Dartmouth (7-5-1, 1-3 Ivy) triumphed in a 2-0 shutout of the Quakers (7-4-2, 2-1-1 Ivy), who are currently tied for third place in the Ivy League. Dartmouth is now seventh in the conference, ahead of Cornell.
The Quakers out-shot Dartmouth, 11-9, but were unable to convert their opportunities into goals.
The Big Green jumped onto the scoreboard first in the 25th minute, when co-captain Becky Poskin '09 turned a defensive miscue into the team's first conference goal.
The Quakers turned the ball over outside the box and Poskin made them pay with a 20-yard strike that found the net.
"We started off really well," midfielder Myra Sack '10 said. "We attacked the whole game and created a lot of chances for ourselves."
The Quakers also saw opportunities in the first half, but the Big Green defense, especially goalkeeper Laurel Peak '09, was able to keep the ball away from the goal.
Two minutes after Dartmouth took the lead, senior defender Emily Forline made a long clear to put her team back on the offensive.
Soon after, Penn's Sarah Friedman took a free kick on goal from 20-yards out, but Peak was able to punch the ball away and end the threat.
Dartmouth had another chance in the 35th minute, when Poskin drew out Penn goalkeeper Sara Rose and sent a shot past her, but the ball checked up just in front of the net.
Midfielder Kelsey Quick tried to knock the ball home, but her attempt sailed just high of the open net.
At the half, with the Big Green holding a 1-0 lead, the Quakers decided to shake things up by putting backup goalkeeper Cailly Carroll in net, after Rose gave up one and saved two during the first half.
The second half opened with more competitive play, with the Quakers trying desperately to even up the game.
Instead, the Big Green widened its lead in the 60th minute, when midfielder Peyton Tata '11 took a pass from Whitney Odden '09, sending a sent a shot sailing over Carroll's head and into the back of the net.
The Quakers turned up the pressure in the 75th minute, with back-to-back chances that Peak was able to keep out of the goal. The first of Penn's opportunities came off a corner kick that Peak was able to knock away from the net. Just a few minutes later, Penn's Kirstin Kaiser had a breakaway, but Peak made a close-range save to preserve her shutout.
The Big Green had the opportunity to score a second insurance goal in the 84th minute, when Sack had a breakaway against Carroll.
Sack shot the ball as Carroll came out of position, but the Quaker goalie was able to get a hand on the ball and touch it away from goal.
In the end, one goal was all that was needed as Peak kept a clean sheet for the fifth time this season, and for the first time in Ivy play.
"We knew we had to win," Sack said. "We came out as a team and got it done."
Carroll finished the second half with two saves and one goal allowed.
This win brings the Big Green to seventh place in the Ivies, with a 1-3 conference record. Trailing Dartmouth is Cornell, which is still looking for its first Ivy League win.
"We're just excited to finish the season strong," Sack said. "[This win] gives us something to look forward to. We have momentum now going into our game against Columbia."
The Big Green plays the Columbia Lions next Saturday in New York City. The Lions are currently tied for third place in the Ivy League, behind Princeton and Harvard.
