The Boston University Terriers did all they could yesterday afternoon to give the Dartmouth field hockey team's fans at Scully-Fahey Field something to cheer about. That is, every Terrier but one, goalkeeper Susan Harrington, who deserves the game ball for holding the Big Green scoreless for a 1-0 BU victory.
The game was played in the middle of the field for the first 15 minutes of the game, until the Terriers stepped it up after a Dartmouth giveaway. BU midfielder Meredith Long fired a shot that Big Green keeper Kirsten Anderson '02 did her best just to stop, only to have a player dressed in BU red, Dalinda Banuelos, slap the rebound into the net for a 1-0 visitor's lead.
Dartmouth's best chance of the first half came when Rebekka Stucker '04 came driving at a single Boston University defender with fellow teammate and leading scorer Lauren Welsh '03 at her side. Stucker slid a through pass to an oncoming Welsh right in front of the BU net, only to have Harrington knock the ball away.
Though Dartmouth was outshot in the first half 8-6, the Big Green did hold the edge in corners 4-1, yet those corners weren't executed as sharply as in previous games.
"The fact is that we have been really good on the penalty corners lately, but that today we just weren't as sharp," midfielder/defender Kristin Barlup '02 said.
In case Dartmouth didn't send the message that they were the 20th-ranked team in the country, in the second half they made sure it was conveyed.
Firing shot after shot at Harrington in the second half, Dartmouth had many fair chances of scoring. None was better than a blast by Caitlin Barrett '04 that Harrington got a piece of, but let trickle behind her. Welsh made a dive at the ball, but the keeper's lunge backwards was quicker and longer, and she whipped the ball off the goal line to silence the bleachers.
"We needed to do more of that today," Barlup said. "Caitlin took a few shots like that but I think she was the only one cranking shots and instead everyone needs to be."
That wasn't the end of the Dartmouth barrage however, as minutes later Harrington would take the physical challenge again, only this time, her body would bear the punishment. A ball was played to a streaking Welsh in the open right side of the BU defense. Harrington came out and met all 5-feet, 11-inches of Welsh head-on, thus preventing a one-on-one opportunity.
Unfortunately for Dartmouth, however, it would be Welsh who would feel the brunt of yet another collision just a few minutes later. A Terrier defender's stick came down just below Welsh's knee--and right above her shin guard--forcing Welsh to watch from the sidelines.
Reports on Welsh's condition were unavailable after the game.
Welsh's injury for the final 20 minutes of the game did much to inspire her teammates to play harder. The Big Green had three corners in the latter stages of the game, yet each time they were blocked by BU defenders, or kicked away by Harrington, guaranteeing an end result in the Terriers' favor.
"We did not execute our game plan fully today and did not capitalize on our scoring opportunities," Caitlin Barrett said. "Although we dominated most of the game, they were able to take advantage of some of our lapses and we were not able to rebound from that."
Dartmouth is now 6-4 on the year and has the annual intrastate rivalry with New Hampshire Friday at Scully-Fahey Field.
