The women's soccer team duked it out yesterday on a dripping Chase Field en route to a gutsy 4-1 victory over the Yale Bulldogs.
The icy-cold rain made it tough for the spectators and the double overtime made it even tougher for the players.
But in the end, the Big Green win was well worth the wait, and all the wetness that came along with it.
Both teams worked the field aggressively in the first half, exchanging rushes and charging the net on several occasions. But the slick field conditions and the general numbness among the players kept either team from connecting with the net.
At the half, the score was tied at 0-0.
The break served both teams well as they swapped goals fifteen minutes into the second half.
Dartmouth got on the board first with 10 minutes down on the clock as Melissa McBean '97 darted in from the right side, crossed the 18 and ripped one farside past the Yale keeper.
But the one-goal lead was short-lived.
Three minutes later, Yale responded with a 4-on-3 rush into the Dartmouth zone. Four blue-shirts crowded the goalie box and managed to nudge the ball into the net from three yards out.
The 1-1 score at the end of regulation sent the game into two 15-minute overtime periods.
In the two extra periods, it was all Dartmouth.
With five minutes down in the first overtime, Melissa Roth '00 connected with a header off a Jenna Kurowski '97 center from the outside. The Bulldogs couldn't respond.
The Big Green closed in for the kill early in the second overtime as Sue Eastman '99 punched an unassisted goal through the Yale posts following a corner kick. It was Eastman's first goal of the season.
With the Big Green up by two, the Bulldogs panicked and started to crowd the ball in a last-ditch effort to even the score. As they converged in the midfield a loose ball was sent wide to a trailing McBean.
McBean carried the ball forward into the box, pulled right, and smacked the ball into the net to tally the Big Green's fourth and final goal of the game.
In the closing five minutes, Dartmouth played some stingy defense in the zone to hold off a desperate pack of Bulldogs. By the final whistle, both teams were entirely soaked and speckled with mud -- not to mention freezing.
In a battle of guts and toughness, the team with the New Hampshire granite in their muscles came out on top.
The win improves the Big Green record to 8-2 overall and 4-0 in the Ivy League. With three games separating them from the Ivy title, the women's soccer team remains tied for first with Harvard's in the league standings.
The team faces twinstates rival Vermont on Tuesday at Burlington.
