The streak had to end somewhere.
After going undefeated for nine straight games, the women's hockey team dropped its second straight this weekend at Cornell, 4-2. The team recovered on Sunday, beating ECAC opponent St. Lawrence, 7-5.
"In both games there were easy ways to do things and we'd try to do them the hard way," co-Captain Sarah Howald '96 said.
The loss tarnished Dartmouth's previously undefeated Ivy League record, dropping it to 5-1-1. The Big Green moved to a second place tie with Cornell. These two teams sit one point behind Brown (5-1-2).
"We're still in it but we don't have the control we did before," Coach George Crowe said. "We have to win our last three games."
Cornell also has three Ivy games left. But according to Crowe, Dartmouth's final three games will be tougher than Cornell's because Dartmouth must still play Brown. Both Cornell and Dartmouth will play Princeton and Yale. Cornell's third game will be against Harvard.
Outside of the Ivy League, however, Dartmouth's record improved this weekend to 17-7-2 overall and 9-2-1 in the ECAC. The team remained in third place in ECAC standings. This past week, Dartmouth dropped from a second place tie with Brown to third place after a 6-2 loss to UNH last Wednesday.
"We obviously were very disappointed on Saturday. [Cornell is] a good team," Crowe said. "It could have gone either way."
In Saturday's match-up, the Big Red took control from the start, putting away their first goal 1:27 into the first period. Erin Schmaltz followed up on a saved Janna Dewar shot to put her team ahead, 1-0. Eleven minutes later, teammate Morag McPherson scored off assists from Tracey Cornell and Dana Antal.
Dartmouth's Sarah Halsell '99 attempted to change the momentum less than two minutes later. Her goal, from Amy Coelho '97 and Jessica Clark '98, pulled the game within one for the remainder of the first period.
Back in the second, Michelyne Pinard '98 fired and scored during a Dartmouth power play to tie up the game at two. But Pinard's goal was mirrored by Dewar on a Cornell power play giving Cornell a one-point advantage over the Big Green.
Tracey Cornell knocked one more insurance goal in between Dartmouth goalie Sarah Tueting's legs at 6:36 in the third to leave the final score at 4-2 for Cornell.
Between the posts for Cornell, Alanna Hayes denied 34 of 36 Dartmouth shots. Tueting tallied 28 saves for the Big Green.
"I think we outplayed [Cornell], but we had trouble scoring," Howald said. "We weren't really confident around their net or our net. We had some defensive lapses."
Dartmouth came back on Sunday fully prepared to come out with a 7-5 win. St. Lawrence, who posted a 0-9-2 ECAC record, held its own but was clearly dominated by the Big Green.
"It was nice to score seven goals, but we also gave up a lot," Crowe said.
Sarah Hood '98 stepped up for the Big Green with the first of her three goals of the game at 4:22 into the first period off an assist from Howald. Hood was involved in five of the seven Dartmouth goals recorded over throughout the afternoon.
Adding Malaika Little '97 to the combination, Hood and Howald went to goal again at 18:33 in the first. This time the goal came from Howald with helpers from Hood and Little.
St. Lawrence could not hold Hood down and she tallied her second and the team's third goal less than a minute and a half into the second period. Wendy Soutsos '99 earned the assist.
Julie Barnett picked up St. Lawrence's first netter two minutes later. But Dartmouth responded with yet another goal from Clark
A final second period goal from St. Lawrence's Kelly Mahncke left the score at 4-2 in favor of the Big Green going into the third period.
Dartmouth erupted in the third with three more goals. Hood had her third from Nelson, Schnitman put one away off a pass from Erin Rath '98 and Sara Vogler '96 tipped in the final goal with assists from Little and Hood. St. Lawrence matched Dartmouth's goals to end with a 7-5 victory for the Big Green.
During the game, Kathleen O'Keefe '99 received a injury to her shoulder. Crowe was uncertain when she would be able to return to play.
In goal for Dartmouth, Tueting turned away 22 St. Lawrence shots to preserve her team's win. Taryn Malliver stopped 25 shots in a losing effort for St. Lawrence.
