Vermont, Penn Up Next for Field Hockey on the Road

Wed., Dartmouth (3-4) at Vermont (1-8), 3 p.m.

Sat., Dartmouth (3-4, 1-1 Ivy) at Penn (3-5, 1-1 Ivy), 12 p.m.

HANOVER, N.H. - The Dartmouth field hockey team will look to extend its winning streak after a two-win weekend as the Big Green hits the road to face Vermont today, followed by Penn on Saturday.

Dartmouth (3-4, 1-1 Ivy) is coming off a 12-goal weekend with wins over Brown (8-3) and Bryant (4-2). Sophomore Kelly Hood (Berlin, N.H.) earned Ivy League Player of the Week honors for her 16-point outburst in the two games, including an Ivy League record five goals in a conference game. Hood now leads the team with 21 points on a team-high eight goals and five assists. Also coming through for the Big Green was junior co-captain Virginia Peisch (Koenigstein, Germany), who tied an Ivy mark with four assists against Brown. She also added a goal in the win and followed that up with a two-assist performance in the victory on Sunday over Bryant.

Junior Rebecca Sobel (Larchmont, N.Y.) has also chipped in for the Big Green with seven goals and four assists for 18 points, which is a career-high. She has added at least one goal in four of the seven games played this season with two games with six points. Classmate Kelly McHenry (Williamsburg, Va.) has made her presence felt on penalty corners as she combined with Peisch to tie the Ivy League record for assists with four. On Sunday, she scored her first goal of the season and added an assist for seven points on the weekend. In goal, sophomore Meagan Vakiener (Port Murray, N.J.) made one save in the Brown win, while giving up three goals. She then returned on Sunday and pushed aside four shots, earning her third win of the year.

Vermont (1-8) has struggled this season with only one win in nine games. The lone win came at home against UC Davis in a 3-0 victory. The Catamounts have only scored in four of the nine games, but have held there opponents to three or less goals this season. Megan Maynard leads the way for Vermont with nine points on four goals and one assist. Chelsea Stevenson is second on the team with three goals and an assist for six points. In goal, Kristen Heavens has started all nine games and has a 2.86 goals against average and a .787 save percentage.

This will the 37th meeting between the two schools with Dartmouth holding a 27-7-2 advantage. Vermont, however, has defeated the Big Green in the last three meetings, including an overtime win last year in Hanover. Prior to the three-game skid, Dartmouth had won 14-straight from 1987-2005.

Penn (3-5, 1-1 Ivy) enters the weekend after defeating Harvard last Saturday and will host Lafayette tonight at 7:15 p.m. The Quakers have wins over Saint Joseph's, Vermont and the Crimson this season. They could easily be 2-0 in Ivy play as Penn dropped a tough overtime decision to Cornell in its Ivy opener.

The Quakers are led by rookie Sarah Hasson, who has won multiple Ivy League Rookie of the Week accolades so far this season. She has three goals for six points, while Sarah Warner is tied with her for the team lead in points with six of her own. Warner has a goal and four assists. The scoring is spread out for Penn with six players with five or more points and eight competitors with at least one point on the year. In goal, Kieran Sweeney has started all eight games and has posted an impressive 2.01 goals against average to go along with a .742 save percentage.

Dartmouth and Penn will be playing for the 34th time with Penn holding a 19-11-3 advantage over the Big Green. The teams have split the last four meetings. The schools first met back in 1977 with the Quakers coming away with a 1-0 win in Philadelphia.

Schedules