Ivy Tournament Berth: Clinched! Dartmouth Beats Cornell, 15-8, on Senior Day

Saturday, April 20

Hanover, N.H.

1:00 PM

Dartmouth College

10-4, 5-1Ivy

Cornell

8-6, 4-2Ivy

Cornell

Dartmouth

In her final home game, Kierra Sweeney scored three times and finished with six points.

Photo by: John and Matt Risley

Ivy Tournament Berth: Clinched! Dartmouth Beats Cornell, 15-8, on Senior Day

4/20/2019 3:36:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse

Box Score PDF Box Score Photos by John and Matt Risley

Big Green roll Big Red to secure a berth in the Ivy League postseason.

By: Pat Salvas

HANOVER, N.H. – The No. 20 Dartmouth women's lacrosse team secured a berth in the 2019 Ivy League Tournament thanks to a 15-8 victory Saturday afternoon against Cornell.

Senior Day ceremonies followed the conclusion of the contest for the nine members of the Class of 2019 as it was the final game of the season at Scully-Fahey Field.

Senior Kierra Sweeney led the way as she had six points on three goals and three assists, while classmate Elizabeth Mastrio tied her career high with five goals in the game.

Dartmouth (10-4, 5-1) will play in the Ivy League Tournament for the second year in a row, as it is now 5-1 in conference play. The postseason will be held at Columbia with the semifinals on Friday, May 3, with the league title game two days later.

"I am extremely proud of our teamwork and effort all over the field today," head coach Danielle Spencer said. "What a great way to honor our home field and celebrate our seniors. We will enjoy this victory, and then get back to work on Monday."

On this rainy Saturday in Hanover, though, the Big Green needed to take down a Big Red (8-6, 4-2) team that came into the day with the same conference record, looking to jump the home team in the standings.

However, Dartmouth seemed in control the whole game, trailing 1-0 in the opening minutes and then never again the rest of the way en route to the seven-goal victory.

Mastrio's third tally of the day was the 100th of her career, while Ellie Carson's first of three markers on the day gave her her 100th career point. Michelle Yu had a pair of goals off the bench, while Katie Bourque and Campbell Brewer each scored once. Bourque's lone goal came a player down halfway through the second half and proved to be the 100th point of her career, joining Carson and Mastrio has players to hit the magical milestone figure in one way or another.

Kathryn Giroux had a game-high eight draw controls, but it was the career-high six from Emma Lesko that helped Dartmouth maintain possession at several key junctures in the second. Bourque also chipped in with four draws in addition to four caused turnovers.

Junior goalkeeper Kiera Vrindten once again was huge in the circle. The reigning national defensive player of the week stopped eight and allowed just eight to earn the win. Credit to the Big Red's Katie McGaham, because were it not for her 13 saves, this contest would have been far more favorable to the home team than the seven-goal margin of victory it ended up being.

All season, Dartmouth has excelled on the draw control and clear attempts. Saturday was no different as the Green held a 19-6 edge in draws over their counterparts in red, while posting a perfect 18-for-18 mark on clear attempts and causing four miscues by Cornell in the midfield, resulting in a 21-for-25 mark for the visitors.

Thanks to a Princeton win at Yale on Saturday, both the Tigers and Big Green will head into the final weekend of the regular season with 5-1 marks and looking to secure the top seed in the playoffs. Cornell is now 4-2 and back of both by a game with one remaining next Saturday at home against Princeton.

The Green will close out the regular season next Saturday at Yale with the opening draw set for 1 p.m.