January 5, 2010 E-MAIL PRINT

Green envied for bumper crop

by Barbara Matson/

Ellie Clayton (pictured) and fellow freshmen Casey Griffin and Kelsey Johnson came to Hanover, N.H., from Hingham, Mass. (photo: John Risley)

Ellie Clayton (pictured) and fellow freshmen Casey Griffin and Kelsey Johnson came to Hanover, N.H., from Hingham, Mass. (photo: John Risley)

The eight freshmen on the Dartmouth women’s lacrosse team come from New England — three from the small coastal town of Hingham, Mass. — and this strong group of first-years collected by coach Amy Patton includes four of the best players in the Class of 2013.

Ellie Clayton could easily claim that it was all her idea.

The Hingham native is the daughter and granddaughter of Dartmouth football players, and her childhood was packed with trips to Big Green football, basketball, and hockey games.

“I fell in love with Dartmouth at a young age,’’ said Clayton. “It was always my dream school.’’

Clayton, a midfielder, developed into an elite scholastic lacrosse player, playing at Thayer Academy and with the Revolution Lacrosse club. Across town, another top-ranked player, Casey Griffin, who played with Clayton in the Hingham youth lacrosse program, had her heart set on Dartmouth, too.

“Dartmouth has always been my No. 1 choice since I was a little kid,’’ said Griffin, an attack who led the Independent School League in scoring for two straight seasons at Noble & Greenough School. “I loved the sense of community and tradition there.’’

Clayton’s best friend and teammate at Thayer and the Revolution, Kelsey Johnson, took a look at a bunch of Division 1 schools, but she, too, chose Dartmouth.

“We didn’t really decide together,’’ said Johnson, a first-team All-America midfielder at Thayer. “Ellie always wanted to go; Casey, too. I had no idea. They both committed really early and having them commit early did play a little bit of a part [for me]. My best friend and another one of my close friends — I wanted to play with both of them together.’’

“We were all real excited,’’ Clayton admitted. “It was always something we had in the back of our minds, that it would be fun to experience [college] together.’’

Meanwhile, in Connecticut, Courtney Bennett was leading her Darien team to FCIAC titles in 2006 and 2007 and the state championship in 2007 and 2008, and earning first-team All-America honors as a junior and senior. With several offers on the table, Bennett decided to join her older sister, Eliza, who is the Dartmouth captain this season. 

Bennett joined her sister at the Dartmouth summer camp when she was a high school freshman.

“It was the sense of team and sense of community I got [from Dartmouth], when I was trying to make a decision the summer before last,’’ said Bennett. “I went to camp and just absolutely fell in love with the team; they’re so open, so accepting. It’s an environment where we could all grow. I just had a gut feeling about the place.’’

Four more freshmen come from Connecticut: defender Kyra Hansson of Wilton, attack Katharine Pujol of New Canaan, midfielder Hana Bowers of Old Greenwich, and goalie Julia Szafman of Hartford.

“Our class is going to be really strong,’’ said Bennett. “The team has been a little thin in the last few years, but there’s another strong class [above] us [the sophomores], so we can support them. We’re coming into an amazing program. It’s great to be a part of it; it’s great to feel yourself growing.’’

Patton, entering her 18th season as head coach, has earned 187 career wins, taken her team to the NCAA Tournament 10 times, including four NCAA final fours, and won eight Ivy League championships. But in the last three years Dartmouth has dropped from formidable to forgettable, missing the NCAA Tournament. Last year, the Big Green dipped to an uncharacteristic 8-8.
To get back into her comfort zone — winning — Patton is counting on the contributions of her powerful freshman class.

“Historically, Dartmouth has been one of the top programs in Division 1, and we’ve been getting it done with probably one of the smallest programs out there.’’ said Patton. “We’ve had a roster of 20-25 players. Most programs have rosters from 30-35 players.

“The last few years we’ve been hit with the injury bug, which is something you can’t ever predict. So we went big. This year, our roster is 27, which is the biggest we’ve ever been.’’

The freshmen went right after it during their short fall season, pushing the pace. The squad closed its fall schedule with victories in four scrimmages, against the University of New Hampshire and the University of Vermont, in the Dartmouth Fall Festival.

“We’re really pleased with their freshman fall,’’ added Patton. “These are really, really competitive young women. They have raised the level of our practices. For all of the freshmen, the sky’s the limit. We really have great expectations for that class.’’

The freshmen, in turn, expect Dartmouth to be a force again.

“We’re a really close class,’’ said Griffin. “I love all the freshmen — we get along really well and travel everywhere together on campus.

“We never give up, that’s a key part of our game. [Dartmouth has] had a few down years, and this is the first year we have a full team and seven or eight girls from each grade. I definitely think we’re going to be strong.’’

“Definitely a lot of people do refer to us as the New England class,’’ added Johnson. “We’ve known each other by playing each other. I knew all of these girls before because I met them going to camp at Dartmouth. It’s easy to relate to each other. It does unite us in a unique way, because we’re all New Englanders.’’

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