Entering the season, the field hockey team fronted a robust recruiting class, with seven new recruits. Many of them have been contributing significant minutes and have all helped to add more consistency and depth to a team that was largely made up of upperclassmen in previous years. Although the team went 3-14 last season and ended 2006 on a nine-game slide, Dartmouth was determined to right its ship during winter and spring training.
Thus far, the team has shown signs of considerable improvement ,competing closely with top-ranked teams. In most of its tough losses this season, the team has possessed the ball and taken shots about as much as its opponents.
"Against strong teams like Syracuse, Princeton and Providence this year, we feel that we should be able to compete at a consistent level and stay in games," head coach Amy Fowler said. "We've been able to get the ball on the other team's side of the field, but the issue has been converting those shots into goals."
Difficulty maintaining intensity for the full 70 minutes of the game has been a key issue for Dartmouth this season. The team has yet to play consistently for the duration of a full game, usually bringing a strong showing to one half while falling flat in the other.
In the Big Green's two victories earlier this season against Maine and Brown, Dartmouth was able to effectively control the flow of play, especially after taking leads in the first half.
"We were able to keep the games under control early in the season against Maine and Brown, and that's what we're looking to get back to," Fowler said. "The defense needs to tighten up and stay more disciplined so the other team doesn't get too many easy shots."
Most recently, in its game against Penn, the team had a difficult time getting any kind of momentum going. Penn came out very aggressively in the first half, grabbing a quick 3-0 lead only 18 minutes into the game.
Yet even after Penn extended the lead to 4-0 early in the second half, Dartmouth players still showed signs of life. In the 49th minute, team captain Whitney Waugh '08 successfully turned a penalty corner attempt into the Big Green's first goal of the afternoon. Ashley Heist '08 had taken over goalie duties from Jordan Sedlacek '09 to start the second half and was able to successfully turn away a number of challenges.
However, the game did not remain at 4-1 for long. Just 31 seconds later, Jamie Calahan answered for Penn, extending Penn's advantage back to four.
Waugh remained positive about the team's performance this past weekend, despite the final outcome.
"We never gave up, and if anything we tried too hard," Waugh said. "I think we became a bit too frantic and lost track of our game plan."
Dartmouth outshot Penn 12-10 and had an 8-4 advantage in penalty corners, but simply could not find the back of the net when it needed to.
Its losing streak now up to four, the Big Green will look to get back on track against the University of Vermont on the road this Wednesday. The start time is set for 3:30 p.m.
