Women's Lax Heads to Harvard for Midweek Ivy Tilt

The #7 Dartmouth women's lacrosse team looks to get back on the winning track on Wednesday, starting a busy week with a trip south to face Harvard, who is fresh off an Ivy upset of Princeton.

Dartmouth at Harvard Complete Game Notes (PDF)

Game 12: #7 Dartmouth (9-2, 4-1 Ivy) at Harvard (6-6, 2-3 Ivy)
Date: Wednesday, April 21, 2010 • 4:00 PM
Location: Cambridge, Mass. • Harvard Stadium
Multimedia: Livestats Live Video (Free)

Dartmouth - Harvard Series: Harvard leads, 17-16-1
Last Meeting: 4/15/09 • Hanover, N.H.
Result: Dartmouth 13 - Harvard 6
Streak: Dartmouth +13
Harvard has a slight edge in the all-time series, but Darmouth has won the last 13 meetings, all by at least four goals. Dartmouth won the first-ever meeting before the Crimson took 16 of the next 18.

LOOKING TO GET BACK ON TRACK
After having its winning streak broken by #6 Penn, #7 Dartmouth embarks on a busy week with games at Harvard and Princeton before the Ivy League Tournament, which could still be held in Hanover, but may be in Philadelphia. Dartmouth has not lost to Harvard in the last 13 years, but the Crimson is fresh off a huge win over Princeton, its' first against the Tigers since 1992. With a win in Cambridge, the Big Green still has a shot at taking home at least a share of the Ivy Championship, if it gets help from Princeton or Brown when they play Penn.

STREAK SNAPPED
#7 Dartmouth saw its nine game winning streak snapped by #6 Penn on Saturday, extending the Quakers run in the series to four straight over the Big Green with a 9-6 win. Possessions proved critical with two of the nation's top defensive teams duking it out, and Penn gained a huge advantage by winning 13 draw controls to Dartmouth's four. Facing 27 shots total, senior goalie Julie Wadland made seven saves and had two ground balls and two caused turnovers, but it was not enough. The Big Green took 14 shots, but scored on all six it was able to put on goal, with Emily Szelest not making any saves. Though Dartmouth scored the first goal of the game, Penn took a 3-1 halftime lead. The Big Green stormed out of the gates in the second with three unanswered to go ahead 4-3 just eight minutes into the half. Penn answered with a 3-0 run of its own to go up two, and though Dartmouth got within one with 11 minutes to play, the Big Green could not hold enough possessions to come back.

BIG GREEN WINS THE COLOR WAR
The then ninth ranked Dartmouth women proved that Big Green was bigger than Big Red with a 9-6 win at upset-minded Cornell on April 10. Dartmouth used a 6-0 run spanning both halves to come back from a 4-3 deficit and put the Red away early in the second half. Kirsten Goldberg tallied three goals and Sarah Parks scored twice. Julie Wadland did a nice job in goal, making seven saves, for a better than .500 save percentage. While Cornell took more shots than Dartmouth, 17-16, and led in draws, 9-8, the Big Green proved it was quality over quantity in the win.

SEASON HIGH IN THE POLLS
Dartmouth moved up two spots in the IWLCA Coaches poll to seventh on April 12 and remained there this week despite the loss to Penn. It is the first top-10 ranking for the Big Green since early in the 2007 campaign. Inside Lacrosse dropped Dartmouth from sixth to seventh this week. Five Dartmouth opponents are currently in the IWLCA Top-20 with two in the top 10. Four are ranked by Inside Lacrosse with BU and UNH receiving votes.

SO YOU'RE SAYING THERE'S A CHANCE
Despite dropping to second place (4-1) with the lost to Penn, Dartmouth's hopes for the Ivy Title and even to host the inaugural Ivy tournament. To claim a share of the title, Dartmouth would need to win out and have Penn lose to either Princeton or Brown this week. If both Dartmouth and Penn finished 6-1, they'd be co-champs, with Penn getting to host the tournament by virtue of its head-to-head win over the Big Green. In order for Dartmouth to host, Penn would have to lose to both Brown and Penn.

