As students returned to campus on a crisp 55-degree sunny, fall Sunday, the women’s soccer team tallied its first victory of the season, defeating St. John’s University 2-0 in a full-game effort.
“This was our most complete game of the year as far as our possession, and defensively, we were pretty sound through the 90 minutes,” new head coach Ron Rainey said.
The Big Green controlled the pace for the entire game, outshooting the Red Storm 12-0 and generating five corner kicks to none for the Red Storm.
After generating a series of opportunities throughout the first half hour, it was only a matter of time before the Big Green broke through.
“When you get scoring chances like that and you play with confidence, you’re going to end up finishing on some shots,” Rainey said.
Just past the 36-minute mark, forward Corey Delaney ’16 sent a ball through the box that was deflected by a St. John’s defender only to fall right at the feet of a charging Meredith Gurnee ’17, who had come on as a substitute less than 10 minutes earlier.
Gurnee drilled a one-timer into the back of the net to give the Big Green the only lead it would need for the rest of the afternoon.
“Everybody was on the same page,” Delaney said of the team’s successful first strike.
For Gurnee, the goal was her first tally of her Dartmouth career after playing in eight games as a freshman and coming away empty-handed. Delaney, who led the Big Green in assists last season, was at the center of the Dartmouth attack all afternoon, tallying her team-leading second assist of the year in addition to six shots on goal and countless interceptions across the field. Delaney was also a key piece of the team’s set-piece offense, taking all five of Dartmouth’s corner kicks in the game.
“That was one of our main goals coming in as an offense, to possess the ball higher up the field and create chances that way,” she said. “It was something that we really improved on over the last couple of games.”
While the offense was successful at generating most of the game’s opportunities, the back line repelled any attempted pressure from the Red Storm and held the visitors shotless through the game.
“I don’t think I’ve ever done that before,” co-captain Laura Thurber ’15, who has played on the back line since her freshman campaign said with a smile. “I’m definitely proud of that. Our back line is solid this year. We cover for each other well and talk well, so it was a great way to show that we’re tight this year.”
Dartmouth did not surrender a single corner kick to the visitors. St. John’s star forward junior Rachel Daly, who leads the Red Storm with 5 goals and 10 points, was severely limited by the swarming Big Green unit and was only a threatbriefly throughout the game.
Rainey credited the defense for not allowing St. John’s to have clean looks behind their line and keeper Tatiana Saunders ’15, who snuffed out a few developing opportunities.
Dartmouth struck again in the 66th minute when Jackie Friedman ’16 launched a long pass from a free kick in front of the Big Green bench that was headed in by Lindsay Knutson ’18 at the far post for her first collegiate score. The shot ricocheted off the post across the goal-mouth before eventually finding the side netting to extend the lead to two.
Friedman was active all game, charging up on runs down the right side from her right-back position, often helping generate transition offense for the Big Green and pressuring the visitors through the midfield.
“We want her going forward,” Rainey said. “We want Brittany Champagne [’18] on the other side going forward. A lot of time, there’s space there for those outside players if we’re able to keep good possession. If we can do that and get both of them in the attack, it’s just going to allow us to get more numbers in the box and get some more finishing opportunities.”
Dartmouth kept up the attack, managing eight shots in the second half alone, keeping the visitors off balance and thwarting any Red Storm attempts to go on runs of their own.
The game also marked Rainey’s first win with the Big Green since he took over the helm at the start of the season after leaving the University of Iowa.
With his team in control but only ahead by a single goal, Rainey stressed getting the next goal to seal the victory.
“There were some really good moments through the middle third where we were able to keep it, and then it just allowed us to have them back on their heels,” he said. “I really think a one-goal lead in soccer is not much, and you want to keep pushing as you’re in the first part of the second half to get that next goal, and it’s really nice to do that.”
The Big Green finishes its three-game home stand on Friday with a 5 p.m. matchup versus Northeastern University.
