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Princeton University Athletics
Women's Lacrosse Clinches NCAA Berth With Resounding 17-8 Win over Dartmouth
April 24, 2004 | Women's Lacrosse
April 24, 2004
Box Score
In this Ivy League women's lacrosse season, there is no doubt who belongs at the top. Not after Princeton used three of its seemingly patented runs to put away a Dartmouth team that entered Saturday looking for a league title of its own.
When it was over, after the top-ranked Tigers had pulled away for a 17-8 victory over the No. 12 Big Green at Class of 1952 Stadium, Princeton had clinched the Ivy League's automatic NCAA berth. And the Tigers had done it in the kind of fashion that befits a champion.
"So many people got involved today," said Princeton head coach Chris Sailer, whose team also earned at least a share of its fourth straight league title. "So many people scored or had assists or contributed in some other way to this win." Try seven people in the goal column, including six who had two or more goals, and six in the assist column, including three who had two or more assists. Some were expected, like leading scorers Theresa Sherry and Lindsey Biles, who combined for seven goals and five assists. Others were a bit more unexpected, like Tara Hardiman's career-high three goals and Jamie Sundheim's two assists, including a key feed on an important goal late in the first half.
"I think it just took us a while to get going," said Hardiman, whose first goal came in a big Princeton run late in the first half. "But once we got things figured out offensively, good things started to happen."
The first good thing was a 4-0 Princeton run midway through the first half after Dartmouth (9-3, 6-1 Ivy) had taken a 2-0 lead early on on two goals by Katieanne Christian, who had four goals in the first half alone for the Big Green. After Sailer called timeout in hopes of stemming that run, the Tigers (14-0, 6-0 Ivy) responded, tying the game on Kathleen Miller's goal with 18:33 left in the half and then taking the lead for good just 10 seconds later after Biles won the draw control and found a streaking Liza Hillenbrand. Miller would score again less than three minutes later to give the Tigers a 4-2 lead.
Dartmouth would respond again, cutting its deficit to 6-5 on Lana Smith's goal with 6:36 left in the first half, but the Tigers then scored four straight in what turned out to be the most important stretch of the game. Hardiman and Christine Dobrosky scored less than two minutes apart to put Princeton ahead 8-5, and Biles and Sherry would then each score in the final 1:42 of the half to suddenly put the Tigers ahead 10-5 at halftime.
"I called the timeout early because I thought we just needed to calm down a little bit on both ends," said Sailer, who has now led the Tigers to eight Ivy League championships in her 18 years as head coach. "We started to take advantage of some fast-break opportunities, and Tara did a great job of taking advantage of her opportunities as well."
The Big Green got within 13-8 on Sarah Sanborn's goal with 5:09 left in the game, but the Tigers would fashion another four-goal run after that, with Biles and Hardiman each scoring twice in that stretch.
Princeton, which won its 23rd game in a row and defeated Dartmouth for the third straight season, also won 19 of the game's 27 draw controls and outshot the Big Green 37-22, including 23-12 in the decisive first half. In addition to their 12 points, Sherry and Biles combined for nine of those 19 draw controls.
Lana Smith added two goals for the Big Green, who saw a seven-game winning streak come to an end. Dartmouth can still earn a share of the Ivy title with Princeton if the Tigers fall at Brown next Saturday
As the league's automatic NCAA qualifier, the Tigers will make their 13th NCAA tournament appearance under Sailer, and their seventh straight, when that tournament begins in mid-May. But for now, Princeton still has second-ranked Maryland at home on Wednesday before visiting Brown to end the regular season May 1.