Dartmouth's field hockey team could not reverse its bad fortunes on Wednesday evening, losing to the University of Vermont 4-2 at Scully-Fahey Field. Jordan Sedlacek '09 had a big night in goal for the Big Green (3-9), but her career-high 10 save performance could not keep the Catamounts from handing Dartmouth its fourth straight loss.
Down 3-1 in the second half, Sedlacek wasted little time establishing a presence in net during the stanza, as she made several acrobatic saves to deny the Catamounts (9-6).
During one sequence of events midway through the half, the UVM attack got the ball down low to the right side, but Sedlacek stopped the initial shot and rebound attempts to force a Catamount penalty corner. UVM fired the ball off the set play to the left side of the net, but Sedlacek dove to deflect the ball with the end of her stick toward the endline.
The Big Green cleared the ball to midfield, where Katy Hagy '08 saw Lizzie Bildner '08 alone with time and space in the middle of the field. However, Hagy's centering pass was too far in front of Bildner and UVM goalie Kristen Heavens charged out of the net to deflect the ball to the sideline.
The bad connection was a common theme on the night for the Big Green. Dartmouth was plagued by poor passes, and many of those attempts were either mishandled by the Big Green or passed directly to the UVM attack. This especially hurt in the transition game and helped the Catamounts record 21 shots, compared to Dartmouth's four.
With 20 minutes remaining in regulation, Sedlacek continued her sharp goaltending when she swatted a ball with her blocker while she was sprawled out on the turf to stop a great UVM scoring opportunity.
"Despite the fact that they had so many opportunities in the circle during the second half, I felt pretty relaxed," Sedlacek said. "The defense was communicating and working as a unit and that makes my job a lot easier." I try to take every shot as it comes without worrying about the score. If I save it, that's great. If I don't, we have to earn it back as a team."
Sedlacek's efforts did not go completely unrewarded. After Sedlacek made a diving save on a Catamount penalty corner and the Big Green defense moved the ball to its midfielders with around 28 minutes to play, Dartmouth earned a penalty corner of its own after Stef Miller '09 drove into a group of Catamount defenders. Miller then set the ball on the feed for co-captain Whitney Waugh '08, who rifled it along the field into the right side, cutting the UVM lead to 3-2.
The Big Green tried to rally to force overtime, but UVM found itself with numbers down low and forced Sedlacek out of the cage to give Kate Lipton an open net and the Catamounts a 4-2 lead with five minutes remaining.
The contest did not start well for the Big Green, as the Catamounts' Danielle Collins strung together two unassisted goals early in the first half to establish a quick UVM lead.
Less than three minutes into the opening frame, Collins stripped Kaitlin Carey '10 and broke in on starting netminder and co-captain Ashley Heist '08. A quick deke set up Collins' shot past Heist, putting the Catamounts ahead, 1-0. Six minutes later, Collins beat the Big Green defense down the endline and deposited a shot into the near low corner to double the score at 2-0.
Sedlacek relieved Heist following the goal, but the goalie switch was not totally attributable to Heist's performance in cage. "The coaches knew that Heist had been sick the past few days, so I was told to stay ready on the sidelines. When I was put in, my first goal was to settle the defense and then focus on playing aggressively and being proactive," according to Sedlacek.
The Big Green got on the board with less than 10 minutes left in the first half when Allison Weinstock '10 took a rebound from Bildner's shot and put it in the back of the net.
The Big Green resumes play in the Ivy League tomorrow when it takes on Columbia (5-8, 0-4 Ivy) at 3 p.m. in New York, N.Y.
