April 27) and No. 2 Duke (May 8). The NCAA pairings will be announced Sunday, May 8.

SCORE BY PERIOD 1 2 Tot

Princeton (10-3, 5-1 Ivy) 6 3 - 9

Dartmouth (13-0, 7-0 Ivy) 6 6 - 12

Princeton SCORING: GOALS: Lewis-Lamonica,Katie 3; Biles, Lindsey 2;

Dobrosky, Christine 2; Miller, Kathleen 1; Amo, Ashley 1.

ASSISTS: Goldberg, Ingrid 1; Miller, Kathleen 1; Pillion, Elizabeth 1.

Dartmouth SCORING: GOALS: Pittman, Jen 4; Christian, Katieanne 3;

Barry, Kristen 3;

Douthett, Whitney 1; Sanborn, Sarah 1.

ASSISTS: Douthett, Whitney 2; Szefi, Sarah 1; Zimmer, Kristen 1.

Schedules