With a strong recruiting class and experience at every position, the Dartmouth field hockey team, which finished second in the Ivy League behind Princeton last season, expects to contend for the Ivy League title next fall.
The offense will be especially loaded, as every player who scored even one point last year will be returning.
Leading the charge on offense are two of the tri-captains, Sarah Devens '96 and Cynthia Roberts '96. Devens finished her junior campaign with first team All-Ivy and second team regional All-American honors. Roberts, a center-midfielder,also garnered All-Ivy honors as well as being named to the first regional All-American team. She is the first Dartmouth player to do so since the 1980's. Devens and Roberts will be called upon to bear much of the scoring burden for next year's squad.
Though they receive less press, the rest of the offensive players are no slouches. Junior forward Kathleen Hickey, described by Coach Julie Dayton as "a high energy player," can put the ball in the net, and Allison Pell '96 has been a consistent contributor.
Another '96 expected to perform well next year will be Amy Couglin, who last year suffered an early-season injury and never returned to the form she displayed her sensational sophomore year. Kelly Hannigan '97 is a tough competitor who will also see action in the midfield.
The defense is anchored by the last tri-captain, Lauren Demski '96, who has played every minute of every game since her freshman year.She was named first team All-Ivy and second team regional All-American last season.
One of the only losses the team faces is in the defense where four-year starter Rebecca Slisz '95 leaves after an illustrious career. Wallis Cook '95, the only other senior, vacates a part-time spot at midfield where she was able to shake up opponents on a regular basis.
Rebecca Oettinger '96, called a "key to our success" by Dayton, has been solid in her time at Dartmouth.
With Slisz leaving, she may be called upon to play sweeper in her final season. Other possibilities of filling that gap come in the form of Princeton transfer Sarah Drake, who is a true sweeper, or incoming freshman Monique Kademian, who may need to be trained to play the position.
Some underclass players that will play a big role will be Amy Yost '98, who was nominated for Rookie of the Year in the Ivies last year, and Amber Morse '97, who was a plus at back.
The incoming group of '99s will have the luxury of not being asked to perform immediately.
Along with Kademian, the Big Green will bring in Lauren Worley, a midfielder from St. Louis, Miss.,Weze Shorts out of Massachusetts who can play midfield or back, a power forward, Emily Louden from New Jersey and two solid backs in Tait Morrison of Greenwich, Conn. and Robin O'Sullivan of Sharon, Mass.
Adding depth to the goalkeeper position will be Kendra Kosko of Virginia and Kristin Garro of Maryland.
The team will need strong performances from everyone as it faces its toughest schedule in years next season. Among the teams Dartmouth will face are Boston College, Massachusetts, Connecticut and the University of New Hampshire.
All of those teams are consistently ranked in the top 15, UMass in the top five. In the Ivy League, the women will do battle with nationally ranked Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania, which should crack the top 20 again this year.
Dayton likes her chances with this bunch.
"We return a strong group of vets and we had a solid recruiting class.I am really optimistic about our opportunity to contend for the Ivy title," she said.
This could be the strongest overall team in many years for the Big Green.
The team's results against a difficult schedule will be a good indicator of the readiness of the team to take the program to the national level.
