The Big Green was still missing Lisa Berreman '13 and Samantha Zeiss '15 for the games, but Morgan Illikainen '15 returned to the lineup after a concussion and played well in both games, breaking up numerous odd-man rushes on Saturday night.
"The injuries definitely caught up to us," Camille Dumais '13 said. "Not only was it hard for the defense to get rest, but having players in the stands is missing a link in the team."
Dartmouth is gearing up for a playoff push, with only four games to go in the regular season.
"We're treating every game like a playoff game," Dumais said.
The Big Green entered the weekend tied for third in the ECAC, so it was fighting for home ice in the playoffs against Princeton (10-11-4, 8-8-2 ECAC), which sat one spot behind Dartmouth, and Quinnipiac, which was tied with the Big Green in the standings. Dartmouth now sits in a tie for fourth with St. Lawrence University after the weekend's results.
In a game in which Dartmouth dominated in every way but on the scoreboard, the Big Green started slow against the Tigers, committing two penalties and only managing eight shots to Princeton's 13 in the first period. The penalty kill would prove to be the team's Achilles' heel in the game. The Tigers capitalized on two of their five power-play opportunities in the game, leading them to the win.
On Princeton's second man-advantage of the first period, this time for a tripping penalty against Margaux Sharp '13, Kelly Cooke put the puck in the net for a 1-0 lead with just under one-and-a-half minutes left in the frame on a deflected shot.
In the second, the Big Green outshot the Tigers 24 to four, but was only able to muster one goal in the period. In fact, it was the Tigers who struck first, again on the power play. Reagan Fischer '12 deflected a shot from the point toward the corner. Unfortunately for the Big Green, the puck dropped right on the stick of the Tigers' Corey Stearns, who buried the puck past a diving Lindsay Holdcroft '14 for the two-goal lead.
Dartmouth scored its only goal of the game midway through the second period. Like the two goals that preceded it, the Big Green's score also came on a power play.
After working the puck around a couple of times and getting off numerous chances, the puck settled on the blade of Moira Scanlon '12. Scanlon sent the puck to Sasha Nanji '13, who faked a shot and slid the puck to Dumais, who pumped once, causing the Princeton defender to slide in front of her, then unleashed a shot on net that sailed just inside the far post. Dumais said she was ecstatic about the goal, which came at a crucial point in the game.
Despite numerous chances in the rest of the second period, including a few shots that rang off the post, the Big Green was unable to tie the game. The third saw more of the same, with the Big Green notching 10 shots to the Tigers' two.
The closest the Big Green came to tying the game came on a two-on-one featuring Ali Winkel '14 and Sally Komarek '13. Winkel dodged a defender in the neutral zone and drew the second defender in the defensive zone. She slid the puck to Komarek, who deked Princeton goalie Rachel Weber and roofed a backhander that rang off the crossbar. The puck came back to Winkel, who fired another shot, only to have it stopped again by Weber.
Later in the frame, Kelly Foley '12 wove through three Princeton defenders and deked the goalie, only to have her shot stopped as well. With less than two minutes left, the Tigers began to trap the Big Green, clogging up the middle and dumping the puck deep every time they crossed the red line. Despite this defensive pressure from the Tigers, the Big Green ultimately was able to pull Holdcroft, but it was too little, too late.
The team notched two shots with the empty net, including a major scrum in the final seconds in which Dumais, Foley, Fischer and Nanji had chances, but were unable to bury the puck to tie the game.
"We weren't really hungry for those rebounds," Dumais said. "We were happy just putting the puck on net."
On Saturday, in their Pink at the Rink game, in which fans were encouraged to wear pink to raise breast cancer awareness, Dumais said the Big Green "wanted to come out strong and set the pace" against Quinnipiac (15-12-2, 10-6-2 ECAC). Dartmouth did just that, scoring on its first shot of the game.
Dumais gathered the puck off of a Bobcat turnover and rushed up the right side, deking numerous defenders. She then slid the puck between two crashing Bobcat players and the goalie right to Foley, who one-timed it into the back of the net for the one-goal lead.
The Big Green's second goal of the game came on the power play. Karlee Odland '15 curled along the boards and sent the puck to Nanji, who paused, faked a shot, then passed it off to Sharp, who ripped a slapshot into the back of the net.
"Getting two quick goals helped everyone's confidence," Holdcroft said.
The Big Green was extremely efficient in the first period, scoring two goals on only six shots.
The Bobcats fired 14 at Holdcroft, who was able to turn them all away en route to a career-high 43 saves. Holdcroft had double-digit saves in each period, including several spectacular rebound and scrum saves.
Holdcroft praised the team and acknowledged her teammates' contribution to her impressive performance.
"We did a good job clearing out the front of the net, limiting them to point shots and clearing out the rebounds," Holdcroft said. "It was a great team effort."
Dartmouth could only notch one goal in the second, which came on the power play off the stick of Fischer. Fischer moved back to the point for the power play because of her strong shot, according to Dumais. Dumais chipped the puck behind the net to Foley, who sent it up to Fischer. Fischer collected the puck and let it fly, watching it sail over the goalie's shoulder and into the net.
The goal put the Big Green up 3-0 and caused Quinnipiac coach Rick Seeley to pull starting goaltender Chelsea Laden in favor of backup Victoria Vigilanti.
In the third, the Bobcats cut the lead to two with a power-play goal, but were unable to get another despite three more chances.
"We did a good job in the third sticking to our game plan and killing off the penalties," Dumais said.
The Big Green killed off a long five-on-three and added an empty-netter off the stick of Foley to ice the game.
"We definitely need to focus more on the defense," Dumais said. "We need to make sure we don't give teams moving forward as many chances."
Dartmouth travels to upstate New York to take on Union College and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute this weekend before returning home to face Yale University and Brown University the following week.
