After the women’s lacrosse team fell to the University of Pennsylvania 10-6 in a rematch of last year’s Ivy League tournament championship game, both players and coach had the team’s character in mind. With this loss, the Big Green drops to 5-6 on the season and 2-3 in Ivy play.
“With all the things we’ve had going on this year, our character has been tested,” head coach Amy Patton said after the game. “This is one more test — are you going to fold and give in, or are you going to come out the next game and play better?”
The Big Green was tested from the onset of the game, as Penn scored its first goal less than two minutes into regulation. The Big Green’s offense was stifled by Penn’s defense in the first half — its lone goal came from team scoring leader Jaclyn Leto ’16 six minutes into the period.
The team failed to generate offense due to a series of turnovers in the middle of the field, Patton said.
“In the first half, we were really flat and Penn capitalized on a bunch of our mistakes,” she said.
Dartmouth struggled with turnovers throughout the game. In the first half, all six of Penn’s scores came off of Dartmouth turnovers. The Big Green would go on to lose the overall turnover battle 14-5.
Co-captain Liz Calby ’14 called Penn a “clean team” that rarely commits turnovers.
“We knew that on attack, we really needed to take care of the ball and we needed to have a lot of discipline in the way we were moving,” she said. “We needed to disguise our plays. That was our game plan, and we just didn’t execute.”
Early on, the Big Green found itself unable to slow down Penn’s offense, which came into the game with a League-low 7.88 goals per game.
“Our coaches did a great job of scouting Penn and we knew what was coming,” co-captain Kara Lehman ’14 said. “We just hadn’t seen that kind of speed or patience and composure.”
The Big Green demonstrated its resilience in the second half, outscoring the Quakers 5-4. Sarah Byrne ’15 opened the scoring for the Big Green with a goal 2:08 into the period.
To Calby, however, the halftime adjustment was emotional not tactical.
“We had to fire each other up in the locker room,” she said. “That’s where the shift happened — getting everyone fired up and wanting to be out there and wanting to go for ground balls and get draws.”
The Big Green also tightened its defense in the second half. Senior goalkeeper Kristen Giovanniello ’14 had seven saves in the second half alone. Her 10 in the game brought her to 503 total career saves, making her the third Big Green athlete to reach the 500-save milestone.
“She’s just a phenomenal goalie,” Lehman said. “She’s been an all-star, a rock since her first day her freshman year. Having such a phenomenal keeper allows our coaches and our team to focus on all other aspects of our game.”
In the end, however, Dartmouth’s strong second half performance was not enough to overcome its disappointing first half.
“You’re never going to beat a team like Penn playing just 15 minutes,” said Patton. “I give them credit — they’re a very disciplined team, well coached. They knew the game plan and executed.”
The game was the last home Ivy League game for the Big Green’s seniors. At the end of the game, the team’s six senior players — Calby, Anjalie Christie ’14, Lehman, Lindsey Allard ’14, Bailey Johnson ’14, and Giovanniello — and student manager Kyleigh Williams ’14 were honored for their contributions to the team.
Calby said her emotions going into the game were “bittersweet.”
“Looking around the locker room before the game, the energy was some of the best of the year,” she said.
The Big Green now faces a short turnaround before hosting Hofstra University at home on Monday.
