Senior defenseman Christine Castro '00 made the play of her life when the team needed her the most.
Castro turned aside Colgate's early attack when their corner kick landed on the far side where a Red Raider was waiting to put the ball in the net.
But the co-Captain stood firm, blocking the first shot and watching the second try which flew just over the crossbar.
"It was a great play," Colgate head coach Kathy Brawn said. "She did a tremendous job. But that's kind of the things you have to do in a big games like this."
After Castro's save, midfielders Jamie Lang '02 and Mary McVeigh '03 scored as the Dartmouth Women's Soccer Team cruised to a 3-0 victory over Colgate in the opening round of the 1999 Division I NCAA Women's Soccer Tournament yesterday at Chase Field. They will next play the University of Connecticut in Storrs on Saturday at 12 p.m.
With the victory, Dartmouth heads down to Connecticut to face the Huskies this Saturday for a second round match.
"Obviously, we are very excited about the result," Dartmouth head coach Kelly Knudsen '91 said.
Dartmouth is now 10-7-1 while Colgate ended the season with a 10-8-2 record, including a Patriot league championship.
"We came out a little sluggish today. We were anxious to play, but we almost got overly anxious and overly nervous. I thought we created a lot of good chances early on, in the first ten to 15 minutes, but we were unable to capitalize on those chances," Brawn said.
On the other hand, Dartmouth capitalized on their early chance and got the crucial first goal of the game at the 15th minute. Lang finished off a scramble in front of the net on a corner kick by Emily Odegard '03.
"[First goal is crucial] in a NCAA tournament where everyone is giving everything they have. And if you have that lead, it's easier to defend that than trying to attack," Brawn said.
The goal set the tone for Dartmouth who got the momentum going and confidence in their play as they never looked back. In all the ten wins for the Big Green this season, they have scored the first goal of the matches.
"Dartmouth really picked things up and at that point, and it was awfully difficult for us to get back in the game," Brawn said.
The Big Green added an insurance goal late in the first half, when McVeigh scored on Annie Gibson's acrobatic flip throw-in pass. Gibson's throw-in reached McVeigh, who was waiting in the middle of the box and she put the ball into the upper left corner of the net.
"It was a product of hard work by the entire team," McVeigh said of her goal.
The two-goal lead was enough even for Dartmouth whose all seven losses were by one goal.
In the second half, Colgate was simply unable to get the balls rolling. The Red Raiders were unable to create any form of offense, and at times, they even had trouble carrying the ball beyond the half line.
Meanwhile, the Big Green offense peppered on the Colgate net, firing 21 shots on goal. But it wasn't until the 86th minute that the Big Green added its third goal to seal off the game.
McVeigh found the back of the net again as she scored on a perfect through pass from Lang. The freshman midfielder dribbled past the diving goalkeeper and calmly scored for the 3-0 Big Green lead.
Gibson led the team with four shots on goal, including her continuous late game attacks on Colgate net. Katie Roda '00, Katie Gayman '01 and McVeigh each had three shots on goal.
Entering the game, some naysayers had concerns that Dartmouth would not be able to score goals.
"Absolutely not," defenseman Abby Gillard '01 said. "I was watching a very good soccer game from my part of the soccer field," she said.
The Dartmouth defense and goalkeeper Kristin Luckenbill picked up their 10th shutout of the season. Luckenbill finished with 4 saves in the contest en route to recording shutout number 27.5 of her career -- best in school history.
She entered the contest with a 0.73 goals-against-average overall.
Colgate keeper Kelly Tyrrell made nine saves for the Red Raiders.
"We are peaking at the right time," Knudsen said. The Big Green are 5-1 in the last six games, in which Dartmouth has outscored opponents, 13-3.
The Big Green head down to the University of Connecticut for second round play of the NCAA Division I College Cup Saturday.
"I know that our team is ready to go. I'm looking forward to the game," Gillard said.
Coach Knudsen said having played against national powerhouses such as North Carolina and Richmond earlier in the season has prepared the team well for the tournament.
"We are ready," Knudsen said. "We have faced some of the toughest teams in the country."
The Huskies beat the Big Green earlier in the season as they conquered Dartmouth, 2-1, in overtime in Hanover on October 13.
The scoreline does not tell the whole story, though. The Big Green were up 1-0 with five minutes left until the Huskies managed to push one into the Big Green net. UConn scored quickly in the extra session to win the game.
"I'm glad that we get another chance at UConn," McVeigh said. "This time, we will put them away."
