Gretchen Mather '00 opened Saturday's women's soccer game against Princeton University by singing a beautiful rendition of the national anthem and receiving a nice ovation from the crowd at Chase Field. The fans erupted, though, for her encore, a game-winning goal scored in the 65th minute to defeat the Tigers 2-1, thereby boosting the Big Green's record to 3-2-0 (2-1-0 Ivy) and dropping Princeton to 2-2-1 (0-1-0 Ivy).
Saturday's victory continued a winning streak against the Tigers that dates back to 1990. This game, however, did not resemble any of the past seven drubbings during which Dartmouth had outscored Princeton by a total of 18-1.
The first 15 minutes of the game were both sloppy and very exciting. Princeton's front line made several strong rushes deep into the Dartmouth end which were only to be countered by three brilliant rushes by Melissa Roth '00, testing and nearly beating Princeton's freshman sensation between the pipes, Jordan Rettig. Rettig came into yesterday's game with 14 saves and a 0.92 goals against average. Rettig wowed the crowd with high, booming punts which, as rookie coach Kelly Blasius-Knudsen would later say, "would jumpstart their attack."
It was off of one of those punts that Princeton made a rush which would lead to a corner at 13:45. Sophomore Susan Rea right-footed the corner high into the box and the jump-ball was headed in by fellow sophomore Dana Decor, giving the Tigers an early 1-0 lead and shocking virtually everyone except for the Tiger bench.
Just a minute later, a long Princeton shot by Julie Porter sailed over the head of goalkeeper Kristin Luckenbill '01 but caromed off the post. The rebound was skied over the net by Whitney Shinkle, and so the Big Green staved off a huge threat and the Tigers missed a golden opportunity.
The Big Green seemed to use the loud clang of the ball hitting the post as a wake-up call, as they came out motivated and seemed to be playing an entirely different brand of soccer from that point on.
The ball was kept in the Princeton end of the field for the majority of the next 15 minutes and Dartmouth had many opportunities but just couldn't get the ball past the long, outstretched arms of Rettig.
In the 32nd minute, though, a loose ball inside the box which had been deflected off of two Princeton defenders was retrieved by Katy Hearey '99, who slid it to Jen Murray '01, who in turn punched itin over the head of Rettig.
The rest of the first half featured a great deal of punts from both Rettig and Luckenbill which were cleared admirably time and time again by tri-captain Sue Eastman '99, who quickly made her presence known as the anchor of the middle of the field for the Big Green. Her headers and clears set up the Dartmouth offensive attack about as well as Rettig's punts did for the Tigers.
With only about 2:30 remaining in the half, Eastman made another dynamite clear down the right side of the field and it became apparent that it was a footrace between Rettig and Roth. Rettig reached the ball a split-second earlier but as they converged, Roth attempted to kick the ball as Rettig went to dive and reach for it. Instead, Roth kicked Rettig and the goalkeeper remained down for almost five minutes. When she rose, she still looked visibly shaken, but managed to convince the trainer and coaching staff to allow her to continue in net.
The game went to halftime knotted at 1-1, but with the fire that the Big Green came out with in the second half, it wasn't going to stay that way for long. Dartmouth dominated the next 20 minutes of the game, but it wasn't until Mather delivered her encore that the Big Green actually capitalized on their control.
At 64:07, April Rasala '99 pushed the ball ahead to Melissa Roth, who had emerged as the most dynamic player on the field with her dazzling ball control. Roth sent a long cross from the right side which Mather poked past Rettig on the ground.
That would be all the scoring that the Dartmouth backfield would need as several Dartmouth players shined in the last third of the contest.
"It was an excellent victory for our team. After a couple of tough losses, our win over UNH and now this victory could not have come at a better time," Jen Murray '00 said.
The victory was more important then just another tally in the W column, though. It provided momentum for the Big Green's matchup with national power Hartford tomorrow at 3 p.m. Hartford possesses 2-0 victories this season over both Harvard -- who has a 22-game unbeaten streak in the Ivy League -- and UConn, who eliminated the Big Green from last year's NCAA tournament.
"They are one of the top teams in the country... and will certainly be the strongest team we faced to date. We need to be sure we are organized defensively and we cannot come out afraid," Blasius-Knudsen said.
