Completed Event: Women's Lacrosse at Cornell on March 28, 2026 , Loss , 6, to, 11
Final
Women's Lacrosse
at Cornell
6
11
Dartmouth Women's Lacrosse Weekly
4/23/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse
HANOVER, N.H. ? It figured to be, coach Amy Patton said, the toughest week of the season for the Dartmouth lacrosse team.
Two Ivy League games. Both on the road. One of the always-problematic middle-of-the-week variety. One against the No. 2 team in the nation, which would bring an undefeated record into the week.
Tough week? You bet.
A good week? Best of the season so far the way it turned out.
Kristen Barry got things started for the Big Green with four goals on just five shots in an 11-7 win over Harvard on Wednesday in Cambridge. Then it was freshman Kat Collins pouring in five goals and Julie Wadland making 11 saves in a 13-12 thriller against Princeton that got Dartmouth back over the .500 mark at 7-6.
“I've been saying all year that this team is athletic,” Patton said a couple of days after the win over the archrival Tigers. “What's showing is we are getting better, which a young team should with time. You look at our losses and we are talking about one-goal games for the most part as far as the Ivy is concerned. One or two-goal games.
“At the beginning of the year Maryland and Syracuse easily handled us, no question. But we've been in the rest of them that we've lost. It was just that we hadn't been able to get over that hump, which we finally did against Princeton. It gives the kids some confidence because they finally got to experience pulling one out.”
Patton had a hint that her young team ? she is using the “Y” word less and less when she talks about the Big Green ? was coming of age came against Harvard.
The Crimson hasn't claimed the Ivy League title since 1993 ? when it capped a streak of winning or sharing the crown 12 times in 13 years ? but the former powerhouse is showing signs of awakening under Lisa Miller, who moved over this year from Syracuse.
“I have a ton of respect for Harvard because Lisa Miller is a great coach,” said Patton. “She's doing some really good things with those kids. She's smart and has them playing a zone defensively, which you rarely face. It takes a lot to prepare for that. Kids can have some confidence issues against a zone. We had to prepare for that for two days, and still we struggled with it a little at first.”
At halftime of the Harvard game, the score was tied, 4-4, and the Crimson had a 16-6 advantage in shots. But Patton was confident for a simple reason: Her team was confident.
“The look in the kids' eyes told me they knew they were going to win,” she said. “To me that was a turning point.”
Not of that game, she would add. Of the season.
“It's not that there haven't been kids on the team who believed we were going to win at halftime of the other games,” Patton said, “but this time it was the entire team. It was a different feeling.”
That feeling proved to be right as the Big Green claimed 10-of-11 draws, had a 13-8 shot advantage and rode three second-half goals by Kristen Barry to a key victory.
“In the second half we started playing much better and KB got some really sneaky goals,” Patton said. “She kind of took 'em by surprise a little bit. She mixed it up, which is what you kind of have to do against a zone.
“I thought that was probably KB's best game of the year in the sense that she didn't let herself get frustrated. The young kids could see she was not rattled and that she believed we were going to be fine. She kept telling them that.”
Dartmouth carried the momentum into the annual showdown with Princeton, which was smarting from a loss to Penn earlier in the week and no doubt eager to take its frustration out on the Big Green.
Knowing her young team ? there's that adjective again ? might have a case of nerves against the Tigers, Patton unleashed a surprise the day before the game.
“The season has been pretty intense and hard,” she explained. “So I sent (assistant coaches Sarah Martin and Devon Wills) out to get some big old waterguns to get them at the end. It was to kind of show them that, ?Hey guys, we can have some fun here, too.' It was 80 degrees and I think they enjoyed getting super-soaked.
“I just kept saying, ?You guys have to play loose but intense tomorrow.' We wanted to show them we had an intense practice but we can have fun, too.”
And fun they had.
Kat Collins had two goals and an assist as the Big Green vaulted out to a 5-0 lead by the midway point of the first half. Patton has been in enough Princeton-Dartmouth contests to know ? and warn her team ? that the Tigers would roar back and they did, knotting the score at 7-7 by the half.
Even after an unassisted Eliza Bennett tally gave Dartmouth a 13-9 lead with 6:07 remaining the Tigers weren't through. Three goals in a two-minute span sliced the Big Green's lead to 13-12 with 3:15 still to play.
When Princeton appeared to have tied the game on an Ashley Amo goal with 1:20 left, Dartmouth's eagle-eyed veteran coach called for a stick check that disallowed the marker.
