Heading on the road for the first time all year, the Dartmouth women's ice hockey team sought to gauge where it stand among the nation's top teams. After splitting its weekend set 1-1, the Big Green found that it must work hard to be in the running for a League title.
On Friday night, the Big Green (3-1-0, 3-1-0 ECAC) continued its undefeated season by besting the Colgate Raiders (3-7-0, 2-6-0 ECAC) by a score of 6-2 in Hamilton, N.Y. Aggressive with the puck from the start, Dartmouth jumped on the scoreboard first by scoring just 13 seconds into the first period. Sasha Nanji '13 put in her second goal of the season, with Reagan Fischer '12 and Kelly Foley '12 assisting.
Filling in for head coach Mark Hudak while he is with the U.S. National Team, acting head coach Holley Tyng was proud of how the Big Green began.
"After a tough week at practice, we were able to come out with a lot of energy in the first period," Tyng said. "Scoring 13 seconds in really gave us confidence and catapulted us into the driver's seat."
After Colgate tied the game with a power-play goal a few minutes later, the Big Green headed into the second period determined to take the game over. Captain Katie Horner '11 credited the intensity of the Big Green as a major factor in its second-period push.
"We definitely thought we outplayed them in the first period," Horner said. "We outshot them, but we didn't let that frustrate us. We went back into the locker room and told ourselves this was our game for the taking."
Dartmouth came out strong in the second period, taking the game over with three consecutive goals by Amanda Trunzo '11, Erica Dobos '12 and Fischer. It was Fischer and Dobos's first goals of the season, while Trunzo put in her third thus far.
Even after responding with a goal of its own, Colgate was effectively being shut down by goaltender Lindsay Holdcroft '14. With eight saves in the second period and seven saves in the third, Holdcroft was able to play beyond her years in the net.
"On Friday night, our freshman goalie stood out," Horner said. "They had a lot of opportunities, and Lindsay is just so quick and has such a great competitive drive. The entire defense stepped up. We took pride in our D zone and our offense was able to capitalize off of our excellent defensive play. It really was a team effort."
The Big Green finished off the Raiders with two additional third-period goals, a power play goal by Foley and a goal by Sally Komarek '13, her first of the season. At the end, six different players scored the six goals against Colgate.
The Big Green faced a greater challenge the following afternoon on Saturday. Traveling to Ithaca, N.Y., Dartmouth knew it had its hands full with second-ranked Cornell. Ultimately, it was at the hands of the Big Red that the Big Green's early undefeated season would come to an end.
Cornell struck first, scoring 11 minutes into the first period. The Big Green held its own, keeping the score at 1-0 through the end of the period.
When the second period began, however, Cornell quickly scored twice in the first four minutes, making it a 3-0 lead. Tyng said she did not believe it was a lack of preparation that led to Cornell's lead.
"It wasn't one part of our game in particular that Cornell defeated us in," Tyng said. "Our game plan was solid Saturday but Cornell was able to capitalize on every little mistake we made. Some of the mistakes we made against Colgate we were able to get away with. It wasn't going to happen Saturday, not against a team like Cornell."
Going into the third period, Dartmouth got on the board with the second goal of the year for Camille Dumais '13, assisted by Trunzo.
The Cornell women were too much for the Big Green to handle, however, and they tacked on three additional goals in the third period, making for a final score of 6-1.
"Cornell is very disciplined and hard working and were a better team than Colgate," Horner said. "We played them hard all the way through, but ultimately we gave them a few scoring opportunities that we shouldn't have and, being the second-ranked team in the nation, they capitalized."
Next up the Big Green will face the Princeton Tigers. The team will travel down to Princeton, N.J., to face its Ivy League rivals on Friday at 7:00 p.m., followed by a 4:00 p.m. game Saturday at Quinnipiac University.
Horner said she does not anticipate a let-down following this weekend's road trip.
"Every Ivy game on our schedule we have to play like the championship game," Horner said. "Every game could come down to the title. We're going into Princeton like it's the championship game and we hope our energy against Princeton will carry over the next day when we play Quinnipiac."
