Field hockey holds off Wildcats to earn second straight victory
By Jordan Rose, The Dartmouth Staff
Published on Wednesday, October 4, 2006
Whitney Waugh '08 and the Big Green defense held the UNH attack without a shot for nearly 30 minutes in the second half to preserve a 2-1 win.
Behind a staunch defensive effort, the Dartmouth field hockey team recorded its third victory of the season this weekend, downing the University of New Hampshire Wildcats, 2-1, Sunday afternoon at Memorial Field in Durham, N.H. Lizzie Bildner '08 connected early in the game to notch her seventh goal of the year.
The win gave the Big Green (3-5, 1-2 Ivy) a weekend sweep in which the squad recorded consecutive 2-1 decisions first over the University of Pennsylvania on Saturday and then over UNH (1-10) on Sunday.
"The sweep is monumental for us," head coach Amy Fowler said. "[The squad knows] it's been a little bit of a long beginning to the year and getting these wins is something they can hang on to. They know they can win, they know they are winners. It's just a matter of making that point on the scoreboard."
With the Big Green holding a 2-1 lead entering the second half, Dartmouth's defense stifled any chance of a UNH comeback, as the backline allowed only three Wildcats shots in the frame. At one point, UNH did not record a shot for almost 30 minutes until netminder Ashley Heist '08 was forced to make a save on the near post with 6:30 remaining.
While the Big Green's defense was threatened more frequently in the first half, allowing 12 shots and a 5-0 penalty corner advantage, the unit managed to limit the number of quality UNH scoring chances after the Wildcats scored a goal in the early minutes.
"UNH is a scrappy and opportunistic team," Fowler said. "Although the defense gave up shots in the first half, they were giving up lower percentage shots. That's a credit to our defense staying strong," she continued, alluding to the backline work of Carrie Mae MaGrann '07, Meghan Strout '08, Amanda Dumville '09 and Kristen McCormick '09.
Similar to the final seconds of the Penn game, Dartmouth conceded two penalty corners to UNH in the waning moments of the first half, one coming as the clock expired. Wildcat Emily Colton drove a shot from the top of the circle on the latter corner, but Heist was in position to make a leg save to push the game into the halftime break.
As the defense was frustrating the UNH attack, Dartmouth's offensive unit managed some success of its own. The Big Green got on the scoreboard first, just as it did during Dartmouth's previous two victories against University of Massachusetts-Amherst and Penn.
After Leigh Rorick '10 was denied on back-to-back shots on the left post by goalie Marguax Shute, Bildner redirected Rorick's third shot attempt from the top of the circle in the low right side, giving Dartmouth a 1-0 advantage.
Less than 20 minutes later, with the score knotted at 1-1, Katie Hagy '08 put the Big Green on top for good with some nifty individual skill. She received a long outlet pass on the UNH 25-yard line, pulled the ball around to the left of a charging Shute and then chased the ball down, putting it into the open cage.
Fowler was pleased with the number of Big Green scoring chances, and was encouraged that both Dartmouth goals came during the regular flow of play. "We scored both those goals in the field, which is awesome," she said. "We got some very good quality chances in the second half and we couldn't finish them. It's something they'll continue to work on. Against some better teams, we'll have to finish those."
UNH tallied its lone goal 12 minutes into the first stanza when Colton registered her sixth goal of the year by batting a waist-high loose ball past Heist. She finished the day with seven saves.
Dartmouth returns to the Ivy League circuit next weekend when it plays Yale at noon on Saturday, Oct. 8 at Scully-Fahey Field in Hanover.
"We always have a battle with them. I'm looking forward to an exciting game on Saturday," Fowler said.
Yale currently sits just above the Big Green in the Ivy standings with a 1-1 conference record. The Bulldogs are coming off a 5-1 loss to Holy Cross on Sunday.