“It's hard to tell these days with kids' pockets because the technology has changed so much,” the coach said. “(Amo) was down at our end in front of the bench at one point and I thought it looked like it might be a little deep, but I wasn't going to check at that point. You have the one freebie so why not check it?
“People have stick checked us in the past over the years and I've stick checked people in the past. It's the rule. Regardless of how it turned out, I had a lot of confidence we were going to win the game.”
Which they did, and not because of a stick check.
“No matter what, regardless of either team's record, the Dartmouth-Princeton game is going to be a rivalry,” Patton said. “There's a great history there and we relayed that to the kids. That this game isn't just about this year.
“We talked to them about playing emotional as a team. Getting excited every time we did one thing well. For the whole defense to be excited versus just two or three people. When the attack did something well, same thing. We wanted to make sure everyone was involved every time we won a ground ball or we won a draw or won any kind of little battle out there. That was how we were going to win and it was how we won.”
This Week In Dartmouth Lacrosse
Now back in the national rankings at No. 19, the Big Green (7-6 overall, 3-4 Ivy League) plays host to No. 8 Boston University (13-2) on Wednesday and to Stanford (8-8) Sunday.
The regular season will wrap up a week later with a visit from No. 12 Duke.
While a case can be stated that Dartmouth is making a late run at a possible NCAA bid, Patton's focus is still one game at a time.
“We're not going to treat the next three games any differently than we ever do,” she said. “After Princeton, we got home on the bus and I immediately said to them, 'Guys, BU Wednesday. Think about this one tonight, but tomorrow is Sunday and you have to start thinking about BU.'
“A reporter asked me if I was feeling a lot of pressure and I said no. Why should we? We're not looking at it like we have to win these games. We are looking at it like these are three games against tough opponents and let's see what we can do.
“If we can just keep getting better the way we have been, and focusing on how the little things can make a big difference ? which we've been telling them all year ? it will all work out. I firmly believe we can play with all three teams. It's a matter of executing at the right times, which is what has kind of stung us a bit.”
Collins, Wadland Honored
Freshman Kat Collins was named the womenslax.com national rookie of the week after posting seven goals and an assist in Dartmouth's 2-0 week, including her 5-1?6 showing against Princeton. Sophomore netminder Julie Wadland was named to the womenslax.com honor roll after posting 10 and 11 saves in the two games.
Two Ivy League games. Both on the road. One of the always-problematic middle-of-the-week variety. One against the No. 2 team in the nation, which would bring an undefeated record into the week.
Tough week? You bet.
A good week? Best of the season so far the way it turned out.
Kristen Barry got things started for the Big Green with four goals on just five shots in an 11-7 win over Harvard on Wednesday in Cambridge. Then it was freshman Kat Collins pouring in five goals and Julie Wadland making 11 saves in a 13-12 thriller against Princeton that got Dartmouth back over the .500 mark at 7-6.
“I've been saying all year that this team is athletic,” Patton said a couple of days after the win over the archrival Tigers. “What's showing is we are getting better, which a young team should with time. You look at our losses and we are talking about one-goal games for the most part as far as the Ivy is concerned. One or two-goal games.
“At the beginning of the year Maryland and Syracuse easily handled us, no question. But we've been in the rest of them that we've lost. It was just that we hadn't been able to get over that hump, which we finally did against Princeton. It gives the kids some confidence because they finally got to experience pulling one out.”
Patton had a hint that her young team ? she is using the “Y” word less and less when she talks about the Big Green ? was coming of age came against Harvard.
The Crimson hasn't claimed the Ivy League title since 1993 ? when it capped a streak of winning or sharing the crown 12 times in 13 years ? but the former powerhouse is showing signs of awakening under Lisa Miller, who moved over this year from Syracuse.
“I have a ton of respect for Harvard because Lisa Miller is a great coach,” said Patton. “She's doing some really good things with those kids. She's smart and has them playing a zone defensively, which you rarely face. It takes a lot to prepare for that. Kids can have some confidence issues against a zone. We had to prepare for that for two days, and still we struggled with it a little at first.”
At halftime of the Harvard game, the score was tied, 4-4, and the Crimson had a 16-6 advantage in shots. But Patton was confident for a simple reason: Her team was confident.
“The look in the kids' eyes told me they knew they were going to win,” she said. “To me that was a turning point.”
Not of that game, she would add. Of the season.
