The women's field hockey team has a knack for winning in the early part of the season, but you have to stick around if you want to see the victory. The Big Green won their second overtime game of the year Sunday afternoon by defeating Penn, 4-3, in Philadelphia. The win raised the squad's record to a perfect 3-0 as they head into this Saturday's showdown against NCAA runner-up Princeton.
Weze Shorts '99 scored her second goal of the game after a minute of play in overtime to complete the comeback for the Big Green. after they trailed 3-0 with just over 12 minutes in the game. It was the second goal of the game for Shorts, who tied up the game with just 11 ticks on the clock left in regulation. With Dartmouth on the power play, Shorts took a pass from Lauren Scopaz '00 and beat the Quaker goalkeeper to tie the game. Dartmouth had used identical crossing passes to set up their first two goals by Sarah Sedgwick '98 and Scopaz.
"Coach [Julie Dayton] called a timeout after we fell behind 3-0 and we went out after that figuring that we had nothing to lose on the road in our first Ivy League game," Shorts said. "When Sarah scored, we realized that we could get shots past their goalie who hadn't given up a goal all year. Once we got to overtime, we knew we could win because of our overtime experience."
Shorts has recorded a point in each of the Big Green's three games. Kristin Leadbeater '00 added two assists for Dartmouth.
Dartmouth dominated the scoring attempts as they outshot Penn 19-7, getting help from Brittany D'Augustine '01, who made four saves in goal for the Big Green.
In their first game of their opening three-game road trip, the Big Green defeated Georgetown in overtime, 5-4, on Sept. 12. Lauren Scopaz '00 and Kristin Scopaz '00 both scored two goals for Dartmouth in the opener. It was an impressive comeback for Kristin Scopaz '00 who was injured for most of her freshmen campaign.
The squad followed their victory over the Hoyas two days later when they shut out Towson University 1-0.
Princeton's visit to Dartmouth might be an opportunity to defeat the Tigers.
"My first two years, we always had to go down there and play them on turf and we are a grass team. Now that we play them on grass, we shouldn't be afraid of them like we were when we played them on turf," Shorts said.
