The women's water polo team finished with a record of 3-1 at its first tournament of the season, held this past weekend at Yale University. Due to some players swimming in the Ivy League Swimming Championships and others taking off terms, the team competed five players short, with a skeleton crew of seven.
The first game of the tournament placed the Big Green against Middlebury. Off to a slow start, Dartmouth was ahead by only one goal after the first quarter with a score of 3-2. In the following three quarters the Big Green scored 15 goals, compared to Middlebury's two, for a final score of 18-4.
The second game was no more of a challenge, as Dartmouth played Williams College. The Big Green established a significant lead within the first quarter with a score of 5-0. Dartmouth's defense kept the Ephs from capitalizing on any of their five-man-up opportunities or during regular play until there was less than a minute left in the fourth quarter. Goalie Gillian Morshedi '04 was steady in the case throughout the tournament and kept most teams to a few goals or fewer. The final score was 12-1. Kelly Cameron '04 scored five, Ali Walter '07 three, Lindsey Pryor '05 two, Sarah Rosa'07 two and Amy Bruton '06 one.
In the third game of the day, less than two hours later, the Big Green faced off against arch rival Yale. Dartmouth started off the scoring on a man-up a little bit more than two minutes into the game. The Bulldogs responded with two goals, leaving the score at 2-1 Yale at the end of the first quarter. In the second quarter the Big Green continued to lag behind scoring only one goal to Yale's three. The scoring stayed even for the remainder of the game.
The Big Green was only able to convert one out of nine-man up opportunities throughout the game. Lauren Wondolowski '04 drew six kickouts during the game, thus giving the team numerous chances to score, but due to fatigue and poor passing, the team could not put the ball into the cage. Rosa had an opportunity to gain more experience at two-meter as she continues to mesh with returning starters. The final score was 7-4 Yale, with Cameron scoring three and Rosa one.
On Sunday, Dartmouth faced off in its final game against Wesleyan. Again, Dartmouth asserted its dominance finishing off the first quarter with a score of 8-0. For the remaining three quarters the team backed off of scoring and focused on specific plays and ball handling skills.
The final score was 11-0 with Walter scoring four, Bruton two, Cameron two and Rosa two.
The team looks forward to spring break when they will travel to Honolulu, Hawaii for training and a tournament where they will compete against the Canadian, New Zealand and Japanese National Teams as well as Indiana University and the University of Hawaii.
