W. lacrosse advances to NCAA semis with win over Dartmouth

Dartmouth might have tarnished Princeton's Ivy League title, but the Tigers have the upper hand when it comes to NCAA Tournament competition. Taking a huge early lead, the Tigers re-mained undefeated in four games against Dartmouth in the Tourna-ment and ending the Big Green's season.

While the Tigers have been exceptional against the Big Green in the Tournament, Dartmouth has owned the regular season, sweeping Princeton for the last five years.

It was the perfect rematch for the Tigers (14-4 overall, 6-1 Ivy League), who were blown out by the Big Green (14-4, 6-1) on April 21, losing 13-5 in Hanover to make Princeton and Dartmouth Ivy League co-champions. Yesterday's contest was completely different, as the Tigers refused to fall behind en route to a 10-4 win in the NCAA quarterfinals. Princeton will face No. 1 Maryland on Friday in the semifinals.

Freshman Theresa Sherry did not waste any time getting the Tiger offense started, scoring an unassisted goal only one minute, one second into the game.

Princeton owned the first 10 minutes of the game, allowing the Tigers to keep Dartmouth from ever getting close. Following Sherry's sudden score, sophomore Alex Fiore scored Princeton's second goal of the game only a minute and a half later. Two minutes later, senior Julie Shaner scored her first tally of the game, making the score 3-0.

With three quick goals, the game appeared as if it was going to become an offensive showdown. But after those first five minutes, the mood of the game changed from goals to defense. Allowing 13 goals in the April meeting, the Princeton defense made an enormous effort to contain the Dartmouth offense, and they did exactly that, shutting down the potent Big Green offense.

Sherry added to the lead with two more goals on the half, scoring a hat trick in the first 20 minutes of the game. A minute after Sherry's third goal, junior Lauren Simone scored her first goal of the game, giving the Tigers a 6-0 lead at halftime.

But the second half began as the complete opposite from the first. Dartmouth started the half motivated and aggressive. Down 6-0 and sensing the end of their season, the Big Green had to score a lot of goals quickly.

The Dartmouth offense exploded with three goals in the first seven minutes of the half. Led by Ivy League Player of the Year Suzy Gibbons' two goal,s Dartmouth had sliced the Princeton lead to three at 23:39.

Before Dartmouth could make the game any closer, Simone went on a run of her own, scoring two unassisted goals, at 21:26 and 16:01, making the score, 8-3. Princeton would then tack on two more before time ran out and the game ended 10-4.

Now the Tigers face the best team in the country in the semifinals in the form of the in form of the top-ranked Terrapins, who have beaten the Tigers in nine straight games, including a one-goal victory earlier this season.

Even if the Tigers do get by the Terrapins, they will not be home free, as the other semifinal game of Loyola and Georgetown pits two teams that have beaten the Tigers already this season.

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However, Princeton showed yesterday that it could come back from earlier losses, a skill the Tigers will have to cultivate with if they are to take home the title.