The Big Green field hockey team has had a streaky season to date, and yesterday's contest against the University of Massachussets continued the trend. Dartmouth fell 3-1 to the Minutewomen courtesy of two second-half goals from UMass to break a 1-1 halftime deadlock. The loss evened the Big Green's record at 7-7, with a 2-3 mark in the Ivy League.
The two teams almost played a scoreless first half in the wet drizzle that blanketed Chase Field, but lightning struck for both teams right before halftime. The Minutewomen got on the board first when freshman Anke Bruemmer knocked home a penalty corner from the right side of the cage with just over three minutes remaining.
Dartmouth wasted no time knotting the score, however. Senior tri-captain Lauren Worley took the initiative scoring her third goal of the season just 40 seconds later as she blasted the ball past Massachussets goalkeeper Zowie Tucker.
UMass would be the only team with the scoring explosion in the second half, scoring two goals late in the half that left Dartmouth without time to mount a serious rally. Once again, it was the strong play of Bruemmer that led the Minutewomen. The rookie slipped her second penalty corner of the game past Big Green keeper Brittany D'Augustine '01 at 13:49 to give UMass a 2-1 lead that it would never relinquish. Just for good measure, Bruemmer added a third penalty corner for the hat trick to give the Minutewomen an insurance goal they would not need. UMass was strong on the penalty corner all afternoon, converting three of their six chances.
D'Augustine turned away three shots for Dartmouth, while her counterpart across the field,Tucker, kept five balls out of the cage for UMass.
The loss was especially hard for the Big Green, who were hoping to get a win and hold onto any chance they might have for a bid to the ECAC tournament at the end of the season. The Big Green advanced to the tournament last season and looked to be making a strong bid with a four-game winning streak in the past few weeks. But a recent stretch that has seen them go 1-3 in the past two weeks, including yesterday's defeat, may have cooled the Big Green's post-season hopes.
Up next for Dartmouth is their friendly rival from Cambridge, the Harvard Crimson. Harvard played No. 11 Northeastern yesterday afternoon and had an identical 7-7 record on the season, but are 3-2 in Ivy League play. The Crimson boast the Ancient Eight's leading scorer in forward Judy Collins, who has 32 points on the season.
