Ellen Meyer '15 earned her second career shutout in goal for Dartmouth. A stout defense contained the River Hawks (1-13, 0-1 America East) to just one shot on goal, which led to an easy save by Meyer. In total, Dartmouth had 28 shots while the opposition managed only 8.
Playing in front of a big crowd at Chase AstroTurf Field, the Big Green had plenty of chances in the early stages of the game. In the 33rd minute, Scanlon capitalized on all the opportunities to score the opening goal of the game. After some hard work low in the circle, Scanlon chipped in a low shot past the goalie off the rebound on a ball set up from Becker.
"It was just really good to finally score, especially in front of all our fans," Scanlon said.
It was the seventh goal of the season for the senior, and marked the sixth straight game in which she has scored. She currently has a career high of 15 points for the season.
The Big Green continued applying pressure during the second half. The shot count for that period favored Dartmouth 13-4. Becker eventually scored what would be the insurance goal in the 60th minute, which gave her the first three-point game of her career. Olivia Quaglia '14 had her shot following a penalty corner knocked aside by the UMass Lowell goalie, only for the ball to land perfectly in front of Becker. She knocked it into the goal to provide an extra cushion for Dartmouth.
"Our biggest goals coming in were to really value possession," Quaglia said. "We passed and took care of the ball really well."
In the end, the Big Green didn't even need that cushion.
"We came in wanting to play our game the whole time," Scanlon said.
With constant offensive pressure and stingy defense, they were able to double the River Hawks' penalty corners 10-5, just another example of the dominant showing by Dartmouth.
There was a strong fan presence for the game, which kicked off Homecoming weekend. The combination of Homecoming weekend and a beautiful Hanover afternoon meant that the women played in front of one of their biggest crowds of the season.
"It's always really nice to have a large crowd, especially at a game when we needed a win," Quaglia said.
Dartmouth is now 7-0 against UMASS Lowell, with the last win coming back in 1992. The River Hawks have been struggling all season, as this is the first year the team has competed in Division I. Senior goalie Melanie Hopkins, who made seven saves on Friday, has been a bright sport for the team.
Having just come off of a painful overtime loss to University of Pennsylvania last weekend, the Big Green had little time to savor the victory. On Tuesday, the team plays the University of Maine at home. The Black Bears (6-6, 1-2 America East) are having a successful season so far, and will certainly be a challenge for the Big Green.
"We want to build off of the momentum from Friday and focus on the positives from that game," defender Jenn Weissbach '14 said.
Dartmouth is now just two games below .500 for the season, and hope to build on the momentum of the weekend win.
Skilled rookies coupled with veteran talent like Ali Savage '15, who just earned co-player of the week status in the Ivy League, points to the team's potential.
Heading into Friday's game, Savage was leading the nation in points per game at 2.89. Combined with players like Quaglia and Scanlon, this team does not lack top-end talent.
