The No. 2 Big Green women's ice hockey team had mixed results on the road this weekend, tying with No. 7 Clarkson 3-3 in overtime on Jan. 11 before falling 5-2 to No. 3 St. Lawrence on Jan 12.
Dartmouth women's hockey (11-5-2, 8-4-1 ECAC) is currently in the middle of the most difficult stretch of their season, the outcome of which will determine the playoff seeds that could heavily influence the postseason.
Coming off of a shutout of Cornell, the Big Green was hoping to build momentum heading into their weekend away, but instead learned some valuable lessons that will hopefully prove useful as their season continues.
"We try to have the same mentality going into all of our games -- be focused and confident and compete hard," Maggie Kennedy '09 said. "These rematches were against excellent teams, and we knew going into it that we would have to be great."
On Friday, Clarkson (13-4-4, 4-3-2 ECAC) quickly assumed the lead early into the first period on a power play goal. Dartmouth's Jenna Cunningham '10 evened the score four minutes later with her 17th goal of the season.
The two teams then traded goals, with Big Green captain Nicole Ruta '08 earning Dartmouth's second goal of the night. Katie Gray '09 gave Dartmouth the lead midway through the third period, netting her second point of the season, but Clarkson took advantage of another power play to knot the score at 3-3.
Overtime was uneventful as both teams appeared exhausted -- each team only posted one shot on goal during the additional period.
Goalkeeper Carli Clemis '09 contributed 20 saves to the defensive effort.
"We always approach each game with high standards, so of course we expected more of ourselves when we didn't come out on top," Clemis said.
There was little time to rest before the team faced a stronger opponent in Saturday's matchup against the Saints.
St. Lawrence (15-7-0, 9-2-0 ECAC) defeated Dartmouth for the second time this season, after a 4-3 victory in their first meeting on Friday, Nov. 23.
"The team was well aware that St. Lawrence is a very good team that will work hard and come ready to fight," Julia Bronson '09 said. "We knew we had to come playing our game in the rematch if we were going to come out on top."
Unfortunately for the Big Green, its skaters showed signs of fatigue from the previous day's game and fell behind 3-0 in the first period.
After intermission, the team came out with intensity, ready to catch up to the Saints. Carrie Thompson '09 ended the scoreless streak with her fifth goal of the season, and Amanda Trunzo '11 netted one to bring the deficit to one.
Following the goals, Dartmouth committed a penalty that resulted in a St. Lawrence power play. Clemis blocked four hard shots on goal to keep the Big Green in the game, but the Saints came out strong in the third period and quickly put away two more scores.
"Both teams came prepared to play as we had expected them too, but we did not perform to our full potential to create the results we wanted," Bronson said.
"Saturday's game was a little disappointing because we definitely did not play our best," Kennedy said. "We had some great opportunities and an overall great second period but other than that we just didn't have it. We had to fight some adversity but that's really no excuse. Things happen, and we have to learn how to overcome those things and still compete our hardest."
Dartmouth will get one of its biggest chances of the season when nationally top-ranked University of New Hampshire comes to Hanover on Thursday, Jan. 17.
"We have to work the hardest we've ever worked in practice prior to the Thursday game," Kennedy said. "UNH is a great team and we have to play our best in order to beat them. I think everyone is ready to put this weekend behind us and focus on UNH. I can't wait to play them."
Clemis added that the team is looking forward to taking on New Hampshire on Big Green turf.
"Other than work on some little things before Thursday, we're just getting excited to play on home ice, and throw UNH some great Dartmouth hockey," she said.
