Sudden death overtime periods have a nasty habit of ending all too quickly for the losing team, and the women's hockey team's stunning upset of Northeastern, which came into the game as the top-ranked team in the nation, was no exception.
Kim Reid '94 propelled Dartmouth to its biggest win of the year when she blasted a wrist shot past Husky goalie Kim Flatt 3:13 into the overtime period. The goal, her third of the game, gave Dartmouth a thrilling 5-4 win in front of a shocked Northeastern crowd and an even more shocked Northeastern team. It was the first time a Dartmouth women's hockey team had beaten Northeastern at home.
That Dartmouth (4-3-1 overall) even forced the game into overtime was a minor miracle. With 10 minutes to play in the final period, Northeastern was sitting atop a comfortable 4-1 lead and it seemed certain the team would extend its season-long winning streak into double digits.
But Reid obviously had other plans. The senior took a feed from Gretchen Ulion '94 and promptly smacked it into the goal to trigger a three-goal scoring frenzy over the next three minutes.
The next two goals came from Ulion, who took passes from Michelle Erickson '96 and Reid and turned them into goals to tie the game at four.
The upset is even more impressive given that Dartmouth was skating decidedly short-staffed. Last year's Ivy League Rookie of the Year and the team's third leading scorer, Sarah Devens '96, was out with the flu. Malaika Little '97, the most promising newcomer on the team, left the game in the second period with an injury.
Still, Dartmouth managed to outshoot Northeastern 32-18, proving their win was no fluke.
"We were definitely getting the shots - and they were good shots," Ulion said. "They just weren't going in for us. Our entire game wasn't exactly pretty, but the plays just sort of developed."
The win could not have come at a better time for the B sig Green. The team had not played a game since December 1 and went into its month-long dormant period with a three-game losing streak after starting the year 3-0.
"It was our first league win of the season," Reid said. "The upperclassmen were used to having a tough fall and then doing what is takes to win, but for the freshmen, it was a new experience."
The '97s had better get used to it in a hurry. The Big Green face Princeton - their chief competition for a second straight Ivy League Title - this afternoon at 2 p.m. in Thompson Arena.
"It's basically just another game," Reid said. "We're going to go in with the same intensity we do any other game."
