ITHACA, N.Y. -- A rainy Saturday afternoon did nothing to dampen the spirits of the Cornell women's lacrosse team, securing its Ivy League opener for the fourth time in the last five seasons with a 15-13 victory over the Dartmouth Big Green from Schoellkopf Field. Cornell improved to 3-1 overall and 1-0 in conference action, and Dartmouth fell to 2-2 and 0-1 in the Ivy.

Seven Big Red athletes found the back of the net in a game with 73 shots between the Ivy League foes. Josie Vogel led Cornell's high-powered offense with three goals and an assist to push her goal streak to 19 consecutive games. The junior was not alone in the hat trick department, as Sophie Ward had her second one of the season, and Dillyn Patten secured her first one of her Big Red career. Three other athletes had multi-point performances on the day in Bridget Babcock (two goals, two assists), Maggie Pons (two goals, two assists), and Kylie Gelabert (one goal, two assists). Babcock was also a pest from her midfielder position, securing a career-high five ground balls and a team-high two caused turnovers in Cornell's third-straight victory over the Big Green.

Katinia Christensen was the leader for the Big Green, scoring four goals and adding an assist on eight shots attempted, while Fiona O'Keeffe had four points (two goals, two assists). Two others also had multi-point performances in two goals and one assist outing from Katie Elders and Lucy Murray. Gisele Todd was handed the loss in net for Dartmouth after allowing 15 goals and making a season-high 12 saves in net. 

Cornell drew first blood early, as Gelabert found Vogel alone for a low-angle shot with 12:25 left in the opening 15 to push the Big Red ahead, 1-0. Alexa Donahoe would answer Vogel's goal about two minutes later, cutting through traffic and burying her second of the season off a great feed from Gelabert to extend the lead. Dartmouth's offense would wake up after the back-to-back goals by the Big Red, tying the game at three on goals by Christensen, Elders, and Erb that spanned over four minutes. Cornell's offense was not done late in the quarter, as Pons and Patten scored ten seconds apart to push the Big Red ahead 5-3 after the first quarter. 

That late-quarter momentum carried over into the second stanza with two more goals from Vogel to give Cornell a 7-3 cushion. The foot continued to push on the accelerator for the Big Red after the Vogel goals, as Patten and Pons found the back of the net for the second time on the day, extending its lead to 9-4. Dartmouth had the final say in the quarter with goals from Murray and Erb to pull within three at halftime. 

Those two late goals did nothing to sputter the Big Red offense out of the halftime break, as Sophie Ward turned a Big Green shot clock violation into her sixth goal before following that up with her seventh after beating her defender and taking a crisp pass from Pons to extend Cornell's lead to 11-6. Dartmouth eventually cut into the deficit to four on another goal from Christensen with 4:45 left in the third. Once again, Cornell answered the call with Ward's third of the day, followed by a slick behind-the-back shot by Gelabert that found the top right corner of the net less than a minute later to extend the lead to six. The lead would fall back down to four again until a draw control win by Annie Thomas turned into a race against the clock with the seconds trickling down. But all it took was 13 seconds for Cornell to find the back of the net again off the stick of Babcock, finding the top left corner to put the Big Red up by five heading into the final 15. The Big Red and Big Green combined for 15 shots on goal in the period. 

Despite being behind, Dartmouth made things a little dicey in the fourth for the Big Red faithful off goals from Jenna Donohue and Christensen to pull within three. The hyper-attack by the Big Green worked once more in the fourth on O'Keeffe's second of the day to jump within two for the first time since the opening quarter. The run did not matter for Cornell, as the Big Red shut down any thought of overtime, allowing only one shot over the final 4:32 to secure the win and an afternoon doubleheader sweep. 

BIG RED NOTABLES

• Sophomore midfielder Dillyn Patten secured her first career hat trick after missing all last season due to injury. 
• Senior Maggie Pons extended her assist streak to nine consecutive games dating to last season. It is the longest streak by a Big Red athlete. 
• Senior captain Bridget Babcock bested her previous high of three ground balls set twice against Columbia (3/7/2020) and Colgate (2/21/2023). 
• Saturday's contest makes it the fourth straight game that Cornell has had seven or more goal scorers. 
• Cornell's victory over Dartmouth extends its longest winning streak over the Big Green in program history (three consecutive).
• The Big Red found the back of the net at least ten times for the fourth straight game. It is the third consecutive season Cornell has had ten or more goals through four games. 
• Its 39 shots are the most a Jenny Graap-led team has had since having 40 in a 23-8 victory over Columbia in 2022.