Hanover
Sunday, however, those two teams met again at Scully-Fahey Field and staged an utterly wild ending in which the Big Green was spat out as a 10-9 victor. It was Dartmouth’s first defeat of No. 16 Penn since the 2012 Ivy League tournament title game and the first victory against the Quakers in Hanover since a regular-season contest earlier that same year.
“What was so special was that no one on the field lost faith that we could win,” said senior midfielder Jaclyn Leto, who scored six goals, including what proved to be the winner with 14 minutes to play.
Although Leto scored her 130th goal and posted her 150th point during the contest, the New Jersey native made her presence felt most keenly when she caused a turnover behind the Big Green net with seconds to play.
“That was the biggest play of the day for her,” said Dartmouth coach Amy Patton, whose team improved to 5-3 overall and 1-1 in Ivy action. “She is a silent leader… and has become one of the most well-rounded players to come through our program.”
Dartmouth scored first but surrendered the next four goals and trailed, 6-4, at halftime. The Big Green was an abysmal 3-of-8 on clears before the break and Penn clearly had the upper hand.
The tables turned dramatically, however, as the hosts scored the next six goals for a 10-6 lead with 14 minutes to play. The Quakers pulled within 10-8, however, then benefitted when Patton was hit with a yellow card for unsportsmanlike conduct after berating a referee about what she believed was a botched non-call.
Penn (6-3, 1-1) scored less than a minute later and with Dartmouth down a player. It was now 10-9 and momentum was wearing red and navy.
“I felt terrible about that and I wouldn’t have asked the ref about it if I didn’t think it was a real missed call,” Patton said. “But I’ve also had yellow cards over the years where it really inspired the team. I felt like, yeah, they scored, but our team was ready to do whatever it took to win that game.
“They moved on from it and I had to as well. I couldn’t dwell on it.”
With less than a minute remaining, Penn turned the ball over out of bounds on the left sideline in the Dartmouth end. Dartmouth freshman defender Lauren D’Amico began the restart and attempted a back pass to classmate and goaltender Charlotte Wahle. The feed was far too high, however, almost resembling a baseball pop fly. A Penn attacker leaped to pick the ball off as it descended.
“If I had it to do over again, I would call a time-out when DA had the ball,” Patton said. “Everyone could have taken a deep breath. Next time, I will.”
Moments later, Dartmouth’s Sophie Davidson was called for violating the defensive 3-second rule. That regulation says a defender cannot be within the 8-meter arc for more than three seconds unless she is within a stick’s length of an opponent she is guarding.
Because Dartmouth already had multiple 3-seconds violations, Davidson’s foul led to a Penn free-position shot from the 8-meter line, head-on with Wahle. The Quakers’ Brooke Kiley readied herself and those in attendance prepared themselves for a goal, a save or a shot sent wide.
Instead, once the whistle sounded to start play, Kiley turned sideways and passed to a teammate. In the stands, expressions of puzzlement and shock were heard from Big Green and Quakers fans alike.
Patton and Leto both said they assumed Kiley would shoot. The coach does not allow freshmen to speak to the media during the regular season, so Wahle was unavailable for comment.
“I was surprised,” Leto said. “I guess they were working for the last shot. Or maybe they were afraid of Charlotte.”
Quaker senior Nina Corcoran, the Ivies’ assists leader, took the ball behind the Dartmouth goal during the final 10 seconds. However, Leto knocked down a pass with three seconds to go and the Big Green held on to triumph.
“The last minute seemed to take 20 hours,” Patton said. “But there wasn’t a minute in the game where I thought our team wasn’t going to win. It was the most connected I’ve seen them all year. We obviously made mistakes out there today, but our reaction if we turned the ball over was to get back, and everyone was chasing.”
Dartmouth did not have a failed clear during the second half. It claimed seven of the 10 draw controls following intermission after winning only 5-of-11 before the break.
“Those were our two focuses,” said Patton, who deploys a specific unit for draws. “We had to stop turning the ball over.”
The coach said she is forever putting her players through game-situation drills during practice. Up by a goal and we have to hold the ball; trailing by three goals with 15 minutes to play; down a player and we have to get the ball back.
She’ll even bring the Big Green into the locker room to simulate halftime.
“You can’t go over every single situation, but you try to do enough so you can tell them they’ve been here before,” Patton said. “Those pressure situations mean they know how to claw back.”
Dartmouth was 3-11 overall and 3-4 in league play last season, a startling drop-off for a program that reached the NCAA tournament for three consecutive seasons beginning in 2011. After winning the Ivies that year, however, the Big Green has finished second, third, fifth and fifth again.
“Everything in life goes in ebbs and flows,” Patton said. “The last couple years we’ve built a lot of character because they were difficult years. Last year, one goal kept us out of the (four-team Ivy postseason) tournament.
“I don’t think we’d be where we are this year without last year. We’re a lot more resilient.”
NOTES — Penn dressed three goaltenders and used two of them. Wahle is Dartmouth’s lone backstop. Asked what happens if the Duxbury, Mass., product is injured or gets sick, Patton was succinct. “We don’t talk about that,” she said. “We’ll have two (goaltenders) next year but right now we’ve got one and Char’s got to get it done.” … Attendance was announced at 586 with the Quakers bringing a noticeable number of supporters … Dartmouth is 4-0 at home this season … Tracy Coyne, a former Dartmouth women’s lacrosse assistant coach who last year settled a wrongful termination lawsuit with the college is the head coach at George Washington. The Colonials are 2-6 this season and 8-16 since Coyne took over for the 2014-15 academic year.
Tris Wykes can be reached at twykes@vnews.com or 603-727-3227