Women's Lax Heads to Brown for Saturday Ivy Tilt

"Big Green Puts 'D' Back in Dartmouth" - LaxMazagine.com Feature

The ninth-ranked Dartmouth women's lacrosse team heads out of town for its first Ivy League road game of the season at Brown this Saturday at noon.

Dartmouth vs. Brown Complete Game Notes (PDF)

Game 8: #9 Dartmouth (6-1, 2-0 Ivy) at Brown (4-3, 1-2 Ivy)
Date: Saturday, April 3, 2010 • 12:00 PM
Location: Providence, R.I. • Stevenson Field
Multimedia: Livestats • Radio (Free) • Live Video ($)

Dartmouth - Brown Series: Dartmouth leads, 25-11-1
Last Meeting: 3/28/09 • Hanover, N.H.
Result: Dartmouth 16 - Brown 1
Streak: Dartmouth +1
Dartmouth has been near perfect in the series since 1998, winning all but one game (11 of 12) in that stretch. More than half of Brown's wins in the series came with six-straight in the first six years of play. The Big Green nearly shut out the Bears last spring in Hanover with a commanding 16-1 win.

FIVE MINUTES WITH COACH PATTON
Dartmouth has enjoyed balanced all over the field this season. Dartmouth's attack, which tallies an Ivy League best 14.33 points per game, has seven players amassing more than 12 points to date and 13 total with a point or an assist. In the win over Yale, a 12-goal effort, eight different players contributed a point.

"I've always tried to instill attacking systems where all 7 attackers are important and involved," said head coach Amy Patton. "We had eight kids score some kind of point in that Yale game which makes me really proud and on the flip side we have seven or eight kids a game getting caused turnovers. That's what you're always striving for as a coach - balance. From top to bottom everyone we put on the field brings a strength and is playing to it."

Of those six leading scorers for the Big Green, four come from the sophomore class, with all seven members getting significant playing time this season. While Dartmouth has five seniors on the roster, just two are regular starters.

"We're playing our entire sophomore class right now and it's just gratifying to see how well those young women have stepped up," said Patton. "It's a tribute to how hard they worked in the off season to give themselves confidence for this year. We are getting a couple of freshmen in but it's nice for them not to have pressure on them, which we had in the last few years because we were so thin. I think their growth has been better without that."

In addition to sporting the Ivy's highest scoring offense, Dartmouth's defense ranks second in the nation with a paltry 6.43 goals against average (45 goals). While senior Julie Wadland anchors things in goal, the defense in front of her has given the opposition fits, allowing only 125 opponent shots total with just 97 on goal. In contrast, Dartmouth has scored 101 goals with 206 shots.

"This year we have the athleticism to play an aggressive style along with having an experienced, and probably the best, keeper in the country in the cage," said Patton. "The thing that's turned the corner for this defense is incredible trust which doesn't happen overnight. It's been cultivated and developed over the last few years, led by a core of Wads [Julie Wadland], Colleen [Olsen] and Shannie [MacKenzie].

LOOKING TO STAY PERFECT IN PROVIDENCE
#9 Dartmouth hits the road to take on Ivy foe Brown this Saturday, looking to move to 3-0 in conference play. This game begins a stretch of four of the next six games on the road for the Big Green, which also plays at Maryland on May 8 after the Ivy Tournament. Should Dartmouth be on the road for the Ivy Tournament, it would play at least four straight games away from home to end the season. Dartmouth has won 11 of the last 12 meetings against Brown including a dominant 16-1 win last season. The Big Green has only given up six goals in two Ivy games total this spring.

BOSTON BROKEN
#9 Dartmouth picked up its first comeback win of the season, knocking out #18 Boston University, 15-10 after trailing by one, 7-6 at halftime. Everything and everyone was sharper in the second half for the Big Green, as goalie Julie Wadland made five of her eight saves in the second half and Dartmouth dominated time of possession to score nine goals to the Terriers' three. BU had come out swinging in the first half, taking an early 3-1 lead but things settled down for Dartmouth, which actually outscored Boston, 5-4, before going down 7-6 at the half. Dartmouth stormed back to take the lead early in the second half, and though the game was tied twice by the Terriers, the Big Green never trailed again and scored six of the last seven goals in the game en route to the 15-10 win. Greta Meyer paced the offense with six points (5g, 1a) while Sarah Parks scored four goals and Hilary Smith tallied four points (2g, 2a). Colleen Olsen grabbed a game-high six draw controls.

