Dartmouth Women's Lacrosse Season Ends in NCAA Semifinal Loss

Friday, May 20

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (Navy)

TBA

Dartmouth College

Northwestern

Dartmouth Women's Lacrosse Season Ends in NCAA Semifinal Loss

5/19/2005 8:00:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse

By: Dartmouth

May 20, 2005

Box Score | Photo Gallery

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The winningest season in Dartmouth women's lacrosse history ended Friday after an 8-4 loss to Northwestern in the NCAA semifinals at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium at the U.S. Naval Academy.

Dartmouth, the tournament's fourth seed, finished the season 16-3. No. 1 Northwestern improved to 20-0 and will take on the winner of the Duke-Virginia semifinal in Sunday's national championship game.

It was Dartmouth's third NCAA semifinal appearance, and its first since 1998. The Big Green is now 7-10 all time in the NCAA tournament, and the loss denied head coach Amy Patton her 150th career win.

"This is probably one of the greatest teams I've ever coached at Dartmouth," Patton said. "I'm extremely proud of these players. They worked extremely hard. Northwestern did a good job of limiting us in shots. The teams that did that seemed to be the ones that beat us this year. Our defense really stepped it up in the second half, but it was a little too late."

On a sloppy playing surface following a day of rainy weather, Northwestern scored the game's first four goals, but Dartmouth averted further damage due to the stellar play of junior goalie Devon Wills (Denver, Colo.).

Wills stopped six shots in the half and nine for the game as the Big Green became just the third team this season to hold Northwestern to single digits in goals.

After weathering the Wildcat storm, the Big Green broke on the board when sophomore Sarah Szefi (Pittsburgh, Pa.) scored three seconds before intermission. Sophomore Whitney Douthett (Newtown, Pa.) assisted.

Dartmouth trailed only 4-1 at halftime despite Northwestern holding a 13-4 edge in shots and a 5-1 advantage in draws.

Northwestern scored 43 seconds into the second half to forge a 5-1 lead, but senior Katieanne Christian (Agawam, Mass.) scored off Douthett's second assist of the night two minutes later.

However, the Wildcats iced the game with one goal at 24:31 and another at 12:05. Junior Kristen Zimmer (Alexandria, Va.) scored off a helper from sophomore Margo Duke (Englewood, Colo.) at 8:36, and Christian followed Northwestern's final goal with a tally with 58 seconds remaining.

For the game, Northwestern held a 22-11 edge in shots. The Big Green was called for 31 fouls while the Wildcats were penalized 15 times.

Christian, one of five finalists for the Tewaaraton Trophy, scored twice in her final collegiate game to reach the 70-point mark on the season.

Ashley Gersuk made three stops for the Wildcats while Sarah Albrecht recorded three goals and an assist.

SCORE BY PERIOD 1 2 Tot
Dartmouth 1 3 - 4
Northwestern 4 4 - 8

Dartmouth Scoring
GOALS: Christian 2, Szefi, Zimmer
ASSISTS: Douthett 2, Duke

Northwestern Scoring
GOALS: Albrecht 3, Kjellman 2, Munday 2, Finch
ASSISTS: Albrecht