The game was the team's debut on the newly resurfaced Scully-Fahey artificial turf field. Previous home games had been played at Dartmouth's Memorial Field.
"I think [the game] was somewhat of a disappointment in that we didn't execute our game plan," co-captain Liz Spence '08 said "I think we played really hard and were aggressive and fought for sixty minutes, but just had mental errors."
The Quakers' (10-1, 5-0 Ivy) victory over Dartmouth (5-6, 1-4 Ivy) extends Penn's current win streak to eight, and also marks the end of a long home win streak for Dartmouth. The Big Green had not lost to the Quakers at home since 1988.
The win also boosts Penn's perfect Ivy record to 5-0 and allows it to stay at the top of the Ivy League standings.
The loss cements the Big Green into the seventh spot in the conference, just behind Harvard (7-5, 1-3 Ivy). The Big Green will face the Crimson next week.
Dartmouth made the game close with a three goal run that began with under seven minutes to play.
"We made some adjustments in half time," Spence said. "We started passing the ball more directly and more confidently, and that's how we got a couple of those goals."
After a time-out, co-captain Kristen Barry '08 got control of the ball and put in an unassisted goal to push the score to 7-3.
Cate Goytisolo '10 got the ball two minutes later and passed to Eliza Bennett '10, who put up a point to extend the rally.
With under a minute elapsed, Goytisolo put in a goal, assisted by Greta Meyer '11, closing the gap to 7-5.
The comeback, however, was not to last. After a caused turnover and clear, the Quakers stopped the Big Green with a goal of their own, locking in the win and putting the final score at 8-5.
Dartmouth's series of goals was in contrast to the majority of the contest, in which Dartmouth was scoreless for forty minutes.
The Big Green clinched the first goal of the contest with a free position shot from Bennett just over thirty seconds into the first half, but went into halftime with a deficit of 5-1. Each of Penn's goals in the first stanza scored by a different player.
By the time Dartmouth scored another goal, a free position shot by Kat Collins '11 with under twenty minutes left to play, the Quakers had added another goal to bring their total to six. In the end, it was too much for Dartmouth to overcome even with a late-game surge.
The Big Green posted fewer shots than usual, 17 to Penn's 29, evidence of a strong Quaker defense effort.
Bennett led the team in points, putting in two goals. Bennett was followed by Goytisolo with a goal and an assist, Barry and Collins with a goal each, and Meyer with an assist.
In goal, netminder Julie Wadland '10 made 10 saves.
Dartmouth hits the road this weekend as conference play winds down.
The Big Green will face Harvard on Wednesday in Cambridge, Mass. in a game that could push Dartmouth to the sixth spot on the league ladder.
The squad will go on to battle undefeated No. 2 Princeton next Saturday in Princeton, N.J.
Spence remarked on the team's needs to stick to the game plan against the Crimson in a way that they failed to do against Penn.
"Since [the Harvard game] is on Wednesday, we have a pretty tight turn-around," she said. "I think we're going to keep working on really kicking in to the game plan that the coaches have set out for us, and eliminating the mental errors that we've been having in games. [The game] will be a battle for sure."
