Big Green Open 2014 in Chicago vs. Northwestern and Louisville

Game 1: Dartmouth (0-0) vs. Northwestern Wildcats (2-1)
Date: Friday, September 5, 2014 – 1 p.m. EST
Location: Evanston, Ill. - Lakeside Field
All-Time Series: NU Leads 4-0
Last Meeting: 9/14/98 (NU, 1-0)

Game 2: Dartmouth (0-0*) vs. No. 15 Louisville Cardinals (2-0)
Date: Saturday, September 6, 2014 – 12 p.m. EST
Location: Evanston, Ill. - Lakeside Field
All-Time Series: UL Leads 2-0
Last Meeting: 10/19/08 (UL, 3-1)

THIS WEEKEND
The 2014 season kicks off this weekend with a pair of games in the Chicago area as the Dartmouth field hockey team plays Northwestern and Louisville. The Wildcats host the Big Green on Friday afternoon in a game played at 12 p.m. local time (1 p.m. EST), while the Cardinals will be Saturday's opponent in a contest that was moved up to 11 a.m. local time (12 p.m. EST) so as not to conflict with a Northwestern football game.

GETTING THINGS STARTED
Dartmouth will look to win its season opener for the first time since 2012 when it defeated UMass in Amherst, 3-1. Last season, the Green dropped its debut, 4-2, at California, before earning a weekend split two days later against UC Davis with a 4-3 win at Berkeley. Dartmouth is 8-6 in season-opening games under head coach Amy Fowler.

SCOUTING THE WILDCATS
Northwestern welcomes Dartmouth to Evanston for the first time since Sept. 14, 1998, a 1-0 setback for the Green and White. Currently, the Wildcats are 2-1 overall after defeating Miami (OH), 5-1, on the road Tuesday evening. The team opened the season with a 3-2 win in double overtime at Boston University on Aug. 29 before suffering a setback by the same score two days later at the hands of the defending national champion UConn, a team that is currently ranked No. 3 in the nation. Thanks to a hat trick against the RedHawks, Dominique Masters leads the Wildcats in scoring with nine points on four goals and one assist. Maddy Carpenter has played all 246:23 of action in the cage and boasts a .684 save percentage and a 2.19 goals-against average.

SCOUTING THE CARDINALS
Louisville travels to Chicago with the No. 15 ranking in the country and a perfect 2-0 overall record on the young season. The Cardinals already have wins against Saint Louis and New Hampshire this year. The opener against the Billikens really could not have gone any better as they ran away with an 11-2 win. In that game, the team scored 11 unanswered goals in the first 53:42 of the game and outshot its opponent, 32-2. As it stands heading into the weekend, six players all have two goals, demonstrating a balanced scoring threat with Elisa Garcia and her six points (2g/2a) leading the way. Goalkeeper Sydney King has played all 140 minutes and has a .429 save percentage and a 2.57 goals against average.

SENIOR LEADERSHIP
The 2014 version of the Big Green will be led by a quartet of seniors in their final season in Hanover. Ali Savage, Rebecca Hu and Janine Leger will serve as tri-captains, while classmate Ellen Meyer enters the fall as the team's No. 1 goalkeeper.

WELCOME, FRESHMEN
The three classes of returning student-athletes all feature four members, while the newest collection of individuals to don the Dartmouth jersey this year will make up the largest group. In all, seven new players were added to the roster this summer as members of the Class of 2018. That list includes Anna Ewasechko, Morgan Philie, Anna Rowthorn-Apel, Maggie Sherin, Sarah Tabeek and twins Julia Donald and Laura Donald.

RECORD WATCH
Fresh off another unanimous All-Ivy First Team selection, Ali Savage is now just eight points