#11 Dartmouth Drops Heartbreaker to #6 Penn, 9-8 in Ivy Championship

Sunday, May 2

Philadelphia, Pa. (Franklin Field)

12:30 PM

Dartmouth College

Penn

#11 Dartmouth Drops Heartbreaker to #6 Penn, 9-8 in Ivy Championship

5/2/2010 2:45:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse

By: Dartmouth

Boxscore

PHILADELPHIA -

The #11 Dartmouth women's lacrosse team battled all the way back from a 7-2 deficit but Penn forced a critical late turnover and stalled on offense to take a 9-8 win for the 2010 Ivy League Tournament Championship.

The teams played in exhausting conditions, with the temperature nearing 90 degrees with 60 percent humidity and blazing sun.

Dartmouth (11-4) trailed 7-2 four minutes into the second half, but stormed back with a five goal run including two goals by Kat Collins (Darien, Conn.) to make it a 7-7 game with 17:57 to play.

Penn (14-3) earned some favorable calls late including five free position calls in the final 17 minutes. Despite several saves by Julie Wadland (Andover, Mass.), the Quakers were able to convert on two free position goals, though Wadland saved two, to build a 9-7 lead with 11:11 to play.

Sophomore Kirsten Goldberg (Cockeysville, Md.) made a huge play to pick up a ground ball and earn a free position of her own. She ripped in a goal to pull Dartmouth within one, down 9-8, with 5:16 on the clock. The Big Green won the ensuing draw control for a critical possession, but Collins was called for a questionable charge, turning the ball back over to Penn with 4:29 to play. The Quakers did a nice job playing keep-away on the stall and despite a valiant effort by the Dartmouth defense, the Big Green could not turn Penn over.

Wadland turned in an heroic effort in goal, with 10 saves including seven in the first half. Collins finished with three goals in just her second game back from missing more than a month with an injury.

Penn picked up an early lead in the game with Emma Spiro's first of three goals coming at 27:16, but Dartmouth answered back to tie it, 1-1, at 22:52. Rookie Kelsey Johnson (Hingham, Mass.) forced a Penn turnover and cleared the ball up the offense where she found Kirsten Goldberg (Cockeysville, Md.), who fed the ball to Greta Meyer (Denver, Colo.) for a nice goal and a tie game.

The Quakers took control for the balance of the half, however, scoring four unanswered goals from four different players to go up 5-1 after a Spiro tally at 8:05. The Big Green did have some nice defensive plays in that span, including a play with Wadland making a point blank save on Penn's Giulia Giordano, who got the ground ball and shot again, but Wadland made another stop.

The Big Green finally stopped the bleeding at 4:29 when Collins took control and went to goal solo to make it 5-2 before the half.

Dartmouth was outshot a staggering 15-2 in the first half and had 11 turnovers, and was remarkably only three goals down.

Penn started the second half much like the first, with two quick goals from Spiro and freshman Maddie Poplawski for a 7-2 lead at 26:49.

Then head coach Amy Patton made a brilliant coaching move, sending freshman Courtney Bennett (Darien, Conn.) into the draw circle to relieve sophomore Sarah Plumb (Wellesley, Mass.), making her available to corral the draw controls. She did so immediately and took it right to cage, scoring just eight seconds after the draw to make it 7-3 at 26:41, starting a 5-0 Dartmouth run.

Dartmouth got its momentum going from that point on, with Plumb again at the center of the action for its next goal. The sophomore middie went to goal and earned a free position shot that was blocked, but classmate Dana Brisbane (Locust Valley, N.Y.) picked up the ground ball and scored at 25:25. Collins pulled Dartmouth within two, down 7-5 off a free position goal at 24:25 and also ran Penn senior goalie Emily Szelest out of the game having given up five goals without a save.

Dartmouth wasted little time welcoming backup goalie Emily Leitner to the game, as sophomore Sarah Parks (Cockeysville, Md.) scored a nice low shot off a feed from Plumb at 20:07 to make it 7-6. The Big Green tied it up two minutes later when Collins showed her strength, muscling to goal despite being heavily guarded and firing past Leitner for a 7-7 game at 17:57.

The Quakers finally won another draw control and capitalized with a free position attempt. Penn's last three goals all came on or after a free position and ultimately the team earned five calls within the arc in the final 17 minutes. Erin Brennan drew the foul but passed off to Megan Smith for a score at 16:52 to make it a 8-7 Penn lead.

Wadland kept up her impressive play with a free position save on Poplawski at 12:03, but the freshman earned another and scored to make it 9-7 at 11:11. Wadland made yet another free position save at 8:30, which led to a key Big Green possession, setting up Goldberg's goal to make it 9-8 and the dramatic finish.

Though Dartmouth had a 6-5 edge in the second half, Penn controlled the draw circle with 11 draws to Dartmouth's eight. Each team had 13 ground balls while Penn outshot Dartmouth, 21-12. Defensively, Johnson, a freshman, had four ground balls and executed an impressive face guard on Penn senior Ali DeLuca, the Ivy Player of the Year, holding her to just two assists and one draw control.

Six Dartmouth players were named to the All-Tournament Team: Collins, Goldberg, Johnson, Plumb, Wadland and Shannie MacKenzie (Riverside, Conn.).

With the win, Penn secured the Ivy League's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, though Dartmouth has a strong resume for an at-large bid. The Big Green has another chance for a marquee win in the regular season finale at #1 Maryland next Saturday, May 8 with a 12 p.m. opening draw in College Park.