CURRO'S FIVE POINTS LEADS WOMEN'S LACROSSE PAST #16 DARTMOUTH, 9-8

Saturday, February 27

1 pm

University of New Hampshire

Dartmouth

CURRO'S FIVE POINTS LEADS WOMEN'S LACROSSE PAST #16 DARTMOUTH, 9-8

2/27/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse

JO JO CURRO

DURHAM, N.H. -- Jo Jo Curro (Amherst, N.H.) recorded three goals and two assists to propel the University of New Hampshire women's lacrosse team to a 9-8 victory against 16th-ranked Dartmouth College in Saturday afternoon's non-conference action at Memorial Field.

UNH, which had lost 15 consecutive games in the series vs. the Big Green dating back to 1991, improved to 2-0 this season while this marked the season opener for Dartmouth.

Both the three goals and five points marked career highs for Curro, who was named UNH's America East Player of the Game. Hayley Rausch (Severna Park, Md.) tallied two goals and two assists to finish with four points. Shaunna Kaplan (Framingham, Mass.; 1g, 1a) and Allie Duclos (South Windsor, Conn.; 2g) also tallied multiple points. It was Duclos' first career multiple-goal game.

UNH goalkeeper Kate Gunts (Wilton, Conn.) made four of her five saves in the first half to help the Wildcats build a 5-2 halftime lead. DC goalie Julie Wadland stopped seven shots. The Big Green was led offensively by Sarah Parks (2g, 1a), Greta Meyer (3g) and Hilary Smith (2g).

Trailing 5-2 at the start of the second half, DC pulled within two goals when Meyer scored an unassisted goal at 25:35.

The 'Cats reestablished a three-goal advantage at 23:05 when Rausch curled behind the net to the right post and fired a high shot into the net from point-blank range.

Dartmouth responded with a man-down goal at 10:51 to trim the deficit to 6-4. Parks caught an entry pass in the middle of the fan, then sidestepped a defender and Gunts by shifting to the right to create an open net to shoot into.

Rausch responded with her second goal of the game at 8:20. This time she curled to the left post and dropped a low shot into the net.

Dartmouth called its second timeout of the game at that point, but UNH scored 62 seconds later to build its largest lead, 8-4, when Curro collected a pass from Allie Bratton (Windermere, Fla.) on the right wing, continued to the middle and fired a shot into the goal.

The Big Green was awarded a free position at 6:45 and Smith drove from the top of the fan and fired a shot inside the right post to pull the visitors within 8-5 at 6:42.

UNH then went into a perimeter attack and the quick ball movement set up Curro cutting across the middle of the fan, where she sent a pass low on the left side to Duclos, who one-timed a shot into the goal to extend the lead to 9-5.

Dartmouth scored three goals in a span of 2:02 to pull within one goal. Sarah Plumb drove down the right wing and fed a pass inside to Parks, also on the right side of the fan, for a goal at 4:06 to move the score to 9-7. The on a free position from the top-left side, Kat Collins drove to the goal and released a high shot that sailed under the crossbar at 3:14.

The 'Cats called time out at that point. DC won the ensuing draw control. Each team committed two turnovers, and then another Dartmouth giveaway put the ball in the stick of Gunts with just over two minutes remaining. Meyer forced a turnover, however, corralled the loose ball and shot into the open net to lift the Big Green within 9-8 at 2:04.

DC again won the ensuing draw control, but UNH's Ally Stager (Reading, Mass.) picked up a ground ball with 1:20 remaining. The Wildcats quickly advanced the ball downfield and went into a spread offense to protect possession of the ball. Rausch shot wide of an open net, but collected the rebound off the netting with 17 seconds to play. Bratton also caught the rebound of her shot off the netting with :07 on the clock to secure the victory.

In the first half, Dartmouth took its only lead of the game, 1-0, when Meyer scored at 28:35. Kaplan responded with an unassisted goal at 27:51. The Wildcats took their first lead of the game, 2-1, when Curro converted a pass from Rausch into a goal at 24:44. The visitors pulled even on Smith's strike, from Parks, at 23:56.

UNH regained the lead, 3-2, when Kaplan set up Curro at 16:23. Dartmouth called time out at that point, but the 'Cats struck again at 15:05 when Rausch set up Kate Keagins (Bay Shore, N.Y.). Duclos, on a pass from behind the net by Curro, closed the first-half scoring at 4:27.

New Hampshire returns to action March 3 (3 p.m.) at the University of Massachusetts. The Wildcats' next home game is March 6 vs. Colgate. Game time at Memorial Field is 12 p.m.