The Big Green women's ice hockey capped off a successful regular season with two resounding road victories this weekend over Cornell and Colgate.
As a result of the victories, Dartmouth is the third seed in the Eastern College Athletic Conference hockey league heading into the playoffs, which will determine the ECAC's automatic bid to the 16-team NCAA tournament.
The No. 3 ranking guarantees at least one home-ice playoff match for the Big Green.
Entering the weekend, Dartmouth (16-7-6, 12-5-4 ECAC) trailed Clarkson (27-7-5, 13-6-3 ECAC) for third place in the conference. The Big Green's success combined with Clarkson's 1-2 loss to Princeton (13-10-6, 11-8-3 ECAC) allowed Dartmouth to overtake the Golden Knights for third place.
On Friday night against Cornell (12-14-1, 9-11-1 ECAC), the Big Green came out ready to fight, scoring six minutes into the contest on a goal by Sarah Parsons '10.
Julia Bronson '09 extended the lead with a goal, whichwas followed by another goal just 30 seconds later courtesy of Larissa Roche '11.
Midway through the second period, Dartmouth extended its scoring streak with a power-play goal by Carrie Thompson '08.
The final Big Green goal came at the beginning of the third period when Maggie Kennedy '09 netted her 14th goal of the season.
Cornell eventually managed to penetrate the Big Green defense, scoring on a power-play goal near the end of the game, but the Big Red effort was too little too late and the game ended with a final score of 5-1.
Goaltender Carli Clemis '09 made 25 stops on 26 shots on net, as Dartmouth outshot the Big Red 38-26.
In the final game of the regular season on Saturday, the Big Green emerged with a 4-1 victory over Colgate (12-15-5, 9-9-4 ECAC) in Hamilton, N.Y.
Saturday's game was sweet revenge for Dartmouth -- when the two teams met in Hanover in early January, Dartmouth fell 2-1 in overtime.
Dartmouth looked to control the pace of the game on Saturday, flexing its offensive muscle in order to avoid another defensive stalemate.
Neither team scored in the first period, however, and the Big Green managed only six shots on goal.
In the second period, Dartmouth regrouped and came out strong against the Raider defense. The offensive pressure paid off, resulting in the first goal of the night eight minutes into the period off the stick of Amanda Trunzo '11. Both teams failed to convert on power plays in the second period, however, and the Big Green took its 1-0 lead into the locker room.
It took some time for the Big Green to extend its lead. With nine minutes left in the game, Kennedy stepped up to deliver her 15th goal of the season, giving Dartmouth a 2-0 lead.
Colgate put together an offensive surge and managed to score with four minutes remaining, but the game was not up for grabs for long.
Shannon Bowman '09 slammed in a goal just 30 seconds later off a long pass from Parsons to put the game away.
As time expired, Kennedy scored an empty-net goal, settling the score at 4-1.
Clemis made a total of 28 saves, marking the 19th time this season that she has stopped over 20 shots in a single game.
The Big Green is now 5-0-2 in its last seven games and is peaking at the right time.
"It was huge for us to close out the season with two wins because we're now on a high note heading into the playoffs," Kennedy said. "We have the momentum and confidence with us and it doesn't get any better than that heading into the postseason."
Dartmouth will now advance to the ECAC playoffs for the 17th straight season.
The Big Green's quest for the tournament championship begins with a best-of-three series against Colgate. The winner of this match-up will advance to the single elimination semifinals and tournament final.
The Big Green looks to maintain the drive that has carried the team during its late season surge.
"We need to continue to work on competing as hard as we can in practice," Marley McMillan '09 said. "We need to go hard in every single drill and want to win every single battle so that we go into our games with that same mentality. We know what to do and how to play well -- it will now come down to whether we choose to execute or not."
Last season, the team defeated Rensselaer, Clarkson and St. Lawrence to earn the 2007 ECAC tournament championship.
Colgate, however, poses a significant challenge for the Big Green this season.
Over the past two seasons, the Raiders have matched up evenly against Dartmouth, compiling a 2-2 record.
The three-game series begins this Friday at Thompson Arena.
"It has been a good season so far," Kennedy said. "There have certainly been a few bumps in the road yet we always manage to get back up. But what it all comes down to is the postseason. We will see how that goes."
Harvard (27-1-0, 22-0-0 ECAC) takes the top seed into the playoffs, while St. Lawrence (25-8-1, 18-3-1) holds home-ice advantage over Dartmouth with the number two seed in the playoffs.