“It's not that there haven't been kids on the team who believed we were going to win at halftime of the other games,” Patton said, “but this time it was the entire team. It was a different feeling.”
That feeling proved to be right as the Big Green claimed 10-of-11 draws, had a 13-8 shot advantage and rode three second-half goals by Kristen Barry to a key victory.
“In the second half we started playing much better and KB got some really sneaky goals,” Patton said. “She kind of took 'em by surprise a little bit. She mixed it up, which is what you kind of have to do against a zone.
“I thought that was probably KB's best game of the year in the sense that she didn't let herself get frustrated. The young kids could see she was not rattled and that she believed we were going to be fine. She kept telling them that.”
Dartmouth carried the momentum into the annual showdown with Princeton, which was smarting from a loss to Penn earlier in the week and no doubt eager to take its frustration out on the Big Green.
Knowing her young team ? there's that adjective again ? might have a case of nerves against the Tigers, Patton unleashed a surprise the day before the game.
“The season has been pretty intense and hard,” she explained. “So I sent (assistant coaches Sarah Martin and Devon Wills) out to get some big old waterguns to get them at the end. It was to kind of show them that, ?Hey guys, we can have some fun here, too.' It was 80 degrees and I think they enjoyed getting super-soaked.
“I just kept saying, ?You guys have to play loose but intense tomorrow.' We wanted to show them we had an intense practice but we can have fun, too.”
And fun they had.
Kat Collins had two goals and an assist as the Big Green vaulted out to a 5-0 lead by the midway point of the first half. Patton has been in enough Princeton-Dartmouth contests to know ? and warn her team ? that the Tigers would roar back and they did, knotting the score at 7-7 by the half.
Even after an unassisted Eliza Bennett tally gave Dartmouth a 13-9 lead with 6:07 remaining the Tigers weren't through. Three goals in a two-minute span sliced the Big Green's lead to 13-12 with 3:15 still to play.
When Princeton appeared to have tied the game on an Ashley Amo goal with 1:20 left, Dartmouth's eagle-eyed veteran coach called for a stick check that disallowed the marker.
“It's hard to tell these days with kids' pockets because the technology has changed so much,” the coach said. “(Amo) was down at our end in front of the bench at one point and I thought it looked like it might be a little deep, but I wasn't going to check at that point. You have the one freebie so why not check it?
“People have stick checked us in the past over the years and I've stick checked people in the past. It's the rule. Regardless of how it turned out, I had a lot of confidence we were going to win the game.”
Which they did, and not because of a stick check.
“No matter what, regardless of either team's record, the Dartmouth-Princeton game is going to be a rivalry,” Patton said. “There's a great history there and we relayed that to the kids. That this game isn't just about this year.
“We talked to them about playing emotional as a team. Getting excited every time we did one thing well. For the whole defense to be excited versus just two or three people. When the attack did something well, same thing. We wanted to make sure everyone was involved every time we won a ground ball or we won a draw or won any kind of little battle out there. That was how we were going to win and it was how we won.”
This Week In Dartmouth Lacrosse
Now back in the national rankings at No. 19, the Big Green (7-6 overall, 3-4 Ivy League) plays host to No. 8 Boston University (13-2) on Wednesday and to Stanford (8-8) Sunday.
The regular season will wrap up a week later with a visit from No. 12 Duke.
While a case can be stated that Dartmouth is making a late run at a possible NCAA bid, Patton's focus is still one game at a time.
“We're not going to treat the next three games any differently than we ever do,” she said. “After Princeton, we got home on the bus and I immediately said to them, 'Guys, BU Wednesday. Think about this one tonight, but tomorrow is Sunday and you have to start thinking about BU.'
“A reporter asked me if I was feeling a lot of pressure and I said no. Why should we? We're not looking at it like we have to win these games. We are looking at it like these are three games against tough opponents and let's see what we can do.
“If we can just keep getting better the way we have been, and focusing on how the little things can make a big difference ? which we've been telling them all year ? it will all work out. I firmly believe we can play with all three teams. It's a matter of executing at the right times, which is what has kind of stung us a bit.”
Collins, Wadland Honored
Freshman Kat Collins was named the womenslax.com national rookie of the week after posting seven goals and an assist in Dartmouth's 2-0 week, including her 5-1?6 showing against Princeton. Sophomore netminder Julie Wadland was named to the womenslax.com honor roll after posting 10 and 11 saves in the two games.
Players Mentioned
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/ Women's Lacrosse
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GK
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