CAGING THE BULLDOGS
Fresh off a huge win at #6 Syracuse, then #16 Dartmouth had little trouble moving to 2-0 in Ivy play with a 12-5 victory over Yale this past Saturday. The Big Green avoided the Bulldogs recent hot streak, which had seen them upset then #13 Boston University and nearly knock out Penn in a 7-5 loss. Dartmouth jumped out to a 3-0 lead and extended that to a dominant 10-1 lead at halftime. The Big Green got the first goal of the second half just 50 seconds in but Yale responded with three goals in a six minute span to make it 11-4 with 20:48 to go. Both defenses dug in, however, and each team got just one more goal in the contest. Sophomore Kirsten Goldberg scored three goals, as did rookie Hana Bowers, who got her first career point and then some. Sarah Plumb was all over the field, tallying two goals, four ground balls, four caused turnovers and three draw controls.

TOP-10 DEBUT
Dartmouth jumped seven spots in the IWLCA Coaches poll to sit at number nine this week - it's first top-10 ranking since early in the 2007 campaign. Inside Lacrosse looks even more favorably on the Big Green, putting it at eighth after sitting anywhere from 11th to 14th in the past three weeks. Six Dartmouth opponents are currently in the IWLCA Top-20 with three in the top 10. Six are ranked by Inside Lacrosse and a seventh, UNH is receiving votes.

A LOOK AT BROWN
Brown heads into today's contest at 4-3 overall and 1-2 in Ivy play. The Bears have shown improvement since last season, and Dartmouth will be their third ranked opponent of the spring, losing 9-5 to Boston University and 16-6 to Princeton in the Ivy opener. Both of their other Ivy games have been decided by one goal, on the plus side, 11-10 over Harvard and on the other end of an 8-7 loss at Yale. Three Bears have 10+ points on the season led by Kaela McGilloway's 19 points (16g, 3a) and Paris Waterman's 18 points (16g, 2a). Isabel Harvey holds things down between the pipes with a solid 9.12 goals against average and 45 saves on the season.

MIDSEASON MUSINGS
Inside Lacrosse gave some love to the Big Green this week, tabbing three players to its Midseason All-America teams. Junior defender Shannie MacKenzie was placed on the first team while senior goalie Julie Wadland and junior middie Greta Meyer earned second team accolades.

IN LIKE A LION, OUT LIKE A LION
After roaring through the first five games of the month, Dartmouth made sure not to end the month of March like a lamb, coming from behind to spoil Boston University's upset bid, 15-10 on March 31. The Big Green went a perfect 6-0 during the month of March.

SOPHOMORE SNIPER
Sophomore attack Sarah Parks has been absolutely deadly in front of the goal this spring, scoring 15 goals on just 18 shots for a sizzling .833 shooting percentage. Parks has also put all but one of her shots this season on goal. Even more impressively, just one of her goals has come off a free position, with two attempts total. She has honed her skills that were already solid as a rookie, when she scored 25 goals on 36 shots, shooting .694 percent.

GOING STREAKING
Dartmouth's current win streak stands at six games, its longest such streak since the 2005 season. That year, the Big Green went 16-3 en route to a final four appearance, winning its first 16 games of the season. Dartmouth's three losses that year came by a total of just nine goals.

RPI ROUNDUP
Laxpower.com's power ratings rank the Big Green at seventh in the nation, with an RPI at 11th and a strength of schedule rating of 22nd Those ratings give bonus points for scoring margin as well as location of the game, with Dartmouth's two wins over top-10 teams coming the road.

MACKENZIE TABBED PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Junior defender Shannie MacKenzie was named the Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week and the WomensLacrosse.com National Defensive Player of the Week on March 29 after her role in a 2-0 week against #6 Syracuse and Yale. At Syracuse, she was personally responsible for guarding Tee Ladouceur, who came into the game leading not only the Orange, but the entire nation in points per game at 6.33. MacKenzie held Ladouceur to just one point, a goal, and only two shot attempts as well as four turnovers. Against Yale, MacKenzie helped hold the Bulldogs to just 16 shots and 21 turnovers and harassed Jenna Block behind the cage all day, helping hold her to just one goal.

BOWERS BREAKS OUT
Freshman Hana Bowers had a breakout game against Yale, scoring her first collegiate goal and adding two more for good measure. In addition to her three points, Bowers also caused three turnovers.

PLUMB'S PLAY HEATS UP
Sophomore midfielder Sarah Plumb really came into her own last week, asserting herself against the nation's elite and an Ivy League upstart. She was named the Dartmouth Female Athlete of the Week for her efforts against Syracuse and Yale. One of the Big Green's most diverse players, Plumb tallied six points, seven draw controls, five caused turnovers and four ground balls on the week.

HOLDING DOWN HOMEFIELD
With a 4-0 record at home this season, the Big Green has given up just 18 goals in four contests on Scully Fahey Field. Before surrendering a season-high 10 goals to #18 Boston University, the Big Green had allowed only eight goals in three games at home. The 18 goals allowed still averages out to a solid 4.5 per game.

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