Ivy Champ Women's Lacrosse Faces Harvard in Ivy Semifinal

Coach Patton on LaxMagazine Podcast • All-Ivy Release

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The #10 Dartmouth women's lacrosse team looks to build upon one of the biggest weeks in program history this coming weekend in the Ivy League Tournament at Penn's Franklin Field. First up is Harvard in the semifinals on Friday, May 6 at 4 p.m. Penn takes on Princeton in the other semifinal at 7 p.m. and the winners will play for the Tournament title and the NCAA Tournament automatic bid on Sunday, May 8 at 1 p.m. That game will be televised live on CBS Sports Network (Upper Valley Comcast channel 175; Dish Network channel 152 or 9495; DirectTV channel 613)

The Big Green just played the Crimson a week ago, on Friday, April 29, in a battle for a share of the Ivy League Championship. Dartmouth prevailed in a surprisingly lopsided affair, 14-7, to share the Ivy title with Penn.

Less than 48 hours later, on Sunday, May 1, then #14 Dartmouth shocked the lacrosse world by knocking off #1 Maryland and ending the Terps' 28-game winning streak which extended to April of 2010 and included a run ot the 2010 National Championship and an 18-0 record this spring. The teams were evenly matched throughout, with Maryland holding a slight, 28-26 shot advantage, but the Big Green prevailed in overtime, 9-8. Junior Sarah Parks (Ellicott City, Md.) scored the game-winner with just 8.3 seconds left on the clock and Hana Bowers (Old Greenwich, Conn.) corralled the ensuing draw control to let Dartmouth run the final ticks off the clock.

The big week continued for the Big Green on Monday, when senior attack Kat Collins (Darien, Conn.) was named the Ivy League Player of the Year and freshman goalie Kristen Giovanniello (Old Brookville, N.Y.) was the unanimous choice for Ivy Rookie of the Year. Both were named to the All-Ivy first team and five of their teammates also earned All-Ivy honors. Senior defender Shannie MacKenzie (Riverside, Conn.) and junior midfielder Sarah Plumb (Wellesley, Mass.) were named to the All-Ivy first team, senior attack Greta Meyer (Denver, Colo.) and sophomore defender Kelsey Johnson (Hingham, Mass.) were named to the All-Ivy second team and junior midfielder Kirsten Goldberg (Cockeysville, Md.) was named honorable mention. The seven All-Ivy honorees were most for any school this year and Collins and Giovanniello became just the sixth pair of Ivy teammates to be named Player and Rookie of the Year in the same season.

Game 15: Ivy League Tournament Semifinal
#10 DARTMOUTH (11-3, 6-1 Ivy) vs HARVARD (9-5, 5-2 Ivy)
Date: Friday, May 6, 2011 • 4 PM
Location: Philadelphia, Pa. • Franklin Field
Admission: $10 Adults, $6 Youth

Dartmouth - Harvard
Dartmouth leads, 18-7-1
Streak: Dartmouth +15
Last Meeting: Dartmouth W, 14-7 • 4/29/11 (H)
Of Note: Dartmouth won its 15th straight against Harvard to break a tie in the all-time series and give the Big Green a share of the 2011 Ivy League title just a week ago. Harvard won 16 of the first 18 contests in the series.

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THIS TIME: IVY TOURNAMENT TIME
The postseason begins officially this weekend as #10 Dartmouth heads to Philadelphia for the Ivy League Tournament. This marks just the second-ever Ivy League Tournament and both have been played at Penn's Franklin Field. Dartmouth and Penn shared the Ivy League Championship with identical 6-1 records, but Penn received the number-one seed and right to host by virtue of a 10-9 win over the Big Green on April 16.
As the two-seed, Dartmouth faces a tough test, having to play three-seed Harvard just a week after their previous meeting in the semifinals on Friday, May 6. Host Penn will take on four-seed Princeton in the other semifinal and the final will be played on Sunday, May 8. Last year, two-seed Dartmouth defeated Cornell in the semifinals before losing to Penn in the final, 9-8, at Franklin Field.

LAST TIME: MARYLAND SHELL SHOCKED BY BIG GREEN
Then #14 Dartmouth sent shockwaves through the lacrosse world by doing something no other team had done in more than a year — beating #1 Maryland on May 1. Coming into the game, Maryland was undefeated (18-0) on the 2011 season and had a 28-game winning streak dating back to April, 2010. The Big Green never backed down in a hotly-contested game that ultimately went to overtime before Dartmouth prevailed, 9-8, scoring with just eight seconds on the clock and winning the ensuing draw.
With the win, Dartmouth moved to a perfect 8-0 at home this season and became the first team other than North Carolina to beat Maryland since 2008. The last time the Big Green and Terps did battle on Scully-Fahey Field in 2009, it also took overtime but then #2 Maryland prevailed, 13-12.
This time around, it was as even a game as any, with Maryland holding a slight 28-26 shot advantage and Dartmouth having a narrow upper-hand in draw controls, 11-10 and ground balls, 15-12.
After a 2-2 tie midway through the first half, Dartmouth broke things open to take a 5-2 lead at halftime. The Terps stormed back in the second half, however, quickly taking a 7-6 lead. Both defenses took over late with Dartmouth trailing, 8-7, but Hana Bowers tied it up for the Green with just under four minutes to play. After a flurry of desperate offense on both sides, the game remained tied at the end of regulation and headed to overtime. The teams were tied after the first three minutes still and it was all Big Green in the second three. Hilary Smith won the opening draw control to gain possession for Dartmouth and after a shot attempt missed with only 15 seconds on the clock, Sarah Plumb stole the ball back and found Sarah Parks all by herself in front of the Maryland goal. Parks converted her third score of the day to give the Big Green a 9-8 lead with eight seconds to play and Bowers won the ensuing draw to run out the clock.

