The Big Green women are currently riding a four-game winning streak, including three conference victories. Dartmouth begins its weekend against the Dutchwomen (7-12-3, 0-7-3 ECAC). If the past is any guide, the game should be a success the Big Green has defeated the Dutchwomen in all of it past 19 matchups against Union. Earlier this season, Dartmouth beat the Dutchwomen, 6-0, in Schenectady, N.Y.
Dartmouth has an impressive 4-2-1 record at home this season, and Union is coming off of a loss at home against University of New Hampshire on Tuesday.
"Both teams do a very good job of clogging up the middle, making it hard to get an easier type goal,' so we've really got to work on being a little bit grittier and being faster in our transition, and not allowing them to get set in a good defensive posture," women's head coach Mark Hudak said.
On Saturday, the Big Green will host RPI (6-14-2, 4-6-0 ECAC), who defeated Dartmouth on Jan. 4. The Engineers struggled this past weekend with two consecutive losses to Providence University.
"RPI is a bit more physical and I think we weren't prepared for that when we played them last time," Hudak said. "Having played them such a short time ago, I think everyone's got that in their heads right now."
The Big Green believes they will ride their winning streak to success in this weekend's contest.
"I think our game plan will be the same as last weekend, as long as we play the systems the coaches want us to play and play with passion and intensity our team has," captain Jenna Hobeika '12 said. "We're looking to have three really good practices this week."
Instead of a typical practice, the team did yoga and a bike workout on Tuesday "as a change of pace," according to Hobeika.
"We're putting more emphasis on getting enough sleep and keeping up on work," Hobeika said. "In the later half of the season, the teams that are better prepared mentally and physically are the ones that will do well."
After the Big Green's recent success, two players were honored by the ECAC. Camille Dumais '13 was named ECAC Hockey Women's Player of the Week, and Ailish Forfar '16 received the ECAC Hockey Women's Rookie of the Week award for the second week in a row.
Dumais posted four goals in the previous weekend's wins, including her second hat trick of the season on Jan. 11. Forfar recorded two game-winning goals, placing her at the top of the league among freshmen, with three game-winners total.
"Everyone is really playing pretty well right now the biggest thing that I'm seeing on the team is some consistency," Hubak said. "It seems to be that everybody is doing a good job and allowing people to be successful in certain areas."
The team continues to gel, Hobeika said.
"We've been contributing all over," Hobeika said. "The freshmen have finally come in to their own and we've picked up our team game a lot in the past couple of weeks."
The Big Green men (9-5-2, 5-3-1 ECAC) who travel to Providence and then New Haven this weekend are coming off an impressive 3-2 win over Harvard University at home this past weekend, ending a three-game losing streak.
Strong offense played a critcal role in the men's success, captain Mike Keenan '13 said.
"Our forwards did a really good job helping out the defense on Saturday." Keenan said. "Saturday was a good team effort all around. It's a little confidence boost coming off a three-game skid, so this win gives us good confidence heading into this weekend."
With its win over Harvard, the Big Green bypassed Princeton University and jumped to first place in the Ivy League with a 3-1-1 league record and seven league points.
The Big Green found success in its matchups against the Bears (5-7-4, 1-4-4 ECAC) and the Bulldogs (9-4-3, 5-3-1 ECAC) earlier this season Dartmouth defeated Brown 4-0 and 2-1 on Oct. 27 and Nov. 3, respectively, and tied Yale 2-2 on Oct. 26 before defeating the Bulldogs, 7-4, on Nov. 2.
In October, Dartmouth won the Ivy League Shootout in Providence, defeating Yale and Brown. However, Dartmouth is just 2-4-1 on the road this year.
"These are two teams we've played before, so we know they're both very good and hardworking teams," Keenan said. "We need to be ready to play our game and ready to work hard."
Brown enters this weekend's matchup coming off of a 3-2 loss to St. Lawrence University, while Yale is riding a two-game winning streak after a 5-3 win over St. Lawrence (9-10-2, 2-5-2 ECAC) and a 3-1 win over Clarkson University.
"Both teams are very fast for us, so we just need to know their power play," Keenan said. "We need to go out and play the way that we play if we do that, we should do pretty well."
