The Dartmouth women's soccer team continued its hot streak as it defeated regional rival Boston University on Wednesday afternoon by a score of 1-0.
Melissa Roth '00 scored in her third straight match and the Big Green defense did the rest as Dartmouth improved to 13-1-1 on the season. The Big Green remain at 5-0-0 in the Ivy League. Dartmouth maintained its home scoreless streak as Kristin Luckenbill '01 recorded her 10th shutout of the campaign, tying her with Heidi Hachtel '96 for the single-season mark.
By defeating the Terriers, the seventh-ranked Big Green tallied their 13th win on the season and won their eleventh striaght contest. Boston University fell to 10-7-1 but lost for just the third time in their last 13 matches.
Roth took a shot from the right of the penalty area and deposited it past netminder Meghan Lynch to give the Big Green the lead for the rest of the contest.
Although the Big Green outshot the Terriers 15-2 on the afternoon, Boston U. made the most of their opportunities. Several of the Terriers' shots nearly found their way into the Dartmouth net as Luckenbill made several game-saving plays.
Lynch concluded the game with six saves while Luckenbill recorded two. Without some of Lynch's spectacular stops, the Terriers could have lost the game by a much greater margin.
Although the Boston University win is a tremendous win in terms of the Northeast Regional standings, the Big Green face their most important test of the year this Saturday against the Harvard Crimson in Cambridge.
The 22nd-ranked Crimson -- who were NCAA tournament quarterfinalists last year -- defeated the University of Vermont on Tuesday to improve to 10-3-1 on the year.
The winner of the contest will clinch a share of the Ancient Eight title and the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Should the Big Green defeat the Crimson this Saturday, all they would need is a tie against the lowly Columbia Lions on Sunday, Nov. 8 to claim the Ivy League title.
The Big Green's final contest will be a part of a doubleheader on that Sunday as the women take on the Lions at 12 p.m. before the men's soccer team deals with their counterparts at 2:30 p.m. that afternoon.