Women's Hockey Left Feeling Green

For the second time in a week, the Dartmouth Big Green has left Harvard's hockey program feeling a little green.

Last week, their men's hockey squad sent Harvard's men's hockey team to a 2-1 home loss. Harvard  3 Dartmouth  8

Wednesday night, the Dartmouth women followed suit, dealing the Harvard women's hockey team (12-10-2 overall, 8-4-2 Ivy) an 8-3 defeat in Hanover.

"It was not our best game, by any standard," senior goalkeeper Erin Villiote said. "We didn't show up to play at all."

The game quickly went sour for the skaters, who were hoping to rebound from Sunday's 5-1 loss at Brown. Dartmouth played like they were the power company, lighting the lamp four times within the first ten minutes.

"They got two quick goals, and we couldn't stay with them," Villiote said.

Defensive breakdowns plagued the Crimson, which gave up three of the goals in close and the fourth on a two-on-one that caught the Harvard defense up ice.

"They're a fast quick team, and they move the puck out of their zone well," junior forward Stacy Kellogg said.

Bad passing, difficulty getting the puck out of its own zone, and a lack of disciplined defense plagued the skaters all evening, and Dartmouth capitalized at every opportunity.

"We were all over the ice rather than doing the things we know work," junior forward Ellen Frump said.

The second period proved to be as frustrating as the first for the Crimson but this time, it was the penalty box that proved to be Harvard's nemesis.

Harvard racked up seven penalties over the course of the game, including a second period penalty that erased a Harvard two-women advantage.

"You can't win a game with six or seven penalties," Kellogg said.

Harvard's only goals of the evening came in the third stanza, with eight minutes remaining in the contest.

Kellogg scored twice in the period, including a beautiful goal in which she followed her own shot, which had rebounded in front of the goal, with a second shot that went high past the Dartmouth goalkeeper and into the net.

If there was a bright spot to the evening, it might have been Harvard's power play, which was responsible for two of its three third stanza scores.

"Only the power play worked well, when we set up in the zone," Kellogg said.

This weekend, the women face a hungry UNH squad in an ECAC quarterfinal. Harvard tied UNH earlier this year, 2-2, its first-ever point in 15 games against the Wildcats.

"In the third period, we realized these were the last 18 minutes before we played UNH, and that we need to get it together," Kellogg said.

"We need to forget about Wednesday's night's game and move on to ECAC's," Villiotte said.