Ivy Battle Pits Princeton Against Dartmouth This Saturday

Saturday, April 6

Hanover, N.H.

1:00 PM

Princeton University

Dartmouth

Photo by: Matt Stamey

Ivy Battle Pits Princeton Against Dartmouth This Saturday

April 03, 2019 | Women's Lacrosse

No. 15 Princeton at No. 25 Dartmouth l Saturday, April 6 l 1 PM I Hanover, N.H.
ESPN+ l Live Stats

The Princeton women's lacrosse team took a step in the right direction with a 15-6 win over Villanova Tuesday night, snapping a two-game losing streak in the process.

Now the direction the Tigers find themselves in is north. As in, north to Hanover, N.H.

Princeton begins the drive into the heart of its Ivy League schedule with a game at Dartmouth Saturday. The Big Green are 3-0 in the league, one of two unbeaten, along with 2-0 Penn. Princeton is 1-1 and one of three teams in the league with one loss, along with Brown and Cornell.

Princeton vs. Dartmouth: Five Storylines

The league race
Princeton has six games remaining, five of which are Ivy games (the other is a Wednesday night home against Loyola). For starters, should they win all five of their league games, the Tigers would be assured of no worse than at least a share of the championship.

In addition, the top four teams in the league will qualify for the Ivy League tournament next month at Columbia.

Princeton has won the last five Ivy League championships.

Scoring offense
Can you expect a lot of goals in this one? Princeton and Dartmouth rank 1-2 in the Ivy League in scoring offense.

Between them, the two teams score just short of 30 goals per game between them. In addition to their Ivy League rank, both teams are in the top 25 in Division I in goals per game.

The teams also share the ball very well, ranking 1-2 in the league (and both in the top 15 in the country) in assists per game.

Series history
Princeton has a 27-19 lead in the series.

Twice already in the series, one team has had a five-game winning streak that was immediately followed by a five-game winning streak by the other. In fact, Princeton won the first five games between the teams, starting in 1980, and then Dartmouth won the five after that. The other big swing came after Dartmouth won five straight from 1997 through the 2001 regular season, followed by a Princeton in the 2001 NCAA tournament and then four more after that, including another NCAA win in 2004.

More recently, Princeton had a four-game winning streak against Dartmouth snapped a year ago, when the Big Green never trailed on the way to a 15-12 win on Sherrerd Field. Princeton was led by three goals from Kyla Sears and Annie Cory.

Volume shooting
Princeton leads the Ivy League and ranks seventh in the country in shooting percentage, at .486. Princeton shot 15 for 33 against Villanova, which was slightly below that average but still very strong.

Dartmouth comes into the game 63rd in shooting percentage in the country but third in the country (and first in the league) in both total shots per game and shots on goal per game. In fact, the Big Green average 38.6 shots per game, compared with 28.78 for the Tigers, who rank, coincidentally, 63rd in Division I.

Possessions
Princeton caused 22 Villanova turnovers Tuesday night. The Tigers average nearly 13 caused turnovers per game, best in the Ivy League and fifth in Division I.

Dartmouth, on the other hand, turns the ball over 17.4 times per game, which is sixth in the league and 73rd in Division I. How does Dartmouth overcome that stat to take as many shots as it does and score as many goals as it does?

The Big Green are among the very best in the country in winning the draw. In fact, Dartmouth is fourth in the country in draw controls per game and fifth in the country in draw control percentage.

Dartmouth is also the fourth-best clearing percentage team in the country.

Closing in on 100
Kathryn Hallett enters the game with 99 career points on 76 goals and 23 assists.

Should she get one more point, she'd become the fourth current player to have at least 100 career points, along with Tess D'Orsi, Elizabeth George and Kyla Sears. George and Sears went over 100 points this season.

Sears has 89 career goals and is looking to join D'Orsi and George as 100-goal scorers.

Other notes

* Marge Donovan continues to lead the team in caused turnovers with 19 and ground balls with 25. Donovan has at least four caused turnovers and at least four ground balls in each of her last three games.

* Princeton had 12 different players with at least one caused turnover against Villanova.

* Dartmouth enters the game having won six straight games. Princeton and Dartmouth so far have one common opponent, Columbia, whom the two teams outscored by a combined 40-3.

* Shannon Berry had her first career goal in the win over Villanova.

* Kyla Sears has at least one goal in every game of her career and at least three goals in 18 of 28 career games.

* Elizabeth George has gone from 11 points as a freshman to 36 as a sophomore to 49 as a junior. She has 42 after nine games as a senior. Her draw control totals have gone from eight to 36 to 57 and now 45 through nine games.