NEW YORK — No matter how much Penn tried, Dartmouth just wouldn’t go away in Friday’s Ivy League semifinal at Rocco B. Commisso Soccer Stadium on the campus of Columbia.
The Big Green, co-champions of the Ivy League and the No. 2 seed, sure didn’t three weeks ago in the regular season in a 15-11 win over the Quakers. Nor did they last year when Penn won this exact matchup, also an Ivy League semifinal bout.
Simply, Penn head coach Karin Corbett knew it wouldn’t be easy. But the Quakers powered through for a 15-14 win, setting up a final against either rival and top-seeded Princeton.
One of the keys, Corbett said, was limiting Dartmouth's Kathryn Giroux at the draw control. She only had six on the day, but has a conference record of 401 for her career and is 11th all-time in the NCAA.
“We knew with how good Giroux is at the draw, and that it’d be a problem all day,” Corbett said. “We were going to have less possessions off the draw, so I was proud of my team for how they fought. It was a very physical game and they played really hard. I’m proud of them.”
Yet again, the loss stops Dartmouth short of its ultimate goal: an Ivy League championship. The Big Green, now in their third year under head coach Danielle Spencer, have been inching closer, but the final hurdle remains elusive. They last won the Ivy League in 2012.
Dartmouth will now hope for an at-large bid on Selection Sunday to the NCAA tournament, but the odds of the Ivy League being a three-bid conference is no guarantee. The Big Green entered Friday No. 14 in the RPI rankings, so that certainly helps their case.
“We haven’t had a bad loss all season,” Spencer said. “We beat Penn earlier in the year, made a huge improvement from last year. The NCAA has taken three Ivies before, so we just hope they’ll do it again.”
Dartmouth’s best run came at the tail end of the first half, as it scored three straight to enter halftime down 8-7. Senior attackers Elizabeth Mastrio and Kierra Sweeney combined for nine goals and an assist, but an offense that entered scoring 16.3 goals per game was a shade off its usual self.
Chalk it up to Penn keeping its marks tight and Mikaila Cheeseman making 13 saves. The game also included 31 fouls and six cards, with most going to Dartmouth.
“I don’t think the refs were spectacular by any means,” Spencer said, “but I’m never one to blame the refs.”
As much as Dartmouth stuck around, Penn leaned upon its game-changers as all great teams do. Erin Barry, the Ivy League Midfielder of the Year, had five goals. Gabby Rosenzweig, the team’s sole Tewaaraton Award Watch List member, had three goals and four assists to set Penn's single season points record with 86. Meanwhile, attacker Zoe Belodeau had a hat trick herself.
“Rosenzweig had huge goals for us in that [second half] run, and Erin’s heart and soul in this game was incredible,” Corbett said. “She was all over the field, getting ground balls, scoring big goals for us. She was middie of the year and she showed it.”
Even when the Big Green pulled their goalie with 90 seconds remaining, it seemed overtime could be forced. But Dartmouth, down a player, went offsides and turned possession back to Penn. There was on-field confusion, but Spencer was candid after the game that it was the right call.
Now, for the second straight year, the Quakers are bound for the Ivy League final. They never trailed outside the first five minutes of the first half.
“No person on our team has won an Ivy League championship game, so that’s going to light us up and add some fire under our belts,” Barry said. “We want to come out with that win on Sunday.”
Princeton Beats Cornell in Ivy Semifinal
Princeton goalie Sam Fish made 16 saves and the Tigers used a quick start to down Cornell 11-6 in the second game of the Ivy League semifinals. Princeton, the defending league champion, meets Penn in Sunday's championship game in New York.
Princeton scored the first six goals of the game and led 8-2 at halftime, but Cornell got back into striking distance by scoring the first three goals of the second half.
Princeton's Elizabeth George then scored to end a 19-plus minute scoring drought to stretch the lead back to four and Fish allowed just one goal over the final 14 minutes of the game.
The Tigers had assists on just two of their 11 goals, but got enough offense from Kyla Sears (3 goals), George (2 goals) and Allie Rogers (2 goals) to get the job done. Caroline Allen had three goals for Cornell.