This weekend, the Big Red went home mighty blue.
The Dartmouth field hockey team crushed Cornell Saturday afternoon 3-1. With Cornell leading 1-0 in the first 15 minutes of play, Dartmouth began scoring and never stopped.
The win moves Dartmouth's record to 7-4 overall, 3-2 in the Ivy League.
Although last weekend's loss to Princeton put Dartmouth out of the race for the Ivy title, the team remains optimistic about the rest of the season. Dartmouth is hoping to get a bid for the post-season ECAC tournament, so every win still counts.
Dartmouth played as if the title was on the line Saturday. Despite the downpour, the Big Green found some of their own sunshine as they defeated another Ivy League team.
The game began with a goal by Cornell's Cari Hills, just three minutes into the game. But Dartmouth returned that goal 10 minutes later, when Amy Coughlin '96 scored. Coughlin has scored in six games this season for the Big Green.
"It's always been pretty mental with me," Coughlin said, regarding her scoring and offensive play. "Lately, I've just been thinking positively, and I've had a lot of confidence."
Freshman standout Weze Shorts said, "Cornell's first goal really surprised us and made us work harder. When Amy scored and tied it 1-1, our heads were back where they should be, and we stepped it up to a higher level. Everybody really wanted it."
At half-time the score was tied 1-1, and the rain seemed to come down even harder.
"Julie [Coach Dayton] pointed out to us that Cornell had to deal with the weather, too." Shorts said. "That put our minds back in the right place and we were able to concentrate more on the game."
The second half belonged solely to Dartmouth. Seven minutes into it, after strong persistence around the Cornell goal, Shorts scored off of an assist from Andrea Roberts '99. This was Shorts' third game-winning goal of the season.
"I don't start, so when Julie wants me to go in, I make sure I'm ready," Shorts said. "I go in as hard as I can, and I just am not tentative around the goal. I've learned a lot from the starting forwards, too. Still, I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that I'm in the right place at the right time."
Shorts wasn't the only Dartmouth player, however, who ended up in the right place at the right time.
The Big Green still had one more goal to score, and that one had sophomore Amy Yost's name on it. With 12 minutes remaining in the game, Yost scored off a penalty shot to make the score 3-1.
Yost was injured for the first half of the season, and has returned full force into the lineup. On Saturday she played sweeper, a position she wasn't used to, yet she played well just the same.
"This was Amy [Yost]'s best game defensively," defender Rebecca Oettinger '96 said. "As a team, we did a much better job marking, communicating. We played with more style -- a style we should be been playing for the rest of the season."
Yost's goal was the last score, giving the Big Green a 3-1 win.
Senior goal keeper Lauren Demski had only two shots on goal, and one save. Dartmouth outshot Cornell 14-2.
"This was our first game since Princeton, and even though the title is out of reach for us, we still want to win our last games," Oettinger said.
"There are six seniors on the team, and it would be nice to go out with five last wins under our belt. We want go down fighting and hopefully get a post season bid," she added.
If Dartmouth plays the rest of its season like they played against the Big Red, the Big Green's chances of success in their four final games are, well, big.
Just how big will be determined Tuesday when Dartmouth travels to the University of Massachusetts for a 3:00 p.m. game.
