Completed Event: Women's Lacrosse at Cornell on March 28, 2026 , Loss , 6, to, 11
Final
Women's Lacrosse
at Cornell
6
11
A Look Back at 2003
9/28/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse
A Look Back at 2003
For 45 minutes on May 11, 2003, the result could have gone either way.
Perennial powerhouse Maryland held a slim, 6-5 lead over Dartmouth, and with about 15 minutes to go, the Big Green had a free position shot opportunity.
Quite possibly, a goal may have altered the final result.
But the Terrapin goalie made an acrobatic save, and the 10-time national champions went on to a 13-5 victory over the Big Green on a steamy, humid afternoon in Baltimore.
There's no need to feel sorry for the young Big Green, who matured with each match throughout the 2003 season. With 11 freshmen on the roster and only one senior -- starter Whitney Jamison -- Dartmouth got its money's worth with a share of the Ivy League championship and two games' of NCAA tournament experience.
"To take this young team this far really holds a bright future for us," said head coach Amy Patton. "Going into the year would I have said we'd have at least a piece of the Ivy championship and made it to the final eight? I know how hard that is, having done it in the past," she added. "It's tough to do. This group really came on. Each game we got better because the only thing we were lacking was experience."
Dartmouth started the season with a pair of convincing wins over New Hampshire and Massachusetts, and then was slowed by losses to Maryland, 9-2, and James Madison, 6-4. That set up the always-critical Ivy League season that began on March 29.
The Big Green claimed the ninth Ivy title in school history, thanks to solid wins over Yale and Cornell, both by 7-6 scores; a road win at Penn, 9-7; and victories over Columbia, Brown and Harvard. Only a nailbiting 10-9 loss to Princeton kept Dartmouth from the outright championship, creating a three-way tie that also involved Yale.
The League's automatic bid couldn't be resolved in any manner other than pulling a name out of a hat. When the Tigers got the draw, the pressure was on the Big Green in the regular season finale at Duke on Sunday, May 4.
No. 8 Dartmouth came into that game with a 9-4 record and needed to beat the No. 4 Blue Devils to solidify a spot in the NCAA tournament. While freshman goalkeeper Devon Wills made a career-high 16 saves, junior Lana Smith scored three goals and freshman Casey Hazel potted two.
The final result was a 9-7 upset victory by the Big Green and the home field advantage against Boston University for the opening round of the NCAA tournament.
Katieanne Christian paced the attack with a four-goal performance, and Dartmouth used a 9-7 win to punch its ticket to the second round and a date with the Terrapins.
"The mindset going into the Maryland game was that we had nothing to lose," said Smith after the quarter-final game against the Terps. "We played this team in the beginning of the season and hadn't seen good, high-level competition at that point. Going into today's game, we knew what to expect, and for 45 minutes, we executed what we need to do."
With a year under its collective belt, the young Dartmouth squad should be ready for 60 minutes this spring.
Overall Record: 11-5, Ivy League: 6-1
Results (*= Ivy League game)
| | 2003 Scoring Leaders
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Honors
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2003 Ivy League Final Standings
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Players Mentioned
Women's Lacrosse Postgame vs Columbia 4-18-26
Saturday, April 18
Women's Lacrosse Postgame vs Yale 4-4-26
Monday, April 06
Women's Lacrosse Postgame vs UMass - 3.10.26
Tuesday, March 10
Women's Lacrosse Postgame vs Penn - 3.7.2026
Saturday, March 07
