On Sunday afternoon, the Dartmouth College women's hockey team won the Eastern College Athletic Conference Hockey League (ECACHL) championship. The Big Green destroyed the visiting St. Lawrence Saints 7-3 at Thompson Arena on Sunday afternoon.
Dartmouth dominated the first period, out scoring the Saints 3-0, while out shooting them 17-5. From that point on the game was never in question. Dartmouth's lead swelled to 5-0 before the Saints finally got on the board at the end of the second period.
"The whole time I was thinking we had to keep the energy up on the bench and finish out the game as if it was 0-0," Julia Bronson '09 said, "because its a 60-minute game and just one goal can change the whole game."
The Saints would match Dartmouth's two goals in the final frame, but it was too little way too late.
Dartmouth's Katie Weatherson '07recorded a very impressive four-point day, including a hat trick. Also scoring for the Big Green was Gillian Apps '06, who had a goal and an assist, Shannon Bowman '09 (two assists), Caroline Ethier '07 (one goal, one assist), Sarah Parsons'10 (one goal, one assist), Nicole Ruta '08, (one assist), Meredith Batcheller '07 (two assists), and Cherie Piper '06 (one goal, three assists).
The win is a landmark, even after what has already been an amazing season for the Dartmouth women. Many individuals on the team were recognized with postseason awards. Head Coach Mark Hudak was awarded Coach of the Year, following his team's 21 win, one loss effort in league play. The Big Green haven't lost since Jan. 13, and have won 13 straight games. Also winning major post-season awards were Apps, who took home the Player of the Year, Parsons was named Rookie of the Year, and Clemis was named Goalie of the Year.
Apps is among the league leaders in scoring, with 23 goals and 11 assists. Parsons, an Olympian, recorded 13 goals and an amazing 40 assists in league play. Clemis was the best goalie in the league, with a 16-1-1 record and 3 shutouts. Dartmouth became the first school in league history to sweep all four major awards. Apps and Clemis were also awarded first team all-ECACHL honors.
