Women’s lacrosse upset by unranked Boston University, 17-8
The No.18 women's lacrosse team lost to unranked Boston University on Wednesday, falling to 8-6 overall.
By Heita Miki, The Dartmouth Staff
Published on Friday, April 27, 2007
The Big Green women's lacrosse team appears to be suffering from side effects stemming from last week's heartbreaking loss to conference foe Princeton. On Wednesday, No. 18 Dartmouth was upset by unranked Boston University 17-8 in Boston, Mass. The Big Green never took the lead in this game, as the Terriers jumped out to a commanding 10-1 advantage in the first half and never looked back.
Dartmouth (8-6, 4-3 Ivy) suffered its first loss against an unranked opponent this season. Boston University (10-5, 5-1 America East) extended its winning streak to six games and secured its third consecutive 10-win season with the victory. This was the Terriers' first victory against a ranked opponent since beating then-No.14 Hofstra earlier in the season.
The Terriers opened the scoring in the first half by scoring two goals right off the bat. Co-captain Whitney Douthett '07 struck back for the Big Green by scoring a goal, extending her scoring streak to 53 games and keeping the Terriers within striking distance.
However, when it looked as if the Big Green could even up the score, the wheels fell off of the Big Green scoring machine. For the next 19 minutes, Dartmouth was held scoreless while BU tallied eight unanswered points to take a commanding 10-1 lead, which was the biggest margin of deficit Dartmouth had faced all year. Kristen Barry '07 and Sarah Szefi '08 scored before the half, ending the scoring drought, but the damage was already done. At the half, the Big Green women were down 11-3.
The second half also started poorly for the Big Green, with the Terriers scoring four goals right away to jump out 14-3. The rest of the half was played more evenly, with Jen Pittman '07 coming off of the bench to score three goals, but an 11-goal differential was too much to overcome.
Co-captain Margo Duke '07 was disappointed with the team's play.
"Tonight's loss was a gut check," Duke said. "We dug ourselves a hole early and it just proved extremely difficult to get out of it. We killed ourselves tonight with turnovers and rushing shots in the attack. Also, we possessed the ball a lot less than they did which hurt us tremendously."
Offensively, it was all Terriers as they outshot the Big Green 33-22 and dominated in time of possession. Interestingly enough, the teams were even in all other statistical categories such as ground balls, draw controls and turnovers, which is unusual in a lopsided game.
Junior Molly Collins, sophomore Sarah Dalton and freshman Traci Landy, all from BU, led all scorers with four goals apiece. Pittman led the scoring for the Big Green with three goals, while Douthett and Barry scored two each.
In goal, junior Jenna Golden of BU picked up the win. For Dartmouth, Chelsea Kirk '10, who played the first 13:03 before being relieved, was credited with the loss. Julie Wadland '10 replaced Kirk and made six saves.
On Wednsday, May 2, the Big Green women will be back in action at Scully-Fahey field at 6 p.m. for their last home game of the season against Boston College (5-9, 1-4 ACC). The Eagles will travel to the ACC tournament in Chapel Hill, N.C. Boston College, seeded fifth in the tournament, will face fourth-seed Virginia in a quarterfinal match-up.
Duke says the team will be ready for the final two games of the season.
"We are taking these next two weeks of practice to prepare each other better so that we can go into the last two games with more confidence," Duke said.