The Dartmouth women's hockey team (1-0) skated over Boston College (1-1) for an 8-1 victory on Tuesday in its season opener.
The Big Green -- ranked first in the Ivy League -- got off to a good start, scoring the first four goals of the game. Carrie Sekela '01, Sarah Clark '04, Correne Bredin '02 and Carly Haggard '03 all had a share in the first four points of the season.
"I was shooting it from our blue line and [BC goalie Amy Colletta] just didn't handle it properly," Sekela said. "Haggard had a nice one off a one-time shot from Kim McCullough ['02]."
Haggard led the Big Green, scoring two goals overall. She also notched three assists, allowing her teammates to help create the 4-0 lead at the half.
"Everyone was very excited to finally get on the ice for the first game," Bredin said. "There has been so much anticipation and pre-season chatter about the team so it was great to finally get out there and play. We were a little sloppy which is expected for the first game but we were able to put the puck in the net and that is what matters."
BC's Renee Taylor ruined the shutout at 7:57 in the second period. But after Taylor scored, Boston College was unable to get the puck past Dartmouth goaltender Meaghan Cahill '01.
Cahill was able to stop the Eagles with 11 saves.
Coletta had a lot more work to do. She blocked 24 of the Big Green's attempts.
Coletta's saves weren't good enough to stop the Green women from skating around her net. The Big Green wasted no time making up for the BC goal, putting four more points on the board in a span of 7:26 at the end of the middle stanza.
Sekela scored twice and aided the team with an assist, while Bredin scored one goal and made a beautiful pass to a teammate, leading to another point.
McCullough assisted on two goals, as the Big Green converted two power-play opportunities and also had a shorthanded tally.
"We were playing aggressively," Sekela said, though she added the team has more to work on. "We should have broken out a little better. Also, our forecheck could have been a little stronger."
The Big Green women will try to make these improvements as they risk their unmarred record this weekend at the University of New Hampshire on Saturday and the University of Maine on Sunday.
The women open with five games on the road before coming to Hanover Nov. 18-19 to play Harvard and Brown. Haggard will miss the three games leading up to that weekend while playing with the Canadian under-22 national team in Switzerland.
The team will rematch Boston College at home on Jan. 19.
