Bulldogs Nip Big Green in Women's Lacrosse Ivy Opener

Saturday, March 22

Hanover, N.H.

12:00 p.m.

Dartmouth College

YALE

Bulldogs Nip Big Green in Women's Lacrosse Ivy Opener

3/22/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse

By: Dartmouth

Boxscore

Hanover, N.H. ? The 17th ranked Dartmouth women's lacrosse team dropped a heartbreaking 9-8 overtime loss to #14 Yale this afternoon in its first Ivy League game of the season.

Meredith Callahan scored with a minute left in the first overtime period to put Yale (5-3, 1-1 Ivy) ahead for good, dropping Dartmouth to 3-3 (0-1 Ivy) on the season.

Yale sent an early message when Lauren Taylor raced in for her team's first goal of the game just 36 seconds after the game's opening whistle. The Big Green had its own ideas however, storming back to score three unanswered goals in the next six minutes to go up 3-1 at 23:43. Rookie Greta Meyer (Denver, Colo.) struck first off a feed from Cate Goytisolo (Cockeysville, Md.) at 29:02. Kristen Barry (Duxbury, Mass.) scored an unassisted gem at 27:50 before Meyer found Colleen Olsen (Avon, Conn.) in front of the goal four minutes later.

Yale's Kat Peetz responded with a tally at 21:59 before the Big Green converted back-to-back free position attempts by Barry and rookie Kat Collins (Darien, Conn.) to go up 5-2. The Bulldogs had an answer for the Big Green run, scoring three goals in a seven minute stretch with two coming from Jessica Sturgill to knot it at 5-5 with seven minutes left in the first.

Dartmouth called timeout to regroup and maintained possession for the balance of the half but could not find the back of the net and the teams went into the half tied up at 5-5.

Both teams came out blazing in the second half. It was the Big Green's turn to score the quick goal, as Barry won the draw and got the ball up to Olsen, who found a streaking Meyer at 29:39 for the 6-5 Dartmouth lead. Yale answered back just 40 seconds later when Peetz converted a free-position to tie it up.

After the early start, it took another 12 minutes for the third goal of the half. Dartmouth finally broke through after a series of fouls and missed shots, when Meyer came up with the ball after a scramble behind the goal. She quickly fed it to sophomore Eliza Bennett (Darien, Conn.) who scored with a close-range rocket to make it 7-6 at 16:59.

Yale came racing down the field off the next draw, but sophomore goalkeeper Julie Wadland (Andover, Mass.) made a big save to regain possession for Dartmouth. It was Meyer again at the other end, getting through traffic to get the ball to Barry, who spun off her defender and scored to make it 8-6, Dartmouth at 14:24.

Yale came up with two goals in the next six minutes to tie the score. Jenn Warden had an unassisted tally at 10:45 before Linden Ellis made a nice move off an assist from Callahan behind the cage to tie it at 8-8 with 8:08 left in the game.

The Bulldogs had control of the ball in the last three minutes of regulation but Dartmouth made a big defensive stand capped by a groundball by Wadland. The Big Green charged down the field and called timeout to set up a play with 23 seconds left. The Bulldogs buckled down and got a stop, however, sending the game into overtime.

After trading possession early in the first overtime, Yale got the ball in Dartmouth's defensive end and held onto it. With just over a minute on the clock, Callaham had her shot blocked but she scooped up the rebound and scored to give the Bulldogs a 9-8 lead heading into the second half of overtime. Despite a series of loose ball scrambles, neither team got a shot on goal in the second 3:00 overtime segment and Yale held on for the win.

Barry finished with three goals for Dartmouth while Meyer also had a solid outing, scoring five points on two goals and three assists.

Wadland finished with eight saves on the day while Yale's Ellen Cameron made 10 stops including eight in the second half. Dartmouth held a slight 27-25 shot advantage, but the Big Green converted on just 2-of-11 free position attempts in the game. The squads combined for 49 fouls in the hotly contested game.

The Big Green will be back at it right away, hosting Columbia tomorrow at 2:00 p.m.