March 30, 2006
Hanover, NH - The Stanford women's lacrosse team fell 13-9 to the Dartmouth Big Green on Thursday afternoon in a hard-fought match played at Scully Fahey Field in Hanover, N.H. Stanford falls to 5-4 on the season with the loss, while Dartmouth improves to 5-3.
Dartmouth took a quick 2-0 lead on goals by sophomore Kristen Barry and senior Casey Hazel to open the game, but Stanford battled back with three goals in less than three minutes to take the lead. Junior Michelle DeChant started off the scoring for the Cardinal, and senior Sarah Bach and sophomore Daphne Patterson each contributed goals to the run. Hazel struck again in the ninth minute, however, to tie the game and junior Sarah Szefi put the Big Green on top less than two minutes later. In the 13th minute, Megan Burker brought the match into its third tie with her seventh free position goal of the season. The 4-2 run by the Big Green to end the half, however, combined with 21 first half shots to Stanford's 10, gave Dartmouth a 6-5 advantage at the break.
Jen Pittman made the difference for the Big Green in the second half, leading her team to outscore the Cardinal 7-4 in the period. The junior scored two free position goals to start off the half and Dartmouth would never relinquish the lead. Patterson scored two more goals for the Cardinal to try to catch Pittman and the Big Green, but the effort was not enough to overcome the Ivy League squad.
Stanford was led in scoring by the hat tricks of Patterson and DeChant. Burker, Bach and freshman Maris Perlman rounded out the scoring for the Cardinal. Dartmouth was led by the five goals of Pittman, who scored four of her five in a 15-minute span between the first and second halves.
Goalkeeper Laura Shane led the Cardinal defense with 16 saves on the afternoon, her second-best performance of the season. The sophomore now has 102 saves on the year and boasts a .537 save percentage.
Stanford returns to the field Sunday, when the team takes on No. 5 North Carolina in a neutral site game at Georgetown University. The squad's next home match is scheduled for 7 p.m. April 10 at Maloney Field.