Injuries to Kelly Foley '12 and Larissa Roche '11 during Saturday's loss to the University of Connecticut forced women's head coach Mark Hudak to adjust both the line-ups and power play units for the upcoming games.
"I've made more changes than I expected but I think the team responded well to them," he said.
According to Hudak, the two forwards are expected to be out of action for at least a couple of weeks, but the Big Green (6-6-2, 4-4-1 ECAC Hockey) can still rely on goal-getters Sarah Parsons '10, Amanda Trunzo '11, Jenna Cunningham '11 and Camille Dumais '13 for offensive output.
Cunningham recently surpassed the 100-point career milestone with a pair of goals against Yale on Nov. 21 in the first period, and continued strong output will likely be necessary to bolster the squad.
Hudak added that he will also move Katie Horner '11 up from defense to add more bodies up front.
Dartmouth's offense will look to upend the Bobcats' (7-7-6, 4-3-5 ECAC Hockey) freshman netminder, Victoria Vigilanti, who ranks third in the conference with a save percentage of .938.
Hudak said that the Big Green will need to capitalize on any opportunities Quinnipiac's defense offers to overwhelm Vigilanti.
"What we need to do is to be shooting quicker and get traffic in front of the net and put pressure on the goalie," he said.
Quinnipiac wrung out a slim 2-1 victory against Dartmouth earlier in the season.
Although the Big Green already defeated Princeton in November, Hudak stressed that the team needs to generate sustained pressure early in the game in order to trounce the struggling Tigers.
Since a five-game losing streak in December, Princeton continued on its rocky path against No. 9 Northeastern University on Jan. 5.The Tigers gave up an early 3-0 lead en route to a crushing 4-0 loss courtesy of the Huskies.
Dartmouth's defense will need to contain sophomore forward Danielle DiCesare, who leads the Tiger team offensively with eight goals and nine assists for 17 points.
Geneva Kliman '12 and Sasha Nanji '13 have teamed up on the blue line in 11 of the 14 games played.
"Nanji and I complement each other very well," Kliman said. "We play two very different styles of defense and do our best to support each other all over the ice."
The Big Green will also look to maintain its strong extra-man play, as it tops the ECAC standings in power-play conversions with 22.8 percent.
Despite going forward without some players, the team will focus on improving individual competitiveness and consistency for the match pair this weekend, Hudak said.
Suffering from a four-game losing streak, the Big Green men (3-10, 1-6 ECAC Hockey) have a different goal searching for their second conference win of the season.
"Guys feel like they must be doing something wrong and they aren't in their comfort zone," Boldt said. "We've probably had 15 different guys on the power play and we haven't been able to find the formula. We just aren't scoring goals."
While the Bears (5-9-1, 3-4-1 ECAC Hockey) and Big Green will meet for the first time this season, Yale (8-3-2, 4-1-2 ECAC Hockey) has already defeated Dartmouth, 4-2, in a scrimmage at the beginning of the season.
"We aren't using [the scrimmage] as an indicator," captain Peter Boldt '10 said. "Yale is always good and they won the ECAC last year. We have to bring a lot of energy and work on shutting down their big-producing forwards."
Last season, the Big Green fell to the Bulldogs, 2-1 and 3-1, while dominating Brown, 5-1 and 5-2.
Dartmouth is averaging two goals per game in conference competition this season, while Yale leads the league with an average of 4.14 goals per game.
Scott Fleming '11 leads the Big Green with seven goals so far this season and is followed closely by Dustin Walsh '13 with five goals.
Big Green goaltender Jody O'Neill '12 has posted a save percentage of .898 so far this season, while James Mello '12 and Charles Corsi '13 have seen minimal time in goal.
Hoping to snap the losing streak and begin to turn the season around, Dartmouth will confront the Bears on the ice at 7 p.m. Friday and then battle the Bulldogs at 4 p.m. Sunday at Thompson Arena.
"We can't go from where we are to the pinnacle," head coach Bob Gaudet said. "It is going to be baby steps. I think we are going to get some breaks and I think we just have to stay with it."
