ITHACA, N.Y. -- Sophomore goalkeeper Kristen Reese made the most of her first collegiate start, making 11 saves, including several outstanding stops, to lead Cornell past Dartmouth 10-9 on Saturday afternoon at Schoellkopf Field. The Big Red snapped a four-game losing streak and improved to 5-4 overall (2-2 Ivy), while the Big Green fell to 5-5 (1-3 Ivy).

Reese posted a career high with her 11 stops, making six in the first 30 minutes and nearly matching that total with five in the second half. She stoned a Kristen Barry shot on the doorstep with just under two minutes to play and deked out the Big Green's Greta Meyer with four seconds to play, allowing Katherine Simmons to draw a charge and get the ball back for the home team to secure the victory.

Cornell defeated the Big Green for just the sixth time in program history, but the third time in the last seven meetings between the teams. It was also Cornell's first win over a ranked opponent since Cornell defeated then-No. 13 Syracuse 9-4 on April 19, 2006.

Besides Reese's play in goal, sophomore Kathryn Dewey had three goals and an assist to lead the offensive charge, while Noelle Dowd added three goals and Simmons posted two goals and an assist. Freshman Libby Johnson notched a goal and two assists, while Charlotte Schmidlapp (one goal) and Courtney Farrell (one assist) also reached the scoring column. Schmidlapp earned four draws as the Big Red had an 11-10 advantage. The Big Red also held a narrow edge in ground balls (16-15).

Dartmouth was led Meyer with three goals, while Barry and Kat Collins each had two goals and an assist. Barry added three draws and two ground balls, while Eliza Bennett had three draws and two ground balls as well. The Big Green went 2-of-5 on their free-position attempts, while holding Cornell without a chance.

Cornell scored the game's first two goals and held the lead throughout most of the first half before the Big Green rallied. With Cornell leading 3-1, Dartmouth closed by scoring four consecutive times to close the first half, including three times in the final 5:18. The visitors went into the break with the momentum after Bennett scored on a feed from Kate Labrum with four ticks left on the clock to make it 5-3.

The second half leaned heavily to the Big Red, who quickly tied the contest just 3:47 in after goals by Simmons and Johnson. After the Big Green went back up 6-5 on a free-position score by Meyer, the Big Red scored two in the span of 40 seconds to give the squad its first lead since 2-1. Dewey knotted the score at 6-6, then took the lead on a score by Dowd with 19:02 left.

The game stayed at one-goal until Barry's second goal of the game tied the contest at 7-7 with 9:16 left. Dewey put the home team ahead for good a minute later when her bounce shot went between Dartmouth goalkeeper Julie Wadland's legs to push Cornell to an 8-7 edge. Dowd made it a two-goal advantage at the 6:42 mark to make it 9-7, but the Big Green responded 29 seconds later when Cate Goytisolo took a feed from Kat Collins to bring the game back within one. Schmidlapp gave the Big Red some breathing room when she cashed in a feed from Johnson with 4:31 left, but less than a minute later it was again a one-goal edge as Meyer found the back of the net for the 15th time this season. That set up Reese's late-game heroics, and an outstanding defensive stand in the final minute to seal with victory.

The Big Red returns to action on Friday, April 11 at 5:00 p.m. for an Ivy contest at Brown.

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2008-04-05