April 5, 2002

Women seek first win vs. Green in 10 tries

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The women’s lacrosse team returns to Schoellkopf Field tomorrow to face off against league rival No. 12 Dartmouth. The Red is coming off its first loss of the season — a 16-12 defeat against Princeton last Saturday. The loss makes this game all the more important if the Red is to remain alive for an Ivy title. Rarely has a team has suffered two losses in the Ivy League and won the title.

Unfortunately for the Red, the recent history between the two schools has largely favored the Green. Dartmouth, as head coach Jenny Graap ’86 commented, “has been a monkey on our back for quite sometime.”

The Big Green leads the series 19-3 all-time, winning 17 out of the last 18 games, and currently holds a 10 game winning streak in the series. Last year Dartmouth squeezed out a heartbreaking 6-5 triple overtime victory in Hanover.

Dartmouth is 5-2 on the year and 2-1 in the Ivies, with its only losses occurring against defending national champion Maryland and Ivy foe Yale. The Big Green is currently in the midst of a three game winning streak including a trumping of Massachusetts last week, 15-5.

Perhaps its strongest feature is a high-powered offense that has six players with 11 points or more. Jen Newitt (20-3-23), Whitney Jamison (9-12-21) and Alison Moulin (14-5-19) are particularly big threats on the Green. Goalie Sarah Hughes has played every minute in net on defense.

It is also a squad that returns six key seniors from a team last year that shared the Ivy-crown with Princeton.

“Dartmouth is a team that has for many years sat atop the Ivy League,” Graap. “We have worked very hard to elevate our program to compete with the tops teams, in the Ivies and nationally. Now that we are there we need get beyond the history and the pressure. We need to play them straight.”

Cornell is currently ranked eighth in the nation and will for the first time enter with a higher ranking than Dartmouth. Though Graap downplayed the rankings, she hoped the higher seeding would give the team confidence going into the match.

The Red has had its share of scoring on the season and will look for its offense to spark against the Green. Both senior Jaimee Reynolds and junior Sarah Averson recorded four goals in the game against Princeton. Junior Sarah Fischer notched three tallies of her own. On the year the Red has four players with 11 points or more (Reynolds 23, Averson 19, Fischer 16 and senior Beth Calder 11), and sixteen who have recorded at least one point.

The offense has also been given a boost by the return of senior Lori Wohlschlegel from knee injury. She contributed two assists last week against Princeton. “We are really excited to have Lori back,” Graap said. “Every week she gets stronger.”

On defense Cornell will continue to look to senior goalie Carrie Giancola, who has made 38 saves on the season and has posted an 8.08 goals against average, to be a defensive stalwart.

Graap believed that the atmosphere going into the game has been relatively cool and collected. “We are very healthy going into the game, very loose, very relaxed.”

The Red, with its offense, defense and attitude, feels that it can rid itself of that pesky primate.

Archived article by Chris Callanan