The Big Green women's soccer team crushed the Northeastern University Huskies in a non-conference game played at Singer Family Park in Manchester on Monday night.
Dartmouth improves its record to 9-3-1, remaining 3-1 in the Ivy League. Dartmouth has now won eight games in a row, a streak that dates back to Sept. 25. The 5-0 match drops the Huskies to a record of 5-7-3.
The Big Green offense, with an incredible amount of momentum building up in the past month, dominated the game from the very beginning. With superior speed and experience, the Big Green forwards were able to penetrate the inexperienced Huskie defense easily. Only 45 seconds into the game, Devon Haskell '03 was able to tally her first goal of the season.
Co-captain and starting center-midfielder Mary McVeigh '03 provided the catalytic spark for the Big Green machine, assisting on Haskell's game-opening goal and then following up with another accurate pass to Katherine Kannenberg '05 for the second goal of the game minutes later.
With these two assists, the 14th and 15th of her career, McVeigh elevated her scintillating career to another level. She now ranks fourth all-time on the school's assist list.
McVeigh, who had an outstanding first half setting up both goals in that half, dominated the second half, shifting roles to the goal-scorer. Four minutes into the second half, McVeigh took matters into her own hands and iced the game with an unassisted goal that stretched the lead to 3-0.
To match the two assists she tallied in the first half, she tallied the second goal of the half by receiving a pass from Emily Odegard '03 and putting the ball past Cynthia Slowik, the Huskies' goalkeeper who saved six shots for the game while giving up five goals. The assist by Odegard was the senior defender's first point of her Big Green career. Minutes later, the Big Green machine produced its largest offensive output, when Lea Kiefer '04 scored her third goal this season on a pass from Kathryne Carr '06, the assist marking Carr's first collegiate point.
Five goals, even against one of the strongest teams in the nation, proved to be too frustrating for the Huskies head coach Ed Matz, who replaced Slowik with Jeannette Tremblay in the moments following the fifth goal.
Dartmouth's starting goalkeeper Julia Shields '03 had a rare complete game today, making five saves and earning a shutout. Dartmouth's goal, usually guarded by Shields and Anne Marbarger '05, with the occasional help of Kate Nugent '06, has proven to be impenetrable, as it has given way to only two goals during the eight-game winning streak.
Dartmouth will look to gain firmer ground on its second-place Ivy League standing on Saturday morning, when the team will take the field against Columbia University in New York.
The Lions, 4-6-2 overall and 0-2-2 in Ivy League competitions, look to earn their first league victory. After starting the season 1-6-1, the Lions have performed better in the last four games.
