After what attacker Greta Criqui ’25 described as “a devastating loss to Yale” last weekend, the Bears (9-3, 2-2 Ivy) bounced back with a dominating win against Dartmouth (6-5, 0-4 Ivy) on Saturday at home. Brown was propelled by an uncanny first quarter in which the Bears scored eight unanswered goals to take a sizable lead which continued to mount en route to a win. The Bruno victory made Head Coach Katrina Dowd the winningest first-year head coach in program history.
For Annie Burton ’25, maintaining a consistent offensive and defensive presence throughout the game was “key” for the win.
“Lacrosse is a game of momentum shifts. When you have the momentum, you have to fight to keep it, and when you don't have the momentum, you have to do everything in your power to get it back,” Burton wrote in an email to The Herald. “In this game, both the offensive and defensive units did a great job of supporting each other through the shifts of the game,”
Despite brisk wind and misty rain, the Bears were firing on all cylinders, showing off their potent offense from the moment Saturday’s contest began. Midfielder Maddie Joyce ’24.5 got Brown started by gracefully navigating the Dartmouth defense and scoring the game’s first goal — and her eleventh this season — at the 11:21 mark.
Moments later, Criqui scored the first of her five goals in this game, ultimately leading the game in goals scored. “(The team) worked hard this week in practice to make sure we had a dominating performance,” Criqui wrote. “Coaches Dowd, Scotton and Gait prepared a great game plan for us. We were sharing the ball and finishing on our opportunities.
Leah Caputo ’24.5 followed up shortly after with a goal of her own, extending the Brown lead to three and forcing the Big Green to make defensive adjustments.
Everything was clicking for Bruno. Defensively, the Bears showed relentless aggression, suffocating the Dartmouth offense and forcing turnovers. Offensively, Brown continued to mount its lead by sprinting downfield, firing clean passes and shooting pinpoint goals into the net. With 3:32 left in the first quarter, Bruno held a comfortable 8-0 lead.
Burton, who finished with a game-high six assists, spearheaded the Bruno offense. “We were a cohesive unit working together, communicating and sharing the ball,” Burton wrote. “Our energy stayed high throughout the game even when we made mistakes, which is something we focused on all week in practice.”
With 90 seconds remaining in the first quarter, Dartmouth’s Katie Elders finally ended their scoring drought, putting the Big Green in an 8-1 hole after one quarter. In spite of the steep deficit, Dartmouth stayed resilient and never gave up. The Big Green outscored the Bears 4-3 in the second quarter, leaving Brown up 12-5 at the half.
To combat Dartmouth’s strong second-quarter effort, the Bears showed unwavering force after halftime. Flawlessly moving the ball around the Dartmouth net, Brown’s offense continued to dominate as Joyce, Burton, Sydney Rathjen ’25 and Criqui combined for five unanswered goals to extend the Brown lead to 17-6. In the last five minutes of the third quarter, Dartmouth’s Catherine Erb and Ellie Burdick added two goals to bring the score to 17-8.
Dartmouth continued to fight in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Bears 3-1. But Rathjen’s eighth goal of the season at the 14:28 mark sealed the Bruno victory, handing the Bears a decisive 18-11 win.
“I think we saw a lot of success because we had a level of aggression and killer instinct from the start that we were missing last game against Yale,” Burton wrote. “The defense came up with huge stops on the other end. And when Dartmouth was able to get a few goals in a row, we put the ball in the back of the net on offense. It was a great team performance and both sides of the field were crucial to us getting the win.”
Brown’s next match-up is against Ivy League rival Princeton (7-3, 3-1 Ivy). The Bears will tackle the Tigers at Stevenson-Pincince Field on Saturday at noon. The game will be televised on the New England Sports Network.
Cooper Herman is a senior staff writer covering sports and arts & culture. He is a sophomore from Alexandria, Virginia studying Economics and International and Public Affairs.
