Dartmouth Field Hockey Looks to Get Back on Winning Track

HANOVER, N.H. – The Dartmouth field hockey team is looking to get back on the winning track this weekend by taking to the road for just the fourth time all season. The Big Green is attempting to snap a three-game losing streak against the 8-5 Columbia Lions on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Baker Athletics Complex in NYC.

With a 2-2 Ivy record, Dartmouth is currently fourth in the league standings while Columbia is 1-3 and tied for fifth. The Big Green is wanting to get back to its winning ways, having lost four of its last five contests after starting the season winning seven of its first eight.

Last week the Big Green dropped a 5-4 game to UMass in Dartmouth's first overtime game of the season. Despite two goals and an assist by Kelly Hood (Berlin, N.H.), the Minutewomen tallied the winning goal in the 85th minute.

Then on Saturday, a hard-fought 3-1 Ivy game went to the Yale Bulldogs as Dartmouth had just its second loss in the league. Virginia Peisch (Koenigstein, Germany) recorded the lone goal for the Big Green and, after an injury knocked Hood out of the game, she became the team's stroker on penalty corners. Although she recorded three shots on goal during five straight corners, Peisch and the team could not overcome the two-goal deficit.

Peisch and Hood continue to lead the team in scoring as Peisch now has 28 points (4 goals, 20 assists) and Hood has 39 (18 goals, 3 assists). Kelly McHenry (Williamsburg, Va.) is close behind with 23 total points. Seven players are in double-digit scoring.

Peisch continues to lead the nation in assists with 1.54 a game while McHenry is sixth with 13 assists for a 1.08 average. Hood is second nationally in goals per game and is fourth in points per game with over 3.00 a contest.

As a team, Dartmouth is third nationally in scoring, third in goals, third in scoring average and seventh in penalty corners.

In goal Meagan Vakiener (Port Murray, N.J.) has started all 13 games for the Big Green. She has a 3.18 goals against average and a .643 save percentage.

Going into the weekend matchups, Columbia is coming off of a 1-1 week in which each game went to overtime. On Wednesday, the Lions defeated Lafayette, 2-1, in a shootout. Then just days later, Columbia fell at Penn, 3-2, two minutes into overtime.

vs. Columbia (8-5, 1-3 Ivy)
Date: Sunday, Oct. 24, 2010 • 1 p.m.
Location: Baker Athletics Complex • New York, N.Y.
Livestats • Live Video

Series Record: Dartmouth leads 10-4-0
Streak: Dartmouth +2
The series between Dartmouth and Columbia began with a 6-0 Big Green shutout on Nov. 9, 1997. Dartmouth won the first three before the Lions were able to get its first victory in 2000. Dartmouth then went on a five-game tear and has now won seven of the last nine matchups. Last season, The Big Green won 2-1 in Hanover as Hood tallied both goals on penalty corners.

Schedules