The win over the Quakers (3-7, 1-2 Ivy) gave the Big Green (2-6, 1-2 Ivy) its first victory in the Ivy League this year. With four conference games left to play, the win could put Dartmouth in a good position to make a run to the top of the Ivy standings.
Waugh acknowledged the importance of the victory. "Every win is important for us. It is great to beat an Ivy League opponent," she said. "This win will bump us up in the Ivy League standings and give us more confidence."
The Big Green played well in the first half, controlling the tempo and keeping the Quakers from entering their attacking half of the field. After 30 minutes of scoreless play, Waugh converted a penalty corner from the top of the circle 31:14 into the game to give Dartmouth a 1-0 advantage.
Off the ensuing restart, Miller bolstered the Big Green's lead by rifling a shot inside the half circle that found its way past Quaker goalkeeper Liz Schlossberg into the low right corner. Thirty seconds later, Dartmouth found itself leading the pivotal Ivy contest, 2-0.
For Waugh, the Big Green's offensive production was a welcome and encouraging sight.
"Our offense is working extremely hard to create scoring opportunities and force corners," she said. "It was great that after we scored the stroke we were able to capitalize again within two minutes. I am happy to say that we stuck with our game and came through with a goal. I was really proud that we were able to keep our intensity up."
But Penn would not go away quietly. After posting a goal in the latter part of the second half, the Quakers were awarded a corner with less than 30 seconds to play. After the Dartmouth defense blocked Penn's shot attempt, the Quakers earned another corner as the running clock expired, setting up a conversion that could have pushed the game into overtime. While the ball got close to the Big Green's crease, the Big Green managed to deflect the ball out of bounds to seal the win with time expired.
"Late game corners have been occurring often in our last few games," Waugh said. "We have a great defensive corner unit that I am really confident in. It is nerve racking to have a corner called against you when time is out, but I had total faith in the team that we could get the job done."
The momentum seemed to shift back to the Quakers in the second half, especially during the latter part of the stanza. With 14:46 remaining in the contest, Penn's Tracy Statter positioned herself on the low left post and redirected a ball from across the crease to cut the Big Green's lead to 2-1.
The Quakers had two more great opportunities to knot the score within the last three minutes, but each time Dartmouth's defense had an answer to the challenges. First, the Big Green forced the Penn attacker to hesitate on a penalty corner and cleared the ball toward the sideline. Shortly after, netminder Ashley Heist '08 sprawled out to prevent a well-placed crossing pass to the left side of the net from entering the net to preserve Dartmouth's one-goal advantage.
"Towards the end of the game Penn really started to pick up the intensity," Waugh conceded. "We had a little trouble keeping possession of the ball, but everyone worked really hard to get back on defense and work the ball out of the backfield. Our perseverance as a team paid off and we were able to come through with a win."
The Big Green traveled to the University of New Hampshire on Sunday afternoon for a 3 p.m. contest against the Wildcats. The results of that game were not available as of press time.
