Cinderella Meets Harvard

Cinderella trades in her evening gown for a lacrosse skirt this afternoon and goes on the biggest date of her life. And if she gets her final wish, she'll write a championship ending to her spring fairy tale.

But even her fairy godmother admits it'll be difficult for Cinderella to pull off what many still consider impossible

Dartmouth women's lacrosse Coach Jo Ann Harper says it'll take an "incredible performance" for her squad--the 1983 women's lacrosse Cinderella story--to wrest the Ivy championship from a far more talented Harvard squad this afternoon at Soldier's Field. If there's any team that's capable, however, it's the storybook squad from Hanover.

The Big Green enters the 2 p.m. showdown for the Ivy title a slight underdog. But if you're a betting man, hold on to your money. This is the same Dartmouth squad that has entered almost every game it's played this year as an underdog. And it's the same Dartmouth squad that's surprised the hell out of almost every opponent.

But more importantly, it's the very same Dartmouth squad that didn't win one Ivy game all last season. That's zero. Not a one. The very same lacrosse squad that finished dead last, clinging to its all-too-familiar doormat position in the Ivies.

Now, a year later, the Cinderella squad brings a very respectable 4-1 league record into today's winner-take-all showdown, just as Harvard does. But unlike the Crimson (currently 9-3-1 overall), Dartmouth (8-3 overall) will be looking for its first-ever Ivy title. The Crimson won the championship two years ago and shared it with Penn last year. But Harper--whose squad, many had thought, would be the Ivy pushover again this year--couldn't be happier with her squad's underdog status.

"We've been the underdog all year," she says, "and we've come this far. There's no reason to think the girls will give up now."

And Harper quickly points out that's it been more than just the stroke of her magic Wand that has brought her squad out of the depths of despair and into today's championship game. Sure, the Big Green machine caught a few teams by surprise early in the season, had the fortune to meet pre-season Ivy favorite Penn on neutral turf, and did defeat three Ivy foes by a total of three goals. But, as Harper says, the Dartmouth squad "has played consistently all year. And once the girls saw that they could win, they just started playing better and better."

The Dartmouth squad that will grace the field today is playing perhaps its finest lacrosse of the year. The squad's top scoring threats come in senior Sandy Bryan (29 goals, 10 assists) and junior Roseanne Byron (24 goals, six assists) Add to that the continuing impressive play of freshmen Allison Barlow and Nina McDowell and the sharp goaltending of Fran O'Donoghue and you've got a squad at the top of its game.

"We're in real good shape right now." Harper says. "We've got no injuries and everyone is playing really well."

All of which should make for a pretty sharp showdown today, considering the Crimson squad is riding a five-game winning streak and playing some of its best lacrosse in recent history. And the laxwomen, who, like Dartmouth, dropped their only Ivy game to Princeton, have virtually recovered from the rash of injuries which sidelined almost half the team earlier this year. Only Lili Pew, who is recovering from torn ligaments in her right knee, will miss the game for the Crimson.

'We're on the rise again," contends Crimson Coach Carole Kleinfelder. "We're relatively healthy again and the attack is playing superbly."

And that's what concerns Harper. She'll have to contend with Crimson All-Americans Francesca DenHartog and Maureen Finn, the ever-consistent Jennifer White and the ever-improving Maggie Hart, who together have combined for 145 of Harvard's 192 goals this year.

"I think if we can shut down their big guns we'll be all right," Harper says. "We'll need to stop Fran (DenHartog) and Mo Finn, who is probably the most underrated player in the entire area."

Regardless of what happens today, though, Harper says, this season has been more than she ever would have dreamed. "No matter what happens out there," she says of her Cinderella squad, "I couldn't be more pleased with this team."