In a game dominated by Big Green offense, the women's soccer team surprisingly only overtook the University of New Hampshire by one goal yesterday afternoon at Chase Field.
Dartmouth, who completely outshot the Wildcats, came out with a 2-1 victory, but in the process may have lost a vital part to the Big Green team -- senior captain Kate Andrews '96.
Andrews, a starting midfielder, was carried off the field with under 10 minutes to go in the game. With a possible fracture in her right leg, she was taken to the hospital for further examination.
"That really took the steam out of the game," forward Melissa McBean '97 said. "Kate is the spark of the team. To see her go out like that was hard."
Following Andrews' exit, the Big Green appeared somewhat distracted on field and a mere three minutes later gave up theironly goal. Fortunately, Dartmouth had secured the game with two earlier goals. But because the offense dominated so much, just scoring two goals was disappointing to the Big Green.
"We controlled the ball from beginning to end," Jenna Kurowski '97 said. "I think we were almost playing too casually. We weren't looking to the goal as much as we should have."
The Big Green definitely took control early with shots from both Kurowski and McBean within the first ten minutes, but both opportunities came up just short.
"We have to work on our finishing," McBean said. "We just have to learn to get the ball in the net."
The Big Green were also a bit slow from the beginning. After a heartbreaking 1-0 loss to the University of Connecticut last Sunday, the women had difficulty finding a new spark.
"After UConn, this game was just hard to get up for," Kurowski said. "It's hard for us especially when we've always beaten this team in past."
After several corner opportunities and a few more shots just missing, senior Amy Duggan finally found the goal with under four minutes to go in the first half.
Duggan, who came off the bench deep into the first half, took an outside shot and drove the ball into the upper left-hand corner of the goal.
Andrews had one more opportunity to score when she headed in a shot that just missed with under a minute to go. The ball just missed though and the Big Green ended the half ahead 1-0.
"Coming off the UConn game was difficult," Duggan said. "We were a little anxious and weren't patient enough, but we started working better."
The Big Green came out strong in the second half again dominating the opposition's end of the field. With 36 minutes to go, another goal was almost tallied when McBean took a shot outside, but UNH goalkeeper Maja Hansen snagged the ball denying Dartmouth the point.
McBean would come back ten minutes later though to make a terrific pass inside to Kurowski who shot in the goal to give Dartmouth a 2-0 lead.
The Big Green held that 2-0 lead until shortly after Andrew's injury, and despite the loss of their captain kept the 2-1 lead for the victory.
"I think we were just one half step off," Duggan said. "We got the win though, and that's what we look for."
Dartmouth will have two days of practice to prepare for two away matches this weekend. The Big Green travel to Pennsylvania for a Saturday afternoon and then continue on to play St. JohnsSunday.
