Kelly Hood '12 notched a hat trick, including the game-winning goal, to lead Dartmouth field hockey past a stubborn Georgetown team in a close 5-4 match on Saturday. The Big Green, however, came up short against No. 6 Syracuse on Sunday, falling 2-0.
Meghan Everett '12 and Samantha McPherson '13 each contributed a goal to the win over Georgetown.
Meagan Valkiener '12 racked up three saves in goal, securing her sixth victory of the season and tying her career high in wins in a season.
Everett put Dartmouth (6-6, 2-1 Ivy) on the board just over 10 minutes into the game with an unassisted score, collecting her sixth goal of the season. Just a couple of minutes later, Hood added another goal on a penalty corner, with Rebecca Sobel '11 and Kelly McHenry '11 assisting.
With 15:48 left in the first half, Hood barreled down the field and sank a shot that McHenry set up for her for her second goal of the game.
The team furthered its three-goal margin when McPherson and Maya Herm '13 combined to score. Herm took the assist and McPherson the goal, earning her second of the season.
The Hoyas (1-12, 1-2 Big East) finally responded to the abuse on a penalty corner with 8:45 left in the half, when Annie Wilson scored on assists from Kristen Volpe and Annika Bannon.
Although the first half ended with a 4-1 lead for Dartmouth, Georgetown continued its scoring momentum as the game moved into the second half.
The Hoyas also subbed Brianna Fereira for keeper Clodagh Coghlan, who had given up all four goals of the first half. Fereira made eight saves, giving up just one crucial goal.
The Hoyas showed new life in the second half, scoring three unanswered goals in quick succession.
The scores came from Micaela O'Toole, Kate Wingo and finally Volpe, who tied the game with just under 10 minutes left to play.
"We played really strongly in the first half and really played our game, but in the second half we let down our guard and Georgetown capitalized on their chance to catch up," Herm said.
Hood, eager to ensure that the team's first-half play would not go to waste, scored her third goal of the game with just over three minutes left, sealing the win for the team and a hat trick for herself.
Dartmouth outshot Georgetown 23-14 for the game, and the two teams each took nine penalty corners.
Dartmouth could not carry over its winning momentum to its second game of the weekend the Big Green fell to Syracuse(12-1) in a tough 2-0 loss .
Despite the team's efforts particularly those of Valkiener, who blocked a career-high 21 shots the Big Green fell short. The team simply could not get off enough shots, ending with a total of only seven to Syracuse's 39.
"[Against] a team like Syracuse ... it's harder to collect opportunities to go to goal, and when we did create good scoring opportunities, we just couldn't finish," Herm said.
The first half saw mostly back-and-forth play between the teams, and it was not until 13 seconds before the halftime whistle that Syracuse's Kristin Girouard put her team on the board with her third goal of the season.
The second half was much of the same the teams fought neck-and-neck until the very end of the game, when Syracuse's Amy Kee scored on a penalty corner with only 1:29 left.
The shot differential in the second half was significantly skewed in Syracuse's favor, at 20-4.
Dartmouth will next take on Yale at 12 p.m. on Saturday in New Haven, Conn.