RARE WIN OVER #1
Dartmouth's win over #1 Maryland on May 1 marked the Big Green's first win over a #1 ranked team since April 1, 1995, when Dartmouth defeated #1 Princeton, 10-9, in Hanover. The most recent win over a #1 team for any Dartmouth team was women's hockey's 7-5 victory over #1 Minnesota on Dec. 11, 2004.

CROWN THE IVY CHAMPS
Dartmouth won its 11th Ivy League Championship this season, sharing the title with Penn after both teams sported identical 6-1 records. Dartmouth's loss came to Penn, 10-9, while Penn's came at the hands of Princeton, 11-7. Dartmouth beat Princeton three days later, 15-10. The Big Green clinched the Ivy Championship with a 14-7 win over Harvard under the lights on Friday night, April 29. The winner of the game was guaranteed to take home a share of the Ivy title but it was all Big Green in the lopsided victory.

IVY SUPERLATIVE HONORS
Seven Dartmouth players were named All-Ivy this week, headlined by the selection of senior attack Kat Collins as the Ivy League Player of the Year and freshman goalie Kristen Giovanniello as the unanimous Ivy League Rookie of the Year. They are just the sixth set of teammates to be named Ivy Player and Rookie of the Year in the same season. Collins is the sixth Dartmouth player to earn Ivy Player of the Year honors and first since Katieanne Christian '05 did so in 2005. Giovanniello is the fourth Dartmouth freshman to win the award and first since future All-America goalie Devon Wills '06 did so in 2003.

MAGNIFICENT SEVEN NAMED ALL IVY ... THE REDUX
For the second-straight season, Dartmouth has had seven players named to All-Ivy League teams. The Big Green's seven honorees are a league-best and its four first team selections are also tops in the Ancient Eight. Kat Collins was a unanimous first team honoree and teammates Kristen Giovanniello, senior defender Shannie MacKenzie and junior midfielder Sarah Plumb all joined her on the first team. MacKenzie makes her second-straight first team All-Ivy appearance and Plumb moves up to the first team after a spot on the second team last year. Senior attack Greta Meyer was named to the All-Ivy second team as was sophomore defender Kelsey Johnson. Meyer has now been named All-Ivy in each of her four years at Dartmouth and Johnson makes her All-Ivy debut. For more in-depth analysis and statistics, see the All-Ivy release on page 10 of these notes

WHERE WE RANK
Dartmouth jumped up to 10th in the IWLCA Coaches' Poll following its wins over Harvard and #1 Maryland. The Big Green ranks 12th in the Inside Lacrosse media poll. The NCAA RPI will not be released until Thursday, but LaxPower.com generally matches the NCAA closely and has skyrocketed Dartmouth to 10th in the RPI from 22nd a week ago.

MORE ABOUT THE RANKINGS
Since the IWLCA began its rankings in 1988, Dartmouth is one of just five teams to be ranked at some point during every single season. Maryland, Penn State, Princeton and Virginia are the other four to hold the distinction amongst the 48 total teams to ever be ranked. Including this season, Dartmouth is fifth in weeks ranked with 204 weeks total. After moving to 10th this week, Dartmouth now has spent 102 weeks ranked in the top-10.

SUPER SENIORS
Dartmouth honored the seven seniors on its roster after the win over Maryland on May 1, marking the Big Green's final regular-season home game. While only four seniors are everyday starters, Coach Patton honored the group by putting them all in the starting lineup together for the first time in their four-year careers. As a class they won one Ivy Championship, 37 total games, 19 Ivy games and spent 44 weeks in the IWLCA Top-20 rankings.

HOME SWEET HOME
Dartmouth went a perfect 8-0 on its home field, Scully-Fahey Field, this season and will look to get a home game in the NCAA Tournament with a good showing this weekend. For the last two games of the regular season, more than 1,000 fans turned out to support the Big Green to two big wins.

PATTON GETS 100
Head coach Amy Patton earned her 100th career Ivy League victory with the Ivy Championship-clinching win over Harvard on April 29. Earlier this season Patton picked up her 200th career coaching victory overall, with all coming during her 19 years at Dartmouth. Patton has won a staggering 78 percent of her contests against Ivy League foes, going 100-28 to date.

IVY PLAYER OF THE WEEK ... TIMES THREE
Freshman goalie Kristen Giovanniello picked up her third Ivy Defensive Player of the Week award on May 2, becoming the only player this season to win a weekly award three times. She is also the only freshman to win any weekly award this season. GIovanniello backstopped the Big Green to its Ivy Championship-clinching win over Harvard and its upset of #1 Maryland two days later. She made 13 saves against the Crimson and 11 against the Terps, increasing her nation-leading save percentage to .538 and lowering her goals against average to 8.09.
Giovanniello was also named the WomensLacrosse.com/Synapse Sports National Defensive Player of the Week.

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