The Dartmouth field hockey team suffered a major setback in its Ivy League campaign this weekend, falling to Yale University 3-1 on a breezy Saturday afternoon at Scully-Fahey field. The loss puts the Big Green (3-6, 1-3 Ivy) in the lower half of the Ivy standings, and with only three more conference games to play, Dartmouth's chances of winning the conference have clearly grown slimmer.
The loss comes in the midst of some tough times for the field hockey program. With only three players available as substitutes during the Yale game, head coach Amy Fowler announced that the team will hold open tryouts at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, October 10 at Scully-Fahey field. The Big Green had four incoming freshman recruits this year, but the departure of upperclassmen has left Dartmouth with thin reserve numbers on game days.
The loss drops the Big Green to at least fifth place in the Ivy standings, with results of the remaining conference clashes not available at press time. Yale takes sole possession of third place in the league with the win.
The Bulldogs struck early in the first period to set the tempo of the game. After Yale missed on two scoring opportunities, Heather Orrico teed up a shot from 16 yards out off a penalty corner that got by goalkeeper Jordan Sedlacek '09 to give the Bulldogs a 1-0 advantage 7:27 into the game. Orrico fired six shots toward the Big Green cage, with five of them on goal.
The Big Green could not counter the offensive output of its Ivy League counterpart even though it matched Yale's shot total of six. With 23:09 remaining, Lindsay Collins deposited the game-winning goal on a hard shot from Sedlacek's right side.
The Bulldogs continued to control the flow of the game after Collins' goal, and erased any doubt of victory when Cat Lindroth sprinted around the Big Green defense and connected on a shot to the left side past a diving Sedlacek with less than four minutes left to play.
The Big Green's lone goal came almost 20 minutes into the first half when Katy Hagy '08 found her way out of a cluster of players in front of the Yale goal and managed to fire a shot into the cage.
The Big Green hosts Holy Cross in a 5 p.m. game on Monday, Oct. 9 before traveling to Winston-Salem, N.C. to take on No. 2 Wake Forest University on Sunday, Oct. 15.
