After a triumphant Ivy League opener and glorious win over Brown University last Sunday, the Dartmouth women's soccer team succumbed to the No. 26 Boston University Terriers in an evenly matched game at home Wednesday afternoon.
The Big Green and the Terriers played an intensely physical game and gave each other no break throughout a tough 93-minute contest.
Dartmouth junior Megan Wijas of Southborough, Mass. scored the opening and the Big Green's lone goal unassisted at the 17th minute of the first half. Wijas blasted a ball at the right side of the box that found its way to the upper left corner of the net past Terrier goalkeeper Stephanie Dreyer.
Secured by the lead, the Dartmouth defense line fought hard to hold on to the 1-0 advantage. Defender Colleen Kelly '07 played strong for the Big Green in the back and senior captain and goalkeeper Anne Marbarger '05 held the team together with several spectacular saves in goal.
Boston University came back from halftime on fire. The 3-4-3 lineup put immense pressure on Dartmouth's exhausted defense. However, Dartmouth's offense was able to match the Terriers' intensity.
Junior Christina Ferraris '06 played ferociously and had several excellent but shots on goal. However, with only 5:31 left in the second half, the Terrier's junior midfielder Brooke Bingham turned the game around by scoring off a corner kick by Boston University freshman KimberLee Ryan. Bingham's goal carried the game into overtime.
Although Dartmouth went into overtime full-flamed, a few minor defensive errors were enough to enable Boston University's Melissa Shulman to score the game-winning goal with a pass from teammate Susan Marschall just 2:40 into overtime.
"I thought we played well. Boston University was a good team, but I thought we were better. Yet the score speaks for itself," Dartmouth head coach Ben Landis said. "We simply need to play a complete 90-minute game. This was a similar situation that we found ourselves in during the game against Brown."
"We did a lot of good things, but we need to take the pressure off of defense by scoring more goals." he added.
Last season, Dartmouth played to a 1-1 draw that persisted through two overtimes with Boston University. The Big Green's graduated forward Lea Kiefer '04 scored the opening goal at the 17th minute of the first half. Dartmouth had the lead until the Terrier's Shulman scored Boston University's lone goal two minutes into the second half.
The loss to Boston University drops Dartmouth to 4-3-2 for the season. Next, the Big Green faces its fiercest Ivy League rival, the Princeton Tigers, Saturday in Princeton, N.J.
