The women's squad (18-9-6, 13-5-4 ECAC) secured an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament after a conference playoff loss against St. Lawrence (28-10-1, 18-3-1 ECAC) in the semifinals.
Facing top-ranked Harvard (32-2-0, 22-0-0 ECAC), which won the Eastern College Athletic Conference hockey league's postseason crown, the No. 8 Big Green could not match the Crimson's offense in a 5-1 defeat in the NCAA quarterfinals on March 15.
Dartmouth's only score of the game came from Sarah Parsons '10, who recorded a goal in her 12th straight game.
Parsons beat a defender as she skated into the Crimson zone and put the puck past Harvard goalie Christina Kessler's glove side late in the second period, cutting the Harvard lead to 3-1.
Penalties were a big factor in the contest.The Crimson notched three goals off the man advantage -- one of which was a five-on-three power play -- while the Big Green went zero-for-four with the extra skater.
Harvard's Sarah Vaillancourt led all skaters with two goals and two assists for four points, including a goal that pushed Harvard ahead 3-0 in the second period.
Before the tough loss at the hands of the Crimson in the national playoffs, the Big Green had been denied a conference postseason title the previous week.
The third-seeded Big Green advanced into the semifinal round of the ECAC playoffs following a convincing home sweep of Colgate (12-17-5, 9-9-4 ECAC), dispatching the Raiders 4-3 on Feb. 29 and 4-2 on March 1.
In a game that was also defined by penalties, St. Lawrence took advantage of man-up situations to net three power play goals en route to a 3-1 Saints victory on March 8.
Goaltender Carli Clemis '09 turned away 35 shots in the contest.
"We needed good goaltending tonight and we got that, but we couldn't capitalize on our opportunities," head coach Mark Hudak told reporters after the game.
The biggest damage came in the second period, when the officials called a total of six penalties on the two teams, with three to Dartmouth.
The Saints tallied one goal on the power play a minute into the second frame to knot the score at 1-1. Dartmouth could not clear its defensive zone, and St. Lawrence's Sabrina Harbec was wide open to receive a pass and stuff it past Clemis.
Later in the period, the Saints capitalized again to secure a 2-1 advantage when Sarah Newnam '09 was sent off two minutes for holding.
Dartmouth could not convert one power play early in the third period and two following another St. Lawrence man-advantage goal.
Shannon Bowman '09 scored Dartmouth's lone goal in the contest on an early power play opportunity five minutes into the game. She took the puck off a deflection from Parsons, and put it into the net on a high shot over Saints goalie Meaghan Guckian.
Maggie Kennedy '09 and Jenna Cunningham '10 were named all-league second team, while Parsons was tabbed as a third team choice. Clemis was named the ECAC hockey student-athlete of the year.
The Dartmouth men (12-16-4, 6-13-3 ECAC) bowed out of the ECAC postseason in the first round following a dismal regular season. The Big Green went into the playoffs with a No. 12 seed, the team's lowest seeding since the league expanded to a 12-team format.
As a result Dartmouth was paired against fifth-seeded Cornell (19-14-3, 12-9-1 ECAC) in the opening round of the playoffs. The Big Red beat the Big Green twice in the regular season, with the second game going 6-0 to Cornell.
On March 7, Dartmouth tied up the best-of-three series with a 5-3 victory in Ithaca, N.Y. The Big Green took a 2-0 lead by the middle of the second period and never trailed to force a final game on Sunday.
But Dartmouth fell flat the following day, as Cornell routed the Big Green 6-0. The Big Green ended the season with a losing record for the first time since 1999-2000.
Nick Johnson '08 finished his college career by being named first team all-ECAC, the first of his career. Freshman defenseman Evan Stephens '11 took home third team all-ECAC honors.
