In spite of a second-half rally, the Dartmouth field hockey team dropped a heartbreaker to Ivy League rival Yale at home on Saturday, losing the game, 3-2, in sudden death overtime. The Bulldogs' victory marks their first Ivy League win of the year.
The loss dropped Dartmouth (3-8, 2-2 Ivy) to a tie for third place in the Ivy standings with Harvard University. Yale University (3-8, 1-3 Ivy) is seventh in the conference, just ahead of Brown University. Princeton University and Cornell University are tops in the league with identical 4-0 Ivy records.
"For Yale, I think we maybe underestimated them," co-captain Ashley Hines '09 said. "We just came out really flat against them. We dug ourselves out of a hole two times, but they came back in overtime and won. They wanted it more than us."
After a scoreless opening half for the Big Green against Yale, Dartmouth intensified its play in the second half with a series of shots that culminated in a goal just over 15 minutes into the period.
Hines came in from the right side of the circle and fired a pass to Jess Chen '12, who tipped the ball in for her first collegiate goal and to tie the contest at 1-1.
"I think it's refreshing to see that a lot of different people are scoring," Hines said.
Yale took the lead again on a corner less than seven minutes later, but Dartmouth retaliated almost immediately in similar fashion with 10:55 remaining when Hines put in a goal during a penalty corner. Virginia Peisch '11 and co-captain Kristen McCormick '09 provided assists on the play.
The second half closed out with an intense series of scoring attempts by each team, but both Dartmouth goalie Meagan Vakiener '12 and Yale keeper Katie Bolling maintained their poise and prevented either team from finishing off the game in regulation.
Just five minutes into sudden death overtime, the Bulldog's Mia Rosati went down to the Dartmouth endline toward the crease, where teammate Ashley McCauley found the ball in the crowd and got it past Vakiener for the game-winning tally.
A rowdy Homecoming crowd was particularly enraged about two goals that were recalled in the second half. The first goal was nullified because a player touched the ball with her foot before play started. The second goal was called back because the ball was not touched inside of the circle.
The first half of the game was uneventful for the Big Green offense that posted only one shot in the frame.
Although Yale took only two shots in the first 20 minutes of the half, the Bulldogs pushed their shot count to nine by the half with a number of corners and offensive plays. With some impressive defensive plays as well as saves by Vakiener, however, Dartmouth kept the Bulldogs from gaining any larger of a lead going into the second half.
Yale struck first when McCauley found Rosati cutting toward the Big Green goal, who faked out Vakiener in one move for the score just over nine minutes into the first half. McCauley and Rosati each had a goal and an assist in Saturday's action.
On Sunday, Dartmouth fell, 3-1, to No. 11 Louisville (9-5, 4-1 Big East) on Sunday at home.
The Big Green plays the last of three straight homes games when it faces Bryant University at 3 p.m. Wednesday afternoon in Hanover.
