Women's Soccer Headed to First Place Columbia on Saturday

10/21/2010 11:22:00 AM | Women's Soccer

By: Dartmouth

The Dartmouth women's soccer team travels south to New York City to take on first place Columbia this Saturday night at 7 p.m.

The Big Green (4-7-2) went from being on a four-game winless streak (three losses, one tie) to a two-game unbeaten streak with a 0-0 tie against Penn and a 7-0 thrashing of Vermont midweek. Conversely, Columbia (9-2-3, 3-0-1 Ivy) has not lost in its last eight outings - including three ties and recent wins over Manhattan and Princeton, who had been in first place.

Game 14: Dartmouth (4-7-2, 1-2-1 Ivy) at Columbia (9-2-3, 3-0-1 Ivy)
Date: Saturday, Oct. 23, 2010 • 7:00 PM
Location: Columbia Soccer Stadium • New York, N.Y.
Series Record: Dartmouth leads, 18-3-3
Last Meeting: 10/25/09, Dartmouth W, 2-0 (Hanover, N.H.)
Streak: Dartmouth +1
The Big Green holds a commanding lead in the all-time series against the Lions, winning the first 13 straight meetings and going unbeaten in the first 19. Columbia has rebounded in recent years, taking all three of its wins in the series since 2004 with a 2-1-1 edge in the last four meetings. Dartmouth won last season in Hanover, 2-0 with goals by Thea Sutton '10 and Aly O'Dea (Irvine, Calif.).

Livestats

A LOOK AT DARTMOUTH: Dartmouth heads to New York City with a host of confidence after turning in some solid performances of late. Most recently, the Big Green saw its offense come to life with a seven-goal outburst to win a 7-0 contest at Vermont. As a team the Big Green recorded 19 points with seven goals and five assists and nine different players contributed a point. The win was just what Dartmouth needed after playing very well against Boston University, a 1-0 loss, and Penn, a 0-0 tie, but not getting a goal in either.

Freshman midfielder Marina Moschitto (Andover, Mass.) is Dartmouth's leading scorer with eight points on four goals. Senior Peyton Tata (Virginia Beach, Va.) ranks second with three goals and one assist for seven points and three other players have scored two goals. Libby Hamlin (Vernon, Conn.) has a team-high three assists. Defensively, junior Colleen Hogan (Houston, Conn.) has played nearly every minute in goal with a 1.16 goals against average and 42 saves.

A LOOK AT COLUMBIA: Columbia took over first place in the Ancient Eight with a 2-0 win over Princeton in New York City last Saturday. The Lions took on Manhattan just two days later, winning by the same score. In other Ivy games, Columbia played to a scoreless tie with Brown, who Dartmouth beat, and defeated Penn, 2-1. Ashlin Yahr leads Columbia in scoring with 12 points, all on goals. Kelly Hostetler is the Lions top playmaker with seven assists and two goals for her 11 points. After Yahr on the scoresheet, seven Lions have tallied two goals. Lillian Klein has started 13 of 14 games in goal and given up just eight goals with a 0.58 goals against average. She has saved 88.7 percent of shots faced with 63 stops.

OFFENSIVE OUTBURST: The Dartmouth women scored a season-high seven goals in the win at Vermont, the most in a single game since a 7-0 win over Cornell in the 1998 season. Prior to that game, the Big Green had scored only nine goals all season, putting 37 percent of their shots on goal.

MOVIN' UP THE FIELD: Senior captain Melisa Krnjaic (Washington, D.C.) was a three and a half year starter on defense, earning All-Ivy honors last season. Recently, Krnjaic has been shifted up the field to play outside midfielder. Krnjaic has always contributed to the offense by taking corner kicks but broke out offensively with two goals in the win at Vermont.

ROOKIES GETTING THEIR KICKS: Dartmouth's eight freshmen have seen their fair share of action so far this season. Chief among those is Marina Moschitto (Andover, Mass.), who has started all but one game in midfield and leads the team in scoring with four goals. Chrissy Lozier (Fairfield, Conn.) has played in 10 games with three starts and tallied one goal and one assist while Allison Yeager (N. Potomac, Md.) just returned from an injury and is back in the starting lineup, with eight appearances this fall. She scored her first collegiate goal in the win at Vermont.

LAST LINE OF DEFENSE: While Dartmouth has struggled at times to put the ball in the back of the net offensively, the Big Green's veteran defense has been a strength. Senior captain Sarah Bromley (La Jolla, Calif.) and junior Erin Fleischli (San Mateo, Calif.) have been starters throughout their careers, anchoring the line. Sophomores Grace Best (Downingtown, Pa.) and Aurelia Solomon (Washington, D.C.) have been fearless in their second collegiate season, impacting not only the defensive end, but contributing offensively as well. The Big Green's defense is allowing 10.6 shots per game, with just 4.5 of those coming on goal.

SHE'S A VETERAN NOW: In her sixth season, head coach Angie Hind is now tied with Steve Swanson (1990-95) as the longest-tenured Dartmouth coach. With such a rich history of success, many former coaches are still in the collegiate game including Swanson, now at Virginia, Erica Walsh at Penn State and Ben Landis at Bucknell. With 52 wins to her credit, Hind is just three victories away from tying Swanson for the most wins by a head coach in program history. Though he only coached one season, Neil Orr is the Big Green's winningest coach by win percentage at .735, while Walsh ranks second at .703.

NEXT TIME OUT: Dartmouth plays its final home game of the season on Saturday, Oct. 30 when it hosts Harvard at 4 p.m.