After suffering a tough 1-0 loss to Boston University on Sept. 20, the Dartmouth field hockey team has since rebounded to win its next four games against Brown, Bryant University, the University of Vermont and the University of Pennsylvania with one player setting a new Ivy League record in the process.
In its first Ivy League victory of the season, the Big Green (5-4, 2-1 Ivy) won decisively against Brown. The win was due to improved team cohesion, co-captain Virginia Peisch '11 said.
"It was a good team effort," she said. "We moved together well as a team. We communicated well and ... we outworked them."
Dartmouth also outshot Brown, taking 28 shots on goal as opposed to the Bear's 11.
"The kids went in really fired up," head coach Amy Fowler said. "We had a very attacking game. We took control of possession for 85 or 90 percent of the game."
Kelly Hood '12 set a new Ivy League record with five goals in one game against Brown. Peisch and Kelly McHenry '11 also both tied an Ivy League record, with four assists each.
Co-captain Chelsea Dodds '10 said all were well deserved records.
"That was the best game we've seen [Hood] play in a very long time," Dodds said. "You could tell from the first minute that she was completely on her game. And [Peisch] and [McHenry] both had just amazing games as well."
Peisch said that Hood's new Ivy League record is a testament to her added drive in the past weeks.
"Five goals in a game is a huge amount in field hockey, which is usually a low-scoring game," she said. "[Hood] has been practicing hard and working really hard on corners. Her hard work is really paying off. It's definitely a deserved record that she set."
Against Bryant University, the Big Green beat the Bulldogs in a close 4-2 match. After having beaten Bryant decisively last year when the school was in Division II, Peisch admitted that the team went into the game against Bryant, which recently joined Division I, with the wrong attitude.
"We went into the game with the mindset that it would be easy to play, but they played with a lot of heart and we were taken by surprise by how much they wanted it," she said.
After trading points throughout the first half, the team finally edged out Bryant with a final goal in the last 10 minutes of the game. Fowler said that once the second half began, the team played a much more focused game.
"We needed to take control of the game," she said. "We worked hard on finishing inside the circle. We didn't have a great first half, but the second half we really picked it up and took it to them."
On Saturday, in its second double-overtime game of the season, Dartmouth beat Penn 2-1 with a goal by newcomer Liz Blanken '13 with eight minutes remaining.
"[Liz] has been playing very well ... and it's great that she has the goal now," Peisch said of Liz's success. "She's been a great part of the team, but it's nice for her to finally get that reward."
Despite not being used to playing on an unfamiliar kind of turf, the team was able to hold together for the win, Dodds said.
"[The Penn game] was a rough game. [Penn] plays on a different kind of turf, and the hardest thing was for us to stay composed. We did a good job just playing through all those things."
Looking ahead to the team's next game against the University of New Hampshire, Fowler said that the team needs to take advantage of scoring opportunities, since the teams are so closely matched.
"They are very fit, very athletic, and they have good team speed overall," she said. "We beat them last year on a goal at the very end of the game, and that's how opportunistic we need to be, [because] we match up with them in terms of skills and execution on our corners."
Peisch added that, because last year's game was so close, New Hampshire will be especially keen on beating Dartmouth this year.
"Last year was an extremely close game ... so they are going to come at us with a lot of leftover aggression and rage," she said. "They are going to be really eager to defeat us as payback for last year, so that's probably going to be tough."
Dodds, however, said she is optimistic that the team can come out with a win on Wednesday.
"University of New Hampshire is going to be really tough, but we are going to keep working hard and hope things fall our way," she said.
Dartmouth will play against the University of New Hampshire at 3 p.m. on Wednesday at Chase AstroTurf Field in Hanover.
