On Friday, Feb. 10, women’s hockey fell to St. Lawrence University 7-3 in Thompson Arena. With a quick turnaround, the Big Green also faced off against Clarkson University on Saturday and lost its final Eastern College Athletic Conference home game 4-0.
Dartmouth dominated the first period against St. Lawrence, outshooting the Saints 13-10. Ten minutes in, a shot from CC Bowlby ’23 ricocheted off a Saint and into the net for a 1-0 lead. Early in the second period, the Big Green built upon its momentum with a backhand from Cally Dixon ’26 off an assist from Lauren Messier ’25, making the score 2-0.
Forward Jenna Donohue ’24 said the team has worked on collaboration and the importance of working together in order to take advantage of early opportunities.
“We’ve done a really good job of coming out strong in first periods,” Donohue said. “I think that our effort and our consistency definitely showed and we were able to bury some rebounds.”
Shortly after Dartmouth’s second score, St. Lawrence responded with a goal of its own to narrow the Big Green’s lead. The equalizing shot was netted two minutes later. Near the end of the period, the Saints took a 4-2 lead with two more goals right before intermission. St. Lawrence capitalized off of its strong performance by scoring three more goals in the third period. Bowlby later scored for the second time but the Big Green could not gain the necessary momentum to narrow the lead, resulting in a 7-3 loss.
Despite the overall score, Maura Fiorenza ’26 said she focused on the significance of Bowlby’s final goal.
“It was good that we kept pushing even when we were down by a lot,” Fiorenza said. “We still got that final goal to make it three, so it was great to see we didn’t give up at the end.”
On Saturday, the Big Green played Clarkson University. In addition to being the season’s last home game, it was also senior night for Dartmouth. Messier said that the added emotion pushed the team to “play for the seniors.”
“It was their last game in Thompson Arena, which is something you dread as a Big Green, so we tried hard to make it special for them and everyone was super happy to play for them,” Messier said.
The Golden Knights drew first blood on a power play, followed by two goals later in the period within a minute of one another. After the first period, the score stood at 3-0 as Dartmouth was unable to put any points on the board. Five minutes into the second period, Clarkson scored again. In the final period, the Big Green defended their net effectively but failed to exploit four power play opportunities. The game ended in a 4-0 loss.
Both St. Lawrence and Clarkson won with a four-goal differential, but several Big Green players noted an improvement in team chemistry between the two games.
“I think that we put more of a team together in the second game even though the score didn’t reflect it,” Donohue said. “We were able to put 60 minutes together [against Clarkson] and consistently improve throughout the game.”
Messier shared Donohue’s sentiment and said that she felt that senior day inspired the Big Green to “come out firing on all cylinders.” She also said that she observed a better “response to adversity” against Clarkson.
The loss against Princeton University last week eliminated the team from playoff contention. Nevertheless, the Big Green are gearing up for its last weekend of the season with a “nothing-to-lose attitude,” according to Donohue.
“We’re just going to try and leave it all out there, have a good week in practice and hopefully finish off the season with two wins,” Fiorenza said.
The Big Green will finish out its season with a double-header on the road. The team faces off against Yale University on Feb. 17 and Brown University on Feb. 18.
