HANOVER — The Dartmouth College women’s lacrosse team celebrated Saturday’s Senior Day by punching a ticket to the Ivy League tournament.
The 20th-ranked Big Green (10-4, 5-1 league) dominated Cornell, 15-8, throughout a wet contest at Scully-Fahey Field. The victory kept the hosts tied with Princeton atop the league standings with one game left on the schedule.
“We need to stay focused,” said Dartmouth’s third-year coach, Danielle Spencer. “In one moment, we know that we’re gonna go play in the Ivy tournament, but at the same time, our regular season still isn’t over. We’ll enjoy this. I’ll let the team enjoy this and celebrate this, but then we have to get refocused for Yale.”
Spencer’s squad will travel to New Haven next weekend, then to Columbia University for the four-team league tournament beginning on May 3. Dartmouth fell to Penn in last year’s semifinal round.
Dartmouth led, 4-3, early on Saturday, took a 9-5 lead into halftime and ultimately extended its all-time series lead over Cornell (8-6, 4-2) to 33-9.
Elizabeth Mastrio scored five goals and became the 18th player in program history to reach 100 career goals. The middie from Massachusetts knew she was in the neighborhood, but the accomplishment wasn’t on her mind going into the game against the Big Red.
“I (knew), but I forgot,” Mastrio said. “So when they announced it, it was really great to know that I got that in this game especially and to help us get to the tournament in that way. It’s just something I’m really proud of myself for and just a really great feeling.”
Mastrio was given a bouquet of flowers and a bottle of champagne after the game as one of nine seniors being honored.
“This might be mainly for pictures,” she said of the corked bottle. “But we’ll see.”
Kierra Sweeney recorded three goals and three assists, extending her team-leading point total to 60. Ellie Carson scored three goals and reached 102 career points in the process.
Spencer spoke to her team’s offensive dynamism when asked about the scoring milestones reached by Mastrio and Carson.
“I think that we do take pride in having an offense that has a lot of different threats in it,” she said. “We don’t have one or two top players. We feel like we have seven different people that can score.”
The Big Green came in averaging 15.92 goals per game and nearly maintained that clip despite a first-half downpour.
“I don’t think we shot very well,” Spencer said. “We were 15-for-44, but I thought we played with so much passion. The key for us is we aren’t always perfect by any means. It definitely was a rainy, sloppy day, but I thought our defense was really great. I thought our hustle around the field was amazing.”
Kathryn Giroux was, as usual, one of the hustle players on Saturday. The senior midfielder had eight draw controls, pushing her career total to 385. She’s first among Dartmouth women all-time and sits among the top 13 in NCAA history.
“Our coach really emphasizes the draw,” Giroux said when asked about the key to her success. “And then having the two circle girls be on the same page as you and boxing out for you; they’re the ones that make me open to get the draw.”
Giroux is one of a handful of Big Green players who specialize in the skill set.
“There’s about four of us that will take reps at the draw, but I mean that’s part of it,” she said. “When I go up against somebody in the draw in practice, it’s like 10 times harder than any game.”
Emma Lesko notched six draw controls for the Big Green, and Katie Borque had four to go along with a goal. Michelle Yu scored two goals for the hosts, and Brewer Campbell had one. Kellen D’Alleva and Tori Chanenchuk each contributed an assist.
Kiera Vrindten, a junior who has won Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week twice this month, made eight saves in goal for the hosts. Cornell’s Katie McGahan made 13 saves.
Notes: Princeton will host Cornell on Saturday. Like Dartmouth, a win for the Tigers next weekend will result in at least a share of the regular-season Ivy League title. … The Big Green last won a share of the league title in 2011 and was the sole winner in 2005. … Cornell (16 turnovers) committed the first four penalties of Saturday’s game and Dartmouth (13 turnovers) was whistled for the final three. … The Big Green outshot the visitors, 44-20, and won the draw-control battle, 19-6.