The Dartmouth women's hockey team cruised to two victories over weaker conference rivals on Friday and Saturday. Spending the weekend in upstate New York, the Big Green first blanked the Rensselaer Engineers 3-0 in Troy, N.Y., and followed that performance with a 9-1 blowout of ECACHL cellar-dweller Union in Schenedctady, N.Y.
Though the wins were expected, they kept Dartmouth (19-4-2, 16-1-1 ECACHL) in a comfortable four-point lead in the ECACHL standings. The Big Green will undoubtedly maintain its third-ranked position in the nation with the wins.
Friday night's game against Rensselaer (12-16-1, 8-9-1 ECACHL) remained tight through the first two periods of play. Despite outshooting the Engineers 24-10 in the first and second periods, the Big Green could not build a comfortable lead for most of the game. Dartmouth got on the scoreboard at 4:30 into the first period when defender Meredith Batcheller '07 netted her second goal of the season with a rocket from the point to give Dartmouth a 1-0 lead. Sarah Parsons '10 and Marley McMillan '09 assisted on the goal.
For the remainder of the period, Dartmouth controlled the tempo of the game, allowing only two RPI shots. However, the Big Green tallied no other goals in the frame, leaving a tenuous one-goal margin.
Rensselaer had more life in the second period, getting eight shots on net. The Dartmouth offense picked up with fifteen shots in the period, though none found the back of the net. The Big Green, who of late have not thrived on man-advantage situations, could not capitalize on two power plays in the second period.
The third period had a markedly different tone than the previous twenty minutes. Less than a minute into the final period, Sarah Toupal '10 slung the puck over the Rensselaer goalkeeper's shoulder to give a much-desired cushion to the lead. Parsons had her second assist of the night on the goal that put Dartmouth ahead 2-0.
Only five minutes after that, at 5:38 in the third, Jenna Cunningham '10 sealed the victory for Dartmouth with her eleventh goal of the season, giving the Big Green a comfortable 3-0 lead. Cunningham scored on a rebound following a Caroline Ethier '07 shot.
After Dartmouth's third goal, the teams racked up several penalty minutes, but neither squad scored. The 3-0 win was the Big Green's fourth in a row, and the shutout was goalkeeper Carli Clemis's '09 third of the season.
The next day's game against Union (4-22-0, 0-18-0 ECACHL) provided little suspense but instead acted as an offensive showcase for the Big Green. Parsons had a monster afternoon, racking up six points with three goals and three assists.
Captain Gillian Apps '06 and Katie Weatherston '06 also had big days, tallying four points and three points, respectively. The Big Green took 61 shots on net for the game, despite having to kill four penalties.
The scoring commenced 8:38 into the first period with a goal by Parsons and assists by captain Apps and Carrie Thompson '08. Weatherston extended the lead to 2-0 at 17:23 in the period with assists from Ethier and Parsons.
Union made the game interesting by scoring with 10 seconds left in the first period, narrowing the lead to 2-1, despite being outshot 18-6 for the period. The goal would prove to be inconsequential, however, as the Big Green scored four goals in a four-minute span in the second period to put the game well out of reach.
At 12:16, Cunningham scored with an assist from Nicole Ruta '08 to give the team a 3-1 lead. Three minutes later, at 15:04, Toupal netted her fourth of the season, with an assist from Apps. Merely eighteen seconds later, Apps got on the board with her twenty-fifth goal of the season.
Finishing off the scoring frenzy at 16:21 was Parsons, who gave the team a 6-1 lead with an assist by Amy Cobb '08.
Keeper Sarah Kennedy '10, who started for the game, saved all 10 shots she faced in the second period and finshed with 15 saves overall for her third win of the season.
Kennedy had little to worry about in the third period, as Dartmouth outshot Union 21-0 in the final twenty minutes. The team netted three more goals, beginning at 3:41 into the period with a goal from Maggie Kennedy '09 and assist from Parsons. Weatherston scored an unassisted goal only eighteen seconds later. With one minute remaining, Parsons netted the hat trick with a power play goal, with assists from Apps and Weatherston, to make the score 9-1.
Next weekend, Dartmouth will head to New York again to play Colgate at 7 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 9 and Cornell at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 10.
The Big Green handedly beat Cornell 7-1 in the teams' last matchup this season, but Colgate gave Dartmouth its only conference loss earlier this year with a 2-1 win at Thompson Arena. Winning next weekend's games would all but secure Dartmouth's position at the top of the ECACHL, which would give the Big Green home ice advantage throughout the ECAC tournament.
Dartmouth returns home in two weekends to play Brown on Friday, Feb. 16 and Yale on Saturday, Feb. 17. The Brown game is scheduled for 7 p.m. and the Yale game is slated for 4 p.m.
