Before Wednesday evening's game against the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, the Dartmouth field hockey team had struggled to generate much offense this season, scoring three goals in its first four games. Those four games resulted in losses for the Big Green.
Lizzie Bildner '08 helped change that trend against the Minutewomen (2-6), depositing the winning goal 28 seconds into overtime to earn her first collegiate hat trick as the Big Green (1-4, 0-2 Ivy) recorded 16 shots in a suspenseful 5-4 victory under the lights at Scully-Fahey Field.
"In our previous four matches, we were creating the scoring opportunities, but we just weren't finishing," head coach Amy Fowler said. "Last night it all came together. We were able to get behind them and our forwards were in position in the circle which gave us a higher chance of getting the ball in the net."
Co-captain Whitney Waugh '08 was also pleased with the team's collective offensive effort. "The girls got it done. [The offense] just turned on last night," she said. "They did their job and everyone was there when they needed to be there. This win was huge for us."
Off the opening restart in the extra period, Bildner took the ball down the left sideline and drove toward the UMass net. Near the end line, she cut back up the field and slammed the ball past Minutewoman goalkeeper Becky Letourneau to notch her team-leading sixth goal of the season.
Bildner's other two tallies were also important in a contest that was tied during four different occasions.
Down 2-1, after Waugh converted a corner with 23:12 left in the first frame, Bildner received a pass from Stef Miller '09 on the opening draw of the second half and maneuvered her way through the Minutewomen defense down the right sideline. In front of the UMass cage, Bildner pulled the ball back toward her up field and elevated the ball over Letourneau to even the score with 34:03 remaining.
With less than 16 minutes left, Bildner tallied her second score of the night when she took a rebound off a shot from Katy Hagy '08 and buried it into the net to give the Big Green a 4-3 lead.
"It's great for Lizzie's confidence," Fowler said about Bildner's performance. "She's been working hard on finishing so she's got the opportunity to score, but she's probably the person who creates the most corners for us. If she doesn't get a shot, she's getting those opportunities for us."
After Bildner's first goal, UMass came right back at the Big Green, converting on a corner opportunity less than a minute later after the Dartmouth defense mishandled the ball in front of its goal.
Now ahead 3-2, UMass applied consistent offensive pressure on the Big Green's half for almost four minutes. In that span the Minutewomen had three set pieces, including two corners, but Big Green goalie Ashley Heist '07 stopped all shots thrown her way to keep the deficit at one goal.
"I think our defense has a level of confidence right now that if they give up shots or corners they rally and stay about their feet," Fowler said, attributing the strong Big Green defensive effort against UMass to lessons learned from the previous game against Princeton, who had over 20 shots on Dartmouth. "We found a way to stay pretty clean and pretty strong with our tackles. I don't think we're afraid of facing that barrage of shots."
The Big Green's defensive tenacity paid dividends when Hagy collected a loose ball and scored with less than 23 minutes remaining in the contest to knot the score at 3-3.
UMass' Lauren Gillespie forced the overtime when several poor Dartmouth passes led to a Minutewomen goal off a corner. UMass had a golden opportunity to grab the win when they won another corner with time expired in regulation, but the Big Green cleared the ball to force the extra stanza of play.
The Big Green next travels to Chestnut Hill, Mass. on Sunday, Sept. 24 to face the Boston College Eagles at noon in a non-conference clash.