TEWAARATON TIME
Dartmouth has had two players named Tewaaraton Award nominees — junior Greta Meyer and senior Julie Wadland, also a 2009 nominee. Recognized as the nation's pre-eminent lacrosse award, the Tewaaraton is presented to the top female and male collegiate lacrosse players in the United States.
Wadland, a senior goalie, is no stranger to these accolades, having been one of 23 national nominees for the 2009 Tewaaraton. One of just three goalies on the list, Wadland currently sports the nation's best goals against average, 6.75, and has a team-high 28 ground balls after earning All-Ivy first team accolades in 2009. Meyer, a junior midfielder, is having her finest season yet in a Dartmouth uniform. She leads the team in scoring with 47 points, goals with 26 and assists with 21.
Meyer and Wadland are among a list of 25 nominees that will be pared down to five finalists. They are joined by just one other Ivy Leaguer, Penn's Ali DeLuca, and Dartmouth is one of just seven schools with multiple nominees.

OFFENSE SPUTTERS
Dartmouth's offense is one of the most potent in the Ivy League and NCAA this season, but the Big Green has struggled to put up its characteristic big numbers in its last three Ivy games. Dartmouth scored just nine goals each in wins over Brown and Cornell, and only six in the loss to Penn. The Big Green still had a balanced attack in those three games, however, with at least four goal scorers in each, including six people scoring against Brown.

HIT THE ROAD JACK
Dartmouth is preparing for what could be a grueling three-week stretch of the season, potentially making three-straight trips to the Mid-Atlantic. The Big Green is at Harvard Wednesday and then down at Princeton this Sunday. If Penn manages a split this week, it will host the Ivy Tournament on Friday April 30 - May 2, which will send Dartmouth right back down to Philadelphia. Following that, the Big Green heads to Maryland to close out the regular season on May 8.

WATCH OUT FOR SNIPERS
As a team, Dartmouth shoots an impressive .502 percent, but Sarah Parks and Greta Meyer stand out from the crowd with some staggering numbers. Parks has been absolutely deadly in front of the goal this spring, scoring 25 goals on just 29 shots for a sizzling 86.2 shooting percentage, which leads the nation. Even more impressively, just two of her goals have come off free position shots, with three attempts total. Meyer is hot in her own right, shooting 62 percent, scoring 26 goals on 42 shots and is almost automatic on a free position, converting 6-of-7 eight meters.

SHARING THE WEALTH
Dartmouth routinely has seven to eight players recording a point in games, and the team's unselfishness was truly evident against Siena on April 6, with 15 assists on 18 goals. Overall, Dartmouth has scored 143 goals this season, 29 off of free positions. Of the 114 goals scored during the course of game play, Dartmouth has assisted on 70 of those, or 61.4 percent of goals coming assisted.

... AND KEEPING OPPONENTS FROM DOING SO
Conversely, the Big Green defense has allowed opponents to assist on just 28 of their 73 goals, or 38 percent. Two of Dartmouth's last four opponents, Brown and Siena, scored seven and six goals, respectively, without a single assist and Cornell had only two assists on six goals. Even #18 Boston University had just three assists on its 10 goals. Dartmouth's defenders are forcing opponents to go one-on-one with Julie Wadland, who has a 50 percent average chance of making a save.

TEAMMATES FOR LIFE
Dartmouth women's lacrosse has started a new program in conjunction with a local organization called David's House, which provides housing for families when their child is undergoing treatments at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, specifically the reknowned children's hospital. Similar to the model for Friends of Jaclyn, the program, Teammates For Life, will hopefully match children with Dartmouth teams. During the Penn game, Dartmouth women's lacrosse officially welcomed its new adopted teammate, Carol, and her family to the Big Green team with a ceremony at halftime. Carol is a 13 year-old girl currently fighting leukemia, and is one of the most active ambassadors for David's House.

THE ELITE BETWEEN THE PIPES
Senior Julie Wadland has positioned herself in a great line of Dartmouth goalies, becoming just the third Big Green keeper to play more than 3,000 minutes for her career and ranking third all-time in career saves with 413. She currently leads the nation with a goals against average of just 6.75 and picked up her second straight Tewaaraton nomination.
Dartmouth has not missed a beat since 1999 when Sarah Hughes '02 began a career that led to a school record 550 saves in 62 outings, playing 3,339 minutes. When she graduated, Devon Wills '06 took over the reins and started all but one of her 70 games played from 2003-06, logging 4,176 minutes and making 538 saves, second all-time. Upon the graduation of Wills, Wadland was right there and has followed in the footsteps of Hughes and Wills as a first team All-Ivy keeper and member of the US Developmental team — Wills led the US Elite to the 2010 World Cup title. Wadland has one more goal still, as she is yet to join the duo in one area — All America status.

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