The Ivy League women's hockey championship will be on the line at 7:30 tonight at Thompson Arena when the Big Green hosts rival Harvard in the final Ivy League game of the season.
A victory for the Big Green means a share of the Ivy crown for the third straight year, a loss hands Princeton the title outright.
"It's the biggest game of the year for us," Coach George Crowe said. "The game's such a big rivalry as it is, and the title implications just make it that much more exciting."
Princeton beat Cornell 5-1 on Sunday to clinch a tie for the title. Since Dartmouth and Princeton split the regular season series, each team winning at home, the best Dartmouth can do is earn a share of the title.
"Our main objective this year is to win the Ivy title," Crowe said. "We've come this far and we know we only have to win one more, and if we do win, I don't care if we have to share the honor."
"We didn't beat Princeton and tie Brown twice to lose the Ivy Championship to Harvard," said Captain Rachel Rochat '95.
Dartmouth enters the game on a hot streak, having won seven of its last nine games.
But Harvard, who Dartmouth beat 2-0 last November, is much improved since then and also on a roll, going 4-2-1 in its last 7 games, including a victory last week at Providence and a victory in the annual Beanpot Tournament. Harvard will be looking to end a somewhat disappointing season on a high note.
"They haven't had the best season, they've lost to some really bad teams," Rochat said. "Recently they have had some big upsets, so it should be a good game."
Harvard is led by sophomore A.J. Mleczko, who averages almost a goal and a half every game
"Mileczko is basically their only scoring threat, she's a huge, huge part of the team," Rochat said. "She's a very individual player. We just want to take the body, put her out of the play. If she doesn't do anything we'll win the game. That's our defensive game plan."
Dartmouth hopes Harvard will have trouble getting motivated for the contest. "They're not playing for anything," Rochat said. "For them it's just the last game of the season. For us it's for the Ivy League title."
Senior goalie Erin Villiotte will start between the pipes for the Crimson. Villiotte is ranked seventh in the Ivy League with a .886 save percentage. She will be relieved off the bench by top-ranked Ivy League goalie, freshman Jen Bowdoin, who has stopped an incredible 94 percent of shots in League games.
Rochat said Dartmouth needs to come out skating hard to win the game.
"We tend to have up and down periods, if we come out flat, it could be a nightmare," Rochat said.
If Dartmouth can jump out early, the game could turn into a rout.
"If you get a couple in early on [Villiotte], she gets really rattled," Rochat said.
Dartmouth goalie Sarah Tueting '98 will make it nearly impossible for Harvard to score, as she has a incredible .914 save percentage. Tueting has been a brick wall lately, earning ECAC Rookie of the Week last week.
Regardless of tonight's result, the team will make its fourth consecutive appearance in the ECAC tournament, traveling to Princeton Saturday night.
"We've developed a nice rivalry with Princeton over the past few years," Crowe said. "They beat us in the ECAC's a few years ago, and both teams have become Ivy League powers. So there's some history being played out in this game as well."
