Dartmouth Field Hockey Drops Season Opener at Maine

Sunday, September 6

Orono, Maine

2:00 p.m.

Dartmouth College

Maine

Rebecca Sobel's Blog from Maccabi Games: Second Entry

Dartmouth Field Hockey Drops Season Opener at Maine

9/6/2009 4:45:00 PM | Field Hockey

By: Dartmouth

Box Score

ORONO, Maine – Junior Rebecca Sobel (Larchmont, N.Y.) tallied two goals and collected two assists in the season opener for the Dartmouth field hockey team, but it wasn't enough as Maine came away with a 9-4 win over the Big Green on Sunday.

For Dartmouth (0-1), sophomores Kelly Hood (Berlin, N.H.) and Meghan Everett (Flemington, N.J.) each netted goals, while Hood added an assist for a three-point day. Sophomore Meagan Vakiener (Port Murray, N.J.) was tested all day long and posted a career-high 23 saves with 15 coming in the second half alone.

For the Black Bears (2-1), Stephanie Gardiner, Ellen Andrews and Jocelyn Mitchell each converted two goals with Gardiner and Mitchell each adding assists for five-point afternoons. Goalkeeper Brittany Flech earned the win with eight stops in net.

Maine took a quick 2-0 lead just over 11 minutes into the contest as Courtney Veinotte and Mitchell both put home rebounds in the front of the net.

Dartmouth fired back with two of its own as Hood started where she left off last season with her first of the season coming on a penalty corner at the 19:30 mark of the opening half. Assists on the goal were credited to Sobel and junior Kelly McHenry (Williamsburg, Va.). The second of the day came off the stick of Everett as Sobel caught her streaking up the field and Everett was able to beat Flech to the left to tie the score at 2-2 with 11:26 remaining in the half.

Gardiner, however, put the Black Bears back on top at 3-2 as her and Mitchell duplicated Everett and Sobel. Mitchell connected on a nice pass up field to a sprinting Gardiner and she collected the pass and beat Vakiener low for the lead. Andrews then added her two scores prior to the half to give Maine a commanding 5-2 lead, which they would not relinquish.

The Big Green made an attempt to climb back into the game with a goal five minutes into the second half to cut the lead to 5-3. Sobel posted her first of the season in transition after receiving the feed from Hood. The two-goal deficit was as close as Dartmouth would get as the Black Bears added two more scores, coming from Maire Dineen and Gardiner to make it 7-3.

Sobel added her second of the contest 16 minutes into the final half to slice the lead to 7-4, but that was all the scoring for the Big Green. Maine closed out the game with goals from Mitchell and Lelia Sacre as the Black Bears spoiled Dartmouth's season opener with a 9-4 win on Sunday.

Maine dominated in the shot department with a 41-15 advantage and the Black Bears earned a slight lead in penalty corners with eight to the Big Green's five.

Dartmouth will be back in action this coming Friday night at 7 p.m. as the Big Green travels to Providence College to face the Friars in a non-conference matchup.