#7 Dartmouth Takes Overtime Loss at Princeton, 11-10

Sunday, April 25

Princeton, N.J.

1:00 p.m.

Dartmouth College

Princeton

#7 Dartmouth Takes Overtime Loss at Princeton, 11-10

4/25/2010 4:00:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse

By: Dartmouth

Boxscore

PRINCETON, N.J. - Princeton's Caroline Rehfuss scored the game-winning-goal in the final second of overtime to knock off #7 Dartmouth, 11-10, in a must-win for the Tigers.

Dartmouth (10-3, 5-2) was facing its second straight opponent in a desperate situation this week, as the Tigers (6-9, 4-3 Ivy) needed to beat the Big Green in order to gain a spot in next weekend's Ivy League Tournament.

While Dartmouth still finishes second in the Ivy League, the loss to unranked Princeton will be a mark on its NCAA Tournament resume, should the Big Green not win the Ivy Tournament and accompanying automatic bid. Dartmouth will face Cornell in the semifinals next Friday, as the Big Red defeated Yale earlier today and Princeton earlier this season, to secure the three-seed.

After seeing a 7-3 halftime lead evaporate, the Big Green had several big chances to win late in regulation or go ahead early in overtime, but could not put the ball past Princeton keeper Erin Tochihara. Tochihara, who made 14 saves on the day, made back-to-back saves in the last 30 seconds of regulation and three more huge stops in overtime. Princeton got the winning goal after being granted a free position with 23 seconds to play. That shot went wide, as did one by Rehfuss with three seconds to play, but she was right in front of the cage to catch a pass from Charlotte Davies, who had picked up the rebound to set up the winner.

Greta Meyer (Denver, Colo.) was Dartmouth's leading scored with three goals and one assist. Defensively, Shannie MacKenzie (Old Greenwich, Conn.) had three ground balls and three caused turnovers while Colleen Olsen (Avon, Conn.) returned to the lineup after missing three games and had five ground balls, two caused turnovers and a draw control. Julie Wadland (Andover, Mass.) finished with seven saves in goal.

Though Princeton had 25 turnovers to Dartmouth's 18, the Tigers held a 32-31 shot advantage and a 14-11 edge in draw controls.

There was a bit of a flashback to Dartmouth's upset of then #2 Princeton in 2008, early in overtime. Today, the Big Green won the opening draw of overtime and Sarah Parks (Ellicott City, Md.) appeared to score the go-ahead goal, but it was called back for an illegal stick. In 2008, Princeton failed to tie that game after having a goal called back in the final minute.

Dartmouth looked to be locked in to take the win early on in the game. Wadland saved three of Princeton's first four shots while Meyer and Parks put the Big Green ahead, 2-1, at 23:30. Hilary Smith (Bronxville, N.Y.) scored Dartmouth's next two goals around a score by Princeton's Lizzy Drumm, but Smith's free position score made it a 4-2 game at 15:03.

Just 14 seconds later, Erin Massimi (Westwood, Mass.) picked up a rebound of a saved shot and fired one past Tochihara to make it 5-2, Dartmouth. She scored her second goal of the day off a feed from Meyer for a 6-2 lead at 8:53, but Princeton's Barb Previ cut into the lead by scoring right after winning the ensuing draw control. A Wadland ground ball started a break for Dartmouth's last goal of the half, clearing the ball up to where Parks fed Meyer to make it 7-3 at the break.

The goalies traded saves to open the second half, but Princeton ultimately got two quick goals from Rehfuss and Cassie Pyle to make it a 7-5 game at 24:13. A Dartmouth timeout led to a Hana Bowers (Old Greenwich, Conn.) free position score at 19:35 to go up 8-5, but Princeton's Drumm answered right back to keep her team within striking distance.

A nice defensive play by MacKenzie started the break for Dartmouth's ninth goal, when Kirsten Goldberg (Cockeysville, Md.) fed Meyer to make it 9-6 at 13:22. The Tigers came storming back, however, scoring three unanswered goals in less than six minutes to tie the game with 6:40 to play.

Dartmouth once again looked to have the game when it got ahead 10-9 when Goldberg scored off a feed from Parks at 2:26. The Big Green just could not lock down, however, and a costly late turnover led to Barb Previ's game-tying goal with just 50 seconds to go. Olsen won the draw for Dartmouth, but Tochihara saved both a free position shot by Dana Brisbane (Locust Valley, N.Y.) and an attempt by Olsen to send it to overtime.

The Big Green again started overtime by winning the draw, but after the Parks goal was called back, Tochihara continued to be the bane of Dartmouth's existence. She made three huge saves including one against Meyer at 1:29 that allowed her team to clear the ball and get on offense. Rehfuss took four shots in the final 45 seconds, with the first blocked, the next two wide and the last finally sneaking past Wadland to win it in the final second.

Second-seeded Dartmouth will face three-seed Cornell in the Ivy League Tournament semifinals this coming Friday, April 30 at Penn's Franklin Field in Philadelphia. Opening draw is set for 4 p.m.