The women’s ice hockey team fell to No. 1 seed Clarkson University in the quarterfinals of the ECAC tournament this past weekend. The No. 8 seed Big Green lost the first two games against the Golden Knights by a score differential of 10-1 in the best-of-three round.
Dartmouth (13-15-2, 9-11-2 ECAC) and Clarkson (22-9-3, 16-4-2 ECAC) played each other two previous times in the season, which resulted in 3-0 and 2-1 losses for the Big Green. The closeness of the most recent 2-1 loss on Feb. 20 gave the team hope that they could beat their top ranked opponents if they played with their strategy in mind, Lindsey Allen ’16 said.
On Friday at 7 p.m., the Golden Knights struck first, scoring two goals in the first period within a minute and a half of each other. The initial goal came during a Clarkson power play six minutes into the period, and the second came shortly after.
Dartmouth goaltender Robyn Chemago ’17 managed to save 15 shots in the period, while the Big Green offense had only three shots on net in the same time. Clarkson’s addition of several offensive players who had been out due to injury in their last matchup changed the dynamic of the team’s offense, Chemago said, and made defending against them more difficult.
In the second period, the Big Green offense continued to struggle. While they increased their shot count to 10 on net in the period, the team still had no success in finding the back of the net.
Clarkson dominated offensively and struck again with a goal just under five minutes into the second. A roughing penalty against Dartmouth gave Clarkson another power play opportunity, and the Golden Knights converted again for a 4-0 lead. Dartmouth’s deficit was increased to 5-0 at 17:34 after the third Clarkson goal of the period.
During the third period the Big Green’s defense shut the Golden Knight’s offense down for all but the last 20 seconds. The game ended after Clarkson scored its final goal with 16 seconds left on the clock to seal the win at 6-0, blanking the Dartmouth squad.
On Saturday at 4 p.m., the women faced off against Clarkson for the third time in two weeks. Despite the final score of a 4-1 loss for Dartmouth, the two teams played a relatively even contest until the third period.
The first period was scoreless for both teams. The Clarkson team brought the same energy and skill they had the whole season, and the match-up found equal footing. Both women guarding the nets were tested in the opening period, with Chemago making 18 saves and Clarkson’s goalie making nine.
In the second period Clarkson broke the scoreless tie at 16:21, by tipping a rebounded puck into the net and past Chemago. The teams headed into intermission with Clarkson leading Dartmouth 1-0.
Clarkson blew the game open in the third period, scoring three additional goals, two of which came on a power play advantage.
Karlee Odland ’15 got Dartmouth on the board in the third period, snagging a rebound from teammate Olivia Whitford ’16 and sinking it in the back of the Clarkson net for the final goal of the game.
Chemago made a career high total of 51 saves against Clarkson.
“Over the season I’ve learned to settle down and [try to] execute on a daily basis,” Chemago said. Chemago’s personal goals over the season were to improve control over puck placement and rebounds and work on the little things, she said.
Laura Stacey ’16 had the most shots on goal in the game for the Big Green, with a total of six.
“It was a tough weekend in the sense that we didn’t want to be out of the playoffs so early,” Stacey said. “We played a lot better on Saturday. We really gave it every single thing we had left in the tank. It was a really close game and we walked away from it knowing we did our best and fought hard.”
Allen said that while the Saturday game ended in a 4-1 loss, the statistics did not reflect the quality of her team’s effort.
“They had four goals and a lot of shots, but a lot of their shots were not quality chances,” Allen said. “We limited them to shooting from outside and a bunch of our chances were a lot closer than the score shows.”
With the final loss to Clarkson, this weekend marked the end of the team’s season, and the women will have to wait until next year to take on the Golden Knights again. The Big Green finished the season with a 13-15-2 record.
