The Dartmouth women's hockey team (16-7-3, 13-4-3 ECAC, 7-2-1 Ivy) had a tough weekend on the road, falling to Colgate University on a last-minute goal Friday night before tying Cornell Saturday night. The loss to Colgate snapped the Big Green's four-game winning streak and cost Dartmouth its ninth Ivy League title.
The Big Green just one point short of sharing the Ivy crown with Harvard. The Crimson beat Cornell Friday night to earn the Ivy League title.
Commenting after the games this weekend, Mariel Lacina '10 said the team hopes to be able to rebound from the weekend to play hard in its season-ending games next weekend.
"The games against Colgate and Cornell were obviously disappointing, but we can learn from those games and get ready for our last regular season games this coming weekend."
Friday's 2-1 loss against Colgate (17-10-3, 11-5-3 ECAC) saw the Raiders score the game-winning goal with just 16 seconds left in the contest. Colgate junior Marissa Dombovy scored twice in the final period to steal the win away from the Big Green.
"We outplayed Colgate and just could not find the net on our chances," Lacina said. "We had a couple untimely mistakes which they capitalized on."
In the match against Colgate, Dartmouth out-shot the Raiders 40-18. Colgate's goalie Kimberly Sass was up to the task though, keeping all but one Dartmouth shot from finding the back of the net. Dartmouth goalie Carli Clemis '09 stopped 16 shots on the night and took the loss.
Remarkably, Dartmouth was 0-for-7 on the power play, with its only goal of the game coming from an even-strength strike from Reagan Fischer '12 about halfway through the second period to put Dartmouth up 1-0. It was the first time in seven games that the Big Green had failed to capitalize on at least one extra-skater opportunity.
In the final period, Colgate tied up the score with seven minutes left in the game on junior Marissa Dombovy's first goal. Then, with just seconds left in the match, Dombovy struck again to steal the win out from under the Big Green.
Coming off Friday's tough loss, the Big Green had a slow start against Cornell (11-11-5, 7-8-5 ECAC), before scoring twice in the closing period to record a 3-3 tie against the Big Red.
Cornell struck first, posting the game's opening goal with just under four minutes left in the first period. Cornell outshot Dartmouth 14-10 in the initial period, with Dartmouth failing to convert on two extra-skater opportunities before heading into the first intermission.
Cornell scored again early in the second period, with the Big Red going up 2-0 over Dartmouth. Rather than letting the second Cornell goal demoralize the Big Green, however, Jenna Cunningham '10 responded with a goal of her own just 24 seconds later. Kelly Foley '12 received the assist on the Cunningham score.
Even with Dartmouth cutting the Cornell lead to 2-1, the Big Red again out-shot the Big Green 15-10.
The final period proved to be a nail-biter. Cornell increased its lead to 3-1 with just under 13 minutes left in the game. Four minutes later though, Dartmouth responded with a score to again make it a one-point game.
Amanda Trunzo '11 scored the second goal for Dartmouth, tallying her team-leading ninth power-play goal of the season. Credit for the assists on the goal was given to Maggie Kennedy '09 and Julia Bronson '09.
Three minutes later, Dartmouth scored on the power play again, with Bronson recording a goal, giving her two points for the game. Kennedy again tallied the assist on the goal, sharing the credit with co-captain Shannon Bowman '09.
"We had a great third period against Cornell," Lacina said. "The team really battled back hard. But we needed a win, and we just could not put that last one home to earn a win."
Both teams went scoreless in the overtime period, with the final buzzer sounding after 65 minutes of play to seal the 3-3 tie. Dartmouth goalie Clemis had 40 stops on the game.
Dartmouth will return to action next weekend for its final home games of the regular season. The Big Green with host Clarkson University on Friday night for the second annual Pink at the Rink promotion, before holding its Senior Day against nationally-ranked St. Lawrence University on Saturday afternoon.
