The Dartmouth field hockey team took second-place in the state of New Hampshire when they lost 2-1 in overtime to the University of New Hampshire yesterday afternoon at Chase Field. Even though the Wildcats are ranked No. 8 in the nation, the No. 19 Big Green controlled the match for most of the afternoon by dominating on the offensive side of the ball and very possibly should have come away with a victory or at least a tie against their in-state rivals.
After a scoreless first half, Dartmouth opened up the scoring with 19:20 left to play. Kristen Scopaz '00 beat Wildcat goalkeeper Amy Agulay on a penalty stroke to give the Big Green a 1-0 lead. The goal was Scopaz's fourth on the season and gave her a team leading 11 points on the year.
The Big Green would not hold onto the lead for very long however as UNH scored on a penalty corner shot nine minutes later to tie up the contest at 1-1. The score would remain that way throughout regualtion even as Dartmouth pounded the Wildcat cage with 15 shots as opposed to New Hampshire's six shots.
But the shot that would matter most came with just under seven minutes to play in overtime. The Wildcats' Becky Craigue netted her third goal of the season to send Dartmouth's record to 5-3 on the season and only 2-3 in their last five games. Dartmouth was able to mount a shot in overtime but, just as she had done all day, Agulay turned it away as one of her 15 saves of the afternoon.
The team was frustrated by their inability to win the game despite mounting a strong offensive charge.
"We just did not finish the play," Weze Shorts '99 said. "The goalie was really aggressive and both teams were playing on a ton of emotion. It was extremely frustrating to lose a game like that in overtime."
The overtime loss was a first for Dartmouth, which had won it's previous two contests that had gone to overtime this season on the road at Georgetown and Penn.
"I was definately expecting to win. If you take Dartmouth into overtime, you should lose," D'Augustine said. "Georgetown and Penn both found that out. Our overtime play against those two teams seemed different,though, because we came from behind to get into the overtime. UNH came from behind in this case and they had the momentum going their way into the overtime."
"We were confident going into overtime that we could win, and I think that we played with confidence too. However, we just did not capitalize on opportunities when we could have." Shorts said. "I don't think today was a setback, but we definitely learned about how we need to play when we are up by a goal.
Dartmouth will face Bucknell on Sunday in a neutral site game at Chestnut Hill and is hoping to put this setback behind them.
"This Dartmouth field hockey team is very strong. We lost in overtime to the No. 8 team in the country," D'Augustine said. " I feel like we definately could have, and should have beaten them. But we have another game coming up, Bucknell, and as the next game, it the most important game on our schedule right now. We will continue to play with our heads held high and our sticks flying."
