2019 Season Preview: Expectations High For Big Green

THE SEASON
The 2019 Dartmouth women's lacrosse team is set to kick off its 47th varsity season this weekend. What started in 1973 continues nearly five decades later as the Big Green have become one of the most storied and respected programs in women's collegiate lacrosse.

THE 2018 RECAP
•   The Big Green had a resurgent season last spring in many ways. Dartmouth returned not only to the national rankings for the first time since 2013, but also made it back to the Ivy League Tournament as well, another first since that year.
•   Finishing the season at 11-5 overall and 5-2 in Ivy play, Dartmouth was the No. 3 seed in the Ancient Eight's postseason tournament.
•   Penn handed Dartmouth its lone home conference loss of the season in April and then eliminated the Green from the playoffs despite a fevered comeback bid in the second half.

THE AWARDS
The strong play of the Big Green in 2018 led to several individuals being recognized for their contributions.
•   Head Coach Danielle Spencer: Ivy League Co-Coach of the Year
•   Ellie Carson: All-Ivy League First Team (unanimous selection), IWLCA All-Northeast Region First Team
•   Katie Bourque: All-Ivy League First Team, IWLCA All-Northeast Region First Team
•   Kiera Vrindten: Ivy League Goalkeeper of the Year, First Team All-Ivy League
•   Kathryn Giroux: All-Ivy League Second Team, Inside Lacrosse All-American Honorable Mention

THE SCHEDULE
The 2019 schedule features a challenging slate of both non-conference and Ivy League opponents that kicks off this weekend with a trip to the Midwest for a pair of games against Big Ten foes.
•   Dartmouth will open the season Friday night at No. 7 Northwestern in just the second-game ever played at the brand new Ryan Fieldhouse and Wilson Field. The game is set to begin at 8 p.m. ET and will be carried online on BTN2Go. That season-opening meeting against the Wildcats marks the first game between the programs since they met for a national title in 2006 with Northwestern edging out the Green, 7-4.
•   The Green and White will then head to Ann Arbor to take on Michigan Sunday at noon. The matinee is the first-ever game between the two teams.
•   Preseason No. 1 Boston College marks the home opener on Tuesday, Feb. 26 with the Ivy League opener coming at Scully-Fahey Field just days later against Brown (March 2).

"Playing in warm weather is a great way to start the season, but we're more interested in making sure that we play the right games than we are playing in sunshine. Testing ourselves early on is going to help us improve at a faster rate as the season progresses." – Head Coach Danielle Spencer

THE POLLS
•   The Big Green will start the season ranked 25th in the nation after earning the spot in the preseason Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) Poll.
•   Dartmouth was tabbed third in the Ivy League's preseason poll after finishing in that same position last spring. Princeton and Penn were tabbed first and second, respectively.

THE CAPTAINS
The triumvirate picked to provide leadership in 2019 are seniors Kathryn Giroux, Elizabeth Mastrio and Lindsay Frumer. Giroux will serve as captain with Mastrio and Frumer aiding as the team's assistant captains.

THE 400TH
With one more victory, Dartmouth will reach 400 all-time victories in program history. The Green and White will join Princeton (462) as the only Ivy League team to have reached the milestone win total.
•   Princeton: 462
•   Dartmouth: 399
•   Harvard: 382
•   Yale: 372
•   Penn: 369
•   Cornell: 342
•   Brown: 278
•   Columbia: 118

THE BROADCASTS
All Dartmouth home games and Ivy League road games will be carried on ESPN+. In fact, all but the first games of the season will be carried on the new online home of Ivy League sports and many other collegiate conferences. The conference tournament during the first weekend of May is also on ESPN+ and will not require subscribers to pay any additional fees to watch the league's postseason.

THE PREVIEW
A complete weekend preview of the trip to Northwestern and Michigan will be posted on DartmouthSports.com later this week.

Schedules