Upset after tying with the University of Pennsylvania last Saturday, the women's field hockey team plans to vent its frustration today at home as they take on the always tough University of Maine at 3:30 p.m.
Dartmouth, 2-2-1 on the season, is so far disappointed with its record, and the Big Green hopes to gain momentum with a victory today.
"I think we're off to a good start, but we're not satisfied with our record at all," Coach Julie Dayton said. "We've been putting the ball in the cage good, but we know we can do a lot better."
Last Saturday against Penn, the Big Green dominated and out shot last year's Ivy Champions, but unfortunately came up short in the end with a 1-1 tie.
"We're definitely not satisfied with the results of the Penn game, especially since we dominated from the second half until the end of the game," Amy Coughlin '96 said. "We had a lot of scoring opportunities that just didn't come through for us."
Led by Captain Sarah Devins '96, who has scored three of the Big Green's nine goals, Dartmouth is a young team with only one senior. Yet, with eight juniors and four sophomores, a strong core of returning starters makes up the Big Green line up.
"Our passing game and communication were very good," Coughlin said. "We also had great support between lines. I think we gave the ball more often than we should have. When Penn came up with the ball, we tended to back off somewhat and give them a little more room than we should have."
Confidence will be a key for Dartmouth to change the season around.
"I think we're a good team, but I don't think we believe that now," Dayton said. We have to believe in ourselves."
Today against a strong Maine squad the Big Green will hope to avenge their loss against the Black Bears last year in double overtime.
"Maine will be a tough game," Coughlin said. "They are a very aggressive and strong team, and they don't give up without a fight. I think we can use our passing skills and our tenacity to come out with a win. We can't afford to let down at all, ever."
With a win against Maine, Dartmouth hopes to gain national respect since the Big Green were disappointed at not being nationally ranked after the close game with the number 18 ranked Penn. Dartmouth hopes that by the end of the season a national ranking and perhaps an Ivy Championship may be within reach.
"We have to first concentrate on playing good hockey and taking care of ourselves," Dayton said. "We can't worry about the other teams; it could come down to the wire."
Friday at Chase field the Big Green will battle for their first Ivy victory when they take on Yale at 3:30 p.m.
"Ivy games are important because they are league games, and there's a lot of pride that's at stake when we play other Ivy teams," Coughlin said. "We try to go into every game with the same mentality, however, because there are many teams that are just as strong, if not stronger than the Ivies. Yale has a good program, although I feel confident that if we play as we did on Saturday, we have a good chance at a win."
