Reminiscent of last Wednesday night's game, the women's hockey team picked up another win last night defeating Boston College 5-3 -- but it wasn't pretty.
"We played well enough to win," co-Captain Sarah Howald '96 said. "That's what's important."
The win improved Dartmouth's record to 15-5-0 overall and 7-1-0 in the ECAC.
It was not that Dartmouth did not do anything good, because it certainly did. The Big Green were just missing some of the fire and accuracy they normally possess.
And there were errors. Boston College's second goal went in off a Dartmouth skate, not a BC stick. The clean passes characteristic of Dartmouth's team were missing, not to mention that many of the accurate passes Dartmouth did make were intercepted by BC players.
Dartmouth looked tired from the onset of the game and allowed BC to get two points onto the board.
Facing this two-point deficit by the end of the first period, the game did not look good for Dartmouth. The team showed what they are made of, however, coming back in the next two periods to take the victory.
At 4:52 into the second period, Sarah Hood '98 crossed the puck to Michelyne Pinard '98 who redirected the shot to the bottom right corner past BC goalie Kristin Gray.
"We got a little better as the game went on," Coach George Crowe said. "I don't know if we were looking a little past this game to Saturday's game [against Brown]. We were not really skating and not playing and not handling the puck."
As if Pinard's goal had woken her team up, Dartmouth suddenly picked up its game. Less than five minutes later, co-Captain Michelle Erickson '96 slid the puck to Phoebe Manchester '96. Manchester's shot hit the top post and flipped into the net to tie up the game at two.
Howald used the top post again in Dartmouth's favor just under a minute and a half later, earning Dartmouth's third goal. Malaika Little '97 and Hood were credited with assists.
The Big Green were not finished with the Eagles yet. Dartmouth returned in the third to put away two more goals. The first, a Sarah Halsell '99 netter from Kathleen O'Keefe '99 and Jessica Clark '98, came two minutes into the period. The goal put Dartmouth up by two.
"Once we got into the game, we took it to them," Howald said.
BC retaliated with a goal from freshman standout Erin Magee to pull the Eagles within one point.
But then BC made a crucial mistake. With 1:06 remaining on the clock, the refs called a two minute penalty on BC's Claudia Asano for cross-checking. With one minute left and Dartmouth up by only one point, it was no time for BC to be one man down.
A Hood-Howald combination with :14 left, took away all BC's hope for a tie which would have sent the game into overtime.
"I think it's a sign of a pretty good team when you can not play well and still get the win," Crowe said.
