The women's hockey team split its first two regular season home games this past weekend.
Saturday, the team narrowly missed an opportunity to defeat the University of New Hampshire, falling in a 3-2 loss. UNH was ranked number one in a recent ECAC coaches' poll.
The two teams were tied going into the last minute of the game. With just 46 seconds remaining on the clock, UNH's Nicole Luongo flipped the puck over the left shoulder of Dartmouth goalie Sarah Tueting '98.
"They're a good team. If you make mistakes, they score," Coach George Crowe said. "If you can only get it into overtime, you never know what's going to happen."
Early in the game, Sara Nelson '99 and Jessica Clark '98 skated the puck up the ice and gave it to Sarah Halsell '99. Halsell whipped a hard slapshot from the right side to the lower left corner to gain the first goal of the game.
UNH tied it up five minutes later as the Wildcats' Carisa Zaban passed the puck across the goal to Tricia Dunn, who redirected it into the net.
One minute later, with 5:23 left on the clock in the first period, UNH's Regina Renner headed to the penalty box --two minutes for holding. Short-handed, UNH's high scorers Brandy Fisher and Zaban combined to put in UNH's second goal.
Between Dartmouth's posts, Tueting had several huge saves in the final minute of the period to keep her team within one goal of UNH.
With 3:41 left in the period defender Phoebe Manchester '96 sent a slapshot toward the goal. Halsell followed up Manchester's shot with a pass to forward Sarah Hood '98 who flicked it past Solimini to tie up the game at 2-2.
With 3:37 left in the game, the referees sent Dartmouth's Amy Coelho '97 to the penalty box for tripping. Dartmouth, led by Tueting's saves, killed the power play and evened up the lines for the final minute and a half of the game.
"We knew they were number one in the nation, but we broke down on several occasions," co-Captain Michelle Erickson '96 said. "We played with no confidence during those times."
Dartmouth took not only the loss in its record but also the loss of defender Sara Vogler '96, who left the ice with a separated shoulder.
The Big Green regrouped on Sunday and pulled off a 4-1 win over the Colby White Mules, which boasts two national team players, Meaghan Sittler and Barb Gordon.
Colby is "a tough team to play," Crowe said. "We might have been a little tired from yesterday. We weren't as sharp on passing, but we did have some good chances to score. We had some good two-on-ones that we just didn't finish on."
Co-Captain Sarah Howald '96 gave her team its first point, scoring with 1:07 remaining in the first period. Malaika Little '97 and Jen Lane '98 recorded assists on the goal.
Dartmouth's next goal came at the end of the second period during a Dartmouth power play. Manchester drove the puck towards Colby's freshman goalie Marie Polich-ronopoulos. Coelho pushed the puck towards Kathleen O'Keefe '99, who knocked it into the net. The Big Green advanced to a 2-0 lead.
Colby recorded its lone goal of the game at 9:40 in the third period. UNH's Meaghan Sittler flew past the Dartmouth defenders and went one-on-one with Tueting, closing the gap to one point.
Dartmouth responded with two more goals from Howald. The first came off a pass from O'Keefe at the left side of the net less than two minutes later. The second, and Howald's third goal of the afternoon, was assisted by Wendy Soutsos '99 and Coelho.
"In terms of finishing, we did well," Erickson said. "We got the puck in the net." Finishing has been one of Dartmouth's problems.
Dartmouth lost its second defender of the weekend during this game, as Lane left the game early with a separated shoulder. It is unknown when either Vogler or Lane will return to the ice.
"In hind sight it's good that we moved Phoebe [Manchester '96] back to defense," Crowe said. Crowe made this move about a week ago. "She played very well back at defense," Crowe said. "She didn't panic. She showed a lot of poise and confidence back there. That's what you need."
