#17 Women's Lacrosse Gets Past UMass, 9-8

Thursday, March 6

Hanover, N.H.

2:00 p.m.

Dartmouth College

UMASS

Bulldogs Nip Big Green in Women?s Lacrosse Ivy Opener

3/6/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse

By: Dartmouth

Boxscore

Hanover, N.H. - With a string of upsets around the country in women's lacrosse this week, #17 Dartmouth (3-1) avoided its own with a 9-8 victory over UMass (1-3) today on Memorial Field.

Rookie Kathleen Wallace (Shoreham, N.Y.) provided the game-winning goal for Dartmouth with five minutes left on the clock when she faked out a pair of UMass defenders and fired a rocket past Colleen Speth. It was the third-straight goal for the Big Green, who climbed out of an 8-6 hole to take the win.

"I give a ton of credit to UMass," said Head Coach Amy Patton. "They came in with an excellent game plan and executed it well. They put us on our heels and frustrated us. In the second half our defense won the game."

The Minutewomen came out gunning, scoring back-to-back goals from Jeannette Villapiano and Kaytlin McCormick to go up 2-0 at 22:33. Then Katherine Chiusano (Medford, Mass.) got things going for the Big Green when she fed a pass to Eliza Bennett (Darien, Conn.) for Dartmouth's first goal at 20:20. Chiusano then scored a goal of her own five minutes later to tie things up.

The game was on repeat for the last 13 minutes of the first half, with UMass scoring twice and Dartmouth getting a pair of goals from Chiusano and Cate Goytisolo (Cockeysville, Md.) to make it 4-4 at halftime.

McCormick got UMass on the board first when she converted a free-position attempt, but Bennett answered with one of her own to knot it at 5-5. The Minutewomen struck back with two goals just 18 seconds apart to build a 7-5 lead at 21:21 with Melynda Zwick adding a goal and an assist in that span.

Dartmouth regrouped and Kristen Barry (Duxbury, Mass.) took matters into her own hands, scoring a great goal from the side angle to pull the Green within one at 17:48. As it had all day, UMass responded with a good free position shot by Stephanie Hopkins at 17:14 to make it 8-6.

The Big Green got down to business when it mattered most, however. Bennett responded to the final UMass goal on a free-position at 16:06, giving her team a shot in the arm.

After a back-and-forth 10 minutes, Chiusano lifted up her team as she had all game, tying the contest with 5:48 left on the clock off a feed from Greta Meyer (Denver, Colo.). Wallace hammered home her game-winner just 48 seconds later, but the defense had 5:00 left on the clock to hold off the Minutewomen.

The Big Green's defense had its work cut out for it, but responded with a great defensive stand, highlighted by Julie Wadland's (Andover, Mass.) point blank save against Vicki Farrell's shot with just 3:30 on the clock.

Dartmouth got the ball back into its offensive end but turned it over with 1:16 remaining in the game. UMass cleared it and took a timeout with 47 seconds left to plan its final strike. The Big Green's defense spoiled the Minutewomen's plays and freshman Shannie MacKenzie (Riverside, Conn.) forced a UMass turnover with seven seconds left, allowing Dartmouth to run out the clock.

Bennett and Chiusano each had three goals to pace Dartmouth offensively, while MacKenzie picked up three ground balls and two caused turnovers. Wadland split time with Chelsea Kirk in goal and made two saves while Speth had six saves to keep UMass alive.

"I was really impressed with Katherine Chiusano she took control of the attack and she was a calming presence on the attack when they tried to frustrate us," noted Patton. "We can only learn from a game like this."

Dartmouth puts its early season lessons to the test on March 15 when it heads to Maryland.