Laxwomen Top Dartmouth, Advance to NCAA Final Four

The season simply would not end on this note.

No, this team was too stubborn. It had won for too long. The coach was too determined. The offensive star was too intense.

Teams accustomed to winning do not accept defeat easily.

And so on Saturday, when the Harvard women's lacrosse team (13-2 overall, 6-1 Ivy) stood tied with Dartmouth, 5-5, at halftime, it was obvious who was going to win.

The playoff game at Ohiri Field would determine who would advance to the NCAA Final Four next weekend, and it was simply too important a game for Harvard to lose.

So Harvard got serious, and presto--an 11-8 Crimson victory locked up the treasured berth to the Final Four.

"We really stepped it up in the second half," sophomore goalie Liz Williamson said. "We kind of let [Dartmouth] play [its] game in the first half, and we didn't want that to go on."

Harvard's performance on Saturday, while not as dominant as its 15-6 win over the same Dartmouth squad a week ago, was in many ways more impressive.

Dartmouth started much more quickly than it did in the teams' first meeting. Tighter defense by the Big Green stifled the Crimson players' attempts to get near the goal, and a few breakaway attacks by streaking Dartmouth defenders caught Harvard off guard.

Until Co-Captain Liz Berkery and junior Sarah Downing reignited the Crimson offense at the beginning of the second half, the unthinkable--a Dartmouth win--seemed quite possible.

"Liz just had an amazing game," Co-Captain Rachel Burke said. "She was very poised and kept us all confident, even when the score was really close."

It was, from start to finish, a tough game. It was dirty. It was difficult. It was the kind of game that champions win and second-place teams lose.

"I thought it was really important that it was a tough win, as opposed to the easy ones we've been having," Burke said.

"After being tied at the half, we displayed a lot of mental endurance that I think will be important in the Final Four against more talented teams like Virginia," she said.

Ah, yes, the Final Four. With Dartmouth out of the way, Harvard now stands two wins away from its first national championship in women's lacrosse since 1990.

Only the seniors on this year's team, Berkery and Burke, participated in the last title-winning drive, but don't think that the younger players lack for motivation.

"We're really fired up now," Williamson said. "We know that if we have a good week of practice and play how we're capable of playing, we can come out on top next weekend."

On top? That's right--on top of the whole country.

One feels a creeping suspicion that Harvard simply won't let its season end until then.

'If...we play how we're capable of playing, we can come out on top next weekend.'

Liz Williamson