The Dartmouth women's hockey team resumed its hot streak this weekend with a 3-1 win over Brown University in Providence, R.I. and a 6-0 win over Yale University in New Haven, Conn. The wins moved the Big Green to 14-6-2 overall, 10-4-2 in the ECAC and 4-2-0 in the Ivy League. The team has won six of its last seven games and has only one loss this calendar year, propelling them back into the national top 10.
The team was short-handed for the weekend, missing Morgan Illikainen '15 due to a concussion and Samantha Zeiss '15 due to illness. Lisa Berreman '13 went down due to injury in the Brown game and missed the game against Yale. This left the Big Green with just four defensemen for their game against the Bulldogs.
The Big Green was taking nothing for granted against the two teams.
"On paper, Brown and Yale aren't the best teams, but anyone can beat anyone in this league," goaltender Lindsay Holdcroft '14 said. "Cornell was our best game of the season so far and it gave us a lot of confidence to know we could play with them and anybody."
The Big Green was favored heavily in the two weekend games, but that made the games more difficult because the Big Green was "expected to win," according to Holdcroft.
Friday in Providence, Brown scored the game's first goal with just under three minutes into the period. Thanks to stellar play from Holdcroft, who notched 11 saves in the third period and 25 overall, the Bears would not score again. Holdcroft's stingy goaltending opened the door for the offense to capitalize on its opportunities.
Sasha Nanji '13 played an amazing game, scoring two unassisted goals in the first period. The first goal came around seven and a half minutes into the frame and the second came just four minutes later. For her second goal, Nanji got the puck at center ice and turned toward the net. She toe-dragged a Brown defender and came in untouched on the goalie. Nanji deked, causing the goaltender to dive, and then put a backhander in the net to give the Big Green a 2-1 lead going into the second.
Dartmouth dictated play in the second, outshooting Brown 12-5 in the frame. The Big Green was unable to increase their lead in the period, however. Holdcroft turned away all of Brown's five shots with ease as the game headed into the third with the Big Green still leading by one.
The Bears put on the pressure in the third in an attempt to tie the game, peppering Holdcroft with 11 shots to the Big Green's nine. Holdcroft stayed strong in the net, stoning Brown repeatedly and refusing to let the Bears back into the game. With just over a minute left, Brown pulled its goalie. It was the Big Green, however, who capitalized on the opportunity. Erica Dobos '12 scored an empty-netter with an assist from Reagan Fischer 12 to put game out of reach.
"We had a lot of shots but had trouble scoring against Brown," Nanji said. "[Head coach] Mark [Hudak] really emphasized that going into the game against Yale."
The Big Green's offense exploded on Saturday for six goals and 52 shots against a Yale team that has been in the basement of the ECAC since the beginning of the season. Despite taking 17 shots in the opening frame, the Big Green only tallied one goal. Just 1:43 into the game, Kelly Foley '12 scored with assists from Fischer and Lauren Kelly '14.
The floodgates began to open in the second, with Dartmouth scoring twice in the frame on 14 shots. Moira Scanlon '12 tallied her first goal of the season to double the Big Green's lead. Camille Dumais '13 and Nanji assisted on the goal.
With just one second left in the second period, Foley netted her second goal of the game with assists from Nanji and Margaux Sharp '13. The Big Green broke the puck out of its own zone and Foley streaked up the middle. She got a couple of strides beyond the blue line, wound up and sent a slap shot sailing just under the crossbar.
The goal provided momentum for the Big Green, who completely controlled the third.
"It was huge," Holdcroft said. "It got us out of a two-goal lead, which is always tough."
In the third, Dartmouth tallied three goals on 21 shots. Nanji scored her first of the game and third of the weekend unassisted with just under eight minutes left in the game.
Two and a half minutes later, the Big Green scored a shorthanded goal off the stick of Fischer with assists from Foley and Sharp. With time winding down, Nanji tallied her second goal of the game and fourth of the weekend. Dumais and Jessica Gagner 13 assisted on the goal.
Despite the dominating performance, Holdcroft faced 28 shots in the game. She turned away every shot en route to her third shutout on the season.
"It was definitely a team shutout," Holdcroft said, noting the great play of the forwards to help out the four defensemen.
Nanji described how the team overcame the difficulties of missing a defender.
"It was definitely a challenge playing with four defensemen, but the whole team realized it and helped each other out," Nanji said. "It showed us that if we play together as a team and keep shooting, we can play against anyone, no matter how many players we have."
Holdcroft added that the two games gave the Big Green good preparation for next weekend's home games against Princeton University and Quinnipiac University.
"The fact that Brown and Yale played as well as they did gave us good competition, and the goals gave us confidence heading into next weekend," she said.
