The field hockey team earned a hard-fought 5-4 win on Monday against the College of the Holy Cross in its second overtime win of the season. The Big Green (4-7, 2-1 Ivy) rallied in the final seconds of the game against the Crusaders (3-12), scoring with no time on the clock, then notching the game-winner just 2:04 into the extra session.
The win ended a two-game losing streak for the Big Green and was only its second non-conference win of the season. On Saturday, the Big Green lost 3-1 to No. 11 Albany University.
Holy Cross’s offense started out aggressive, getting a scoring chance in the first three minutes of the game, but goalkeeper Ellen Meyer ’15 was there for the save. The Big Green’s defense worked hard to fend off the attacking Holy Cross, but the Crusaders broke through first in the seventh minute of the contest.
“We underestimated Holy Cross a little when we first went out there and they definitely caught us off guard,” co-captain Ali Savage ’15 said. “We really had to dig deep to fight back.”
Clare Detrick-Yee ’16 scored the equalizer 10 minutes later aided by assists from Janine Leger ’15 and Savage after a penalty corner.
Dartmouth fended off strong challenges to the net, including penalty chances and breakaways from the Holy Cross team. Meyer made four saves before the half ended and kept the Crusaders to a single goal at the half.
“On our outlets we had to change some things so that we were possessing the ball rather than forcing it up because they kept picking up the balls in the middle and coming down on us,” Brooke Van Valkenburg ’16 said. “Once we settled it down a little and kept possession it helped a lot.”
As the half came to a close the Big Green began to mount more of an offensive attack.
Rebecca Hu ’15, Savage and Julia Donald ’18 connected in a passing play that drew a penalty against Holy Cross. Savage converted on the penalty, but a high stick call negated the goal.
Just more than one minute later, Donald slid the ball to Heather Zezzo ’17, who scored to give the Big Green a 2-1 lead entering the second half.
After the break, Dartmouth took the field with energy, getting an offensive chance in the second minute back, but Holy Cross sophomore goalie Maya Langman blocked Savage’s shot.
A Dartmouth turnover led to the game-tying goal by Holy Cross freshman Rachel Lapar just six minutes into the half.
The Big Green kept pushing offensively and sent a couple searching balls that failed to find a mark in front. The pressure eventually led to a penalty stroke for Anna Rowthorn-Apel ’18, who scored for her fourth goal of the season just a minute later.
The Crusaders struck back with a penalty stroke of their own, scored by junior Kaitlyn Murray to tie the game 3-3 just 1:30 after the Big Green retook the lead. Holy Cross struck again in the 62nd minute on a scrum in front of the Big Green net.
After a Dartmouth time out, the two teams battled for possession. A fired up Holy Cross tried to maintain the one-goal lead, while Dartmouth doggedly fought to stay in the game.
Anna Ewasechko ’18 said the team used small passes in the middle to find forwards in the corners.
With less than a minute left to play, Laura Donald ’18 went on an offensive drive, and the Dartmouth offense maintained possession, working the ball in Holy Cross’s end as the clock wound down. The Big Green drew a penalty corner as the clock ran out. In the resultant play, Savage took the corner and Van Valkenburg leveled a shot. Ewasechko tipped in the ball into the back of the cage to force overtime.
“Brooke had a really nice shot on net,” Ewasechko said. “It was pretty easy to get on it because it was so accurate.”
Possession switched quickly as overtime began. Van Valkenburg cleared the ball up to Detrick-Yee, which was stolen by Holy Cross, only to be taken back by Savage.
A 72nd-minute yellow card to sophomore Lauren Sutherland caused the Crusaders to play with a man down. The Big Green capitalized on its man advantage with a hard drive up the right side of the field by Leger, who sent the ball to Savage, who then put the game away with a goal from 10 yards away to the left post.
Dartmouth field hockey will next take the field at home against Yale University on Saturday at 1 p.m.
