#18 Dartmouth Faces Columbia in Saturday Ivy Tilt

Dartmouth at Columbia Complete Game Notes

Dartmouth heads to Columbia for its second-to-last road game of the season and it's just March 26. The Big Green returns home for three straight contests before a trip to Penn, then back ome for three more at Scully-Fahey Field. Dartmouth looks to remain perfect in Ivy play and also perfect against Columbia, to whom the Big Green has never lost. The Big Green rebounded from back-to-back road losses to take a 12-10 win over Oregon on Wednesday in Hanover on the strength of an eight-point day from Kat Collins and 13 saves in goal from Kristen Giovanniello.

Senior defender Shannie MacKenzie has been stellar of late, recording four ground balls and three caused turnovers in each of the last two games, helping put her just one ground ball away from 100 for her career.

Game 7: #18 DARTMOUTH (4-2, 1-0 Ivy) at COLUMBIA (1-4, 0-2 Ivy)
Date: Saturday, March 26, 2011 • 11 AM
Location: New York, N.Y. • Wien Stadium

Dartmouth - Columbia Series
Dartmouth leads, 13-0
Streak: Dartmouth +13
Last Meeting: Dartmouth W, 15-1 • 3/17/10 • Hanover
Of Note: Dartmouth has never once lost to Columbia since the Lions began playing lacrosse in 1998. Additionally, Columbia has never reached double-digit goals while Dartmouth has never scored less than 10.

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THIS TIME: BIG APPLE BOUND
Dartmouth plays its second to last road game of the season at Columbia on Saturday. The Big Green has played just one Ivy game so far while Columbia has played two — and a half. The Lions got 35 minutes into their date with Princeton on Wednesday, trailing 5-4 before the game was called due to snow. Dartmouth has never lost to Columbia, going 13-0 since the Lions began Division I competition in 1998. Columbia has never reached double-digit goals against Dartmouth — coming closest with nine in 2009 — and Dartmouth has never scored fewer than 10 goals against the Lions. The Big Green won last season in convincing fashion, 15-1. Columbia is under the direction of first-year head coach Liz Kittleman, who helped Penn to four straight Ivy Championships as an assistant.
Dartmouth assistant Allison Evans spent last season with Columbia in the same capacity.

LAST TIME: DARTMOUTH DUCKS LATE OREGON RALLY
Dartmouth picked up a 12-10 win over a solid Oregon squad this past Wednesday. The Big Green, Kat Collins in particular, came to play, jumping out to a 4-0 lead in the first six minutes all courtesy of Collins. The senior scored her 100th career goal with her second tally. Collins' teammates got in on the action and the Big Green held a 7-1 lead by the 11 minute mark in the first half after Sarah Parks found Greta Meyer for a score. The Ducks pulled within three goals, but the Big Green scored twice in the final 22 seconds — both assisted by Collins — to lead 9-4 at the half. Once again Oregon stormed back in the second half, pulling within two, down 10-8 with just under 10 minutes to play. Dartmouth responded with back-to-back goals to go ahead four, providing all the insurance it would need to withstand two late goals from the Ducks. Rookie Kristen Giovanniello was sterling in goal again, making 13 saves with just 10 goals allowed.

NEXT TIME: TWO-GAME WEEKEND ON TAP
The Big Green starts a very big month of April next weekend when Brown and Syracuse come to town for games on Saturday and Monday, respectively. Dartmouth will play six of its last seven games on Scully-Fahey Field. The Big Green hosts Brown on Saturday, April 2 before taking on the Orange on Monday, April 4. The game against Syracuse starts a stretch during which Dartmouth will take on four nationally ranked opponents in the final month of the season.

WHERE WE RANK    Dartmouth took a hit in the polls after dropping to 3-2 with the losses to Boston University and #3 Duke. The IWCLA coaches' poll kept the Big Green at 18th after the Duke loss while Dartmouth fell out of the often volatile Inside Lacrosse poll.

KAT ON THE PROWL
Senior Kat Collins became the 15th player in Dartmouth history to reach the 100-goal mark for her career, currently ranking 12th with 104 goals. She reached the mark in style, matching her career-high with six goals and tallying a career-best eight points total. Collins also ranks 13th all-time in career scoring with 136 points.

ROOKIE LOOKING LIKE A VETERAN IN GOAL
Freshman Kristen Giovanniello has been solid in goal for the Big Green this season. Thrown into a Division I starting role, she has responded by leading Dartmouth's defense to the nation's 18th ranked scoring defense, allowing just 8.83 goals per game. Prior to the Oregon game, Giovanniello ranked seventh nationally in save percentage, stopping 51.7 percent of shots faced. After a 13-save effort against the Ducks, her save percentage is now a league-best .527, which would put her third nationally.
Giovanniello has recorded double-digit saves on three occasions, with 13 saves in each of the last two games at Duke and versus Oregon. Her season-high is 15 stops recorded at Vermont.

SPRING BREAK SPECIAL
Though Dartmouth had to cope with its end of academic term stresses when it played Boston U., there's no denying the nice advantage that the Big Green currently enjoys. Because of the quarter system, Dartmouth is not only on spring break, but the players are not currently enrolled in any classes, making this a true academic break. The Big Green will be able to focus solely on lacrosse until the spring term starts on March 28.

STREAKS EXTENDED, STREAKS SNAPPED
Senior Greta Meyer extended her point streak to 28 games with two goals against Oregon on March 23 and junior Sarah Plumb scored a goal to move her streak to 21 games. Junior Sarah Parks had her 24-game point streak, which dated back to her freshman year, snapped in Dartmouth's loss at Duke on March 19.
Plumb came off the bench against Duke, making it the first game of her career that she did not start, while Parks did the same against Oregon, marking her first time off the bench. Meyer has started all 53 games in which she has played, missing just one with injury, while classmate Shannie MacKenzie, has never missed a game, playing in all 54 possible. After coming off the bench in her first collegiate game, MacKenzie has started 53 straight contests.

TEWAARATON TYPES
Senior attackers Kat Collins and Greta Meyer were recently named to the 2011 Tewaaraton Award Watch List. Meyer was a Tewaaraton nominee last season and Collins was on the watch list before a midseason injury. Meyer led Dartmouth with 58 points last season and was named first team All-Ivy and IWLCA All-North. Collins was injured in the fifth game of the 2010 season but earned first team All-Ivy and All-North honors as a sophomore in 2009. Collins and Meyer are two of six Ivy League lacrosse players on the 50-woman list. Dartmouth has had six Tewaaraton nominees since 2005.

PLAYERS CLOSE TO MILESTONE MARKS
Several Dartmouth players are close to milestones in their careers. Kat Collins just passed the 100-goal mark and is 14 points away from 150 for her career. Greta Meyer is on the doorstep of 100 goals, with 97 for her career and is also just seven points away from 150. Defender Shannie MacKenzie is sitting at 99 career groundballs. Junior Sarah Parks looks to become Dartmouth's third active 100-point player as she currently has 87 for her career.

CATS AND DOGS
The first two opponents on Dartmouth's schedule were represented by cat mascots — UNH Wildcats and Vermont Catamounts. The next two were dogs — Yale Bulldogs and Boston U. Terriers.

BENNETT BREAKS OUT
Sophomore Courtney Bennett had a breakout game in her home state of Connecticut, leading Dartmouth to its 9-8 win over Yale on March 5. In just her fourth career start, she tallied two goals, two assists and three draw controls — all career highs.

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