The No. 9 Dartmouth women's hockey team enjoyed two big wins this weekend, defeating Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 8-4 on Friday night and then beating Union College 4-2 Saturday.
The two ECAC hockey conference wins should ensure that the Big Green remains in good position for the postseason.
Amanda Trunzo '11 scored a career-high four goals Friday night against RPI. It was the first four-goal game effort by a Big Green player since Sarah Parsons '10 tallied four goals against Union (2-23-3, 0-15-3 ECAC Hockey) on Oct. 28, 2006.
Saturday, Parsons had her own moment in the spotlight, as she became just the 29th Dartmouth player to reach the 100-point mark.
Parsons recorded an assist in Friday's game against the Engineers (12-11-2, 7-6-2 ECAC Hockey) to move within one point of the milestone.
Then Saturday night, with just seconds left in the opening period, Parsons scored to take her place in the record books.
"It was a good feeling, and I definitely owe my teammates big-time for that," Parsons said of the achievement.
Parsons joins Maggie Kennedy '09 as the one of the only two current members of the team to have joined the 100-point club.Co-captain Shannon Bowman '09, however, is in the midst of a convincing campaign to join their exclusive ranks, adding three more points to her career tally to bringing it to 96 points.
Besides the two individual performances, the Dartmouth squad (14-6-2, 11-3-2 ECAC Hockey) had a strong showing in sweeping its two conference games this weekend.
In addition to Trunzo's four-goal performance, Friday night also saw Reagan Fischer '12 rack up two goals and two assists, while both Jenna Cunningham '10 and Kennedy tallied three assists apiece.
Parsons said that the two wins were crucial for the Big Green.
"We are coming into the final stretch and we know we have to win out, so these past two games were definitely a good start," she said.
The game against RPI also saw goalie Carli Clemis '09 tie Kelly Coyne '90 for third on the career wins list, with 52.
Clemis had 23 saves between the pipes to earn her 11th victory of the season.
Mariel Lacina '10 started in goal for Dartmouth on Saturday, earning her third win of the season.
Dartmouth had a slow start against RPI, with the Engineers tallying the only goal of the opening period, scoring with 4:10 left in the frame.
RPI outshot the Big Green 12-9 in the opening period.
The Big Green turned things around coming out of the first intermission, however. Over the course of the second period, Dartmouth smashed the RPI defense, with Trunzo scoring twice and both Fischer and Kelly Foley '12 adding a goal apiece to make it a 4-2 game after the first 40 minutes.
The offensive outpouring continued in the final period. Dartmouth out-scored RPI 4-2 in the third frame. Again scoring for the Big Green were Foley, Fischer and Trunzo.
A key part of the win for the Big Green was its efficiency in extra-skater opportunities. Dartmouth scored on six of nine power-play opportunities. The Big Green averages one goal for every six-and-a-half power play chances this season, on average.
Saturday, Dartmouth carried over its momentum from the previous night's skirmish to earn a 4-2 victory over Union.
Parsons, Foley, Cunningham and Bowman tallied goals for Dartmouth.
Aside from Parson scoring her ninth goal of the season for her 100th career point, Foley extended her goal-scoring streak to six straight games, while Bowman's point-scoring streak extends back nine games.
Dartmouth out-shot Union 36-17 for the game, while converting on one of three power play opportunities.
Lacina said that the two wins this weekend were important for the team both in terms of the ECAC standings and national rankings.
"The team played real well both nights, and it looks like we're really coming together for the end of the season," she said.
Dartmouth returns to action this weekend, when the Big Green hosts Brown and Yale on Friday and Saturday at Thompson Arena. Both games are scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
