W. Lacrosse Falls

Yesterday's women's lacrosse game against Dartmouth was worthy of a Lewis Carroll narrative. The No. 13 Crimson's 14-8 loss at Ohiri Field to No. 3 Dartmouth was as backward and out of character as any Mad Hatter's tea or croquet with the Queen of Hearts. Dartmouth  14 Harvard  8

In the words of Tweedledee, "Contrariwise, if it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be, but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic."

The loss was only slightly simpler to assess.

"It was Dartmouth's day and it wasn't ours," Harvard Coach Carole Kleinfelder said.

The confusion began with Harvard's use of an inverted offense designed to draw Dartmouth into defensive mismatches. Since the Harvard players are easily interchanged, defenders were played as forwards when the Crimson went on attack.

"We were trying to force Dartmouth's attackers to play defense on our attackers," senior co-captain Genevieve Chelius said. "Then when our attackers went down field they were being guarded by other attackers who weren't good defenders."

Confused? Is a smiling chesire cat beginning to cloud your vision? Unfortunately, there was no such problem for the Big Green.

After Harvard opened the scoring with goals by senior co-captain Megan Colligan and junior midfielder Sara Noonan, the Big Green deciphered Harvard's offensive scheme and returned the favor with two goals of their own. In the final 10 minutes, Dartmouth outscored the Crimson 5-2 and claimed a lead they would never relinquish.

"You have to give [Dartmouth] credit. They did a good job adjusting to that [inverted offense]." Chelius said. "They had obviously scouted us and were aware of who our strong offensive players were."

Although Chelius put Harvard on the board first in the second half, Dartmouth continued to outscore the Crimson at every opportunity. For every Harvard goal, Dartmouth would score two.

"After the half, we were down by three goals and all we were doing was fighting our way back in the game," Colligan said. "We weren't getting anything up on them."

"Once we realized that we were faster than them and could take them on the fast break, that's when the game really went well," Dartmouth coach Amy Patton said.

Dartmouth's scoring barrage continued into the final minutes of the second half. The Big Green outscored the Crimson 4-1 in the last 10 minutes of the game. Uncharacteristically, Harvard's defense broke down and the team lost its composure in the game's waning moments.

It was the first time since 1986 that Dartmouth has defeated Harvard. "I was so happy for the whole team because it's been a long time since we've beaten Harvard," Patton said. "We've finally gotten the monkey off our back."

A final symbolic reversal came when the Dartmouth team, having captured the Ivy League title with the win, posed for a team picture. Prior to the 1994 season, Harvard had held part of the Ivy title for seven consecutive years.

Contrariwise, if it wasn't so, it might be next year.

DARTMOUTH, 14-8 at Ohiri Field Dartmouth  7  7  --  14 Harvard  4  4  --  8

G:Dartmouth--Holleran (3), Mendelson (4), Cook (3), Devens (2), Schneider, Greene; Harvard--Colligan (3), Chelius (2), Noonan, Winters, Shumway; S: Dartmouth--Prettyman 8; Harvard--Schutt 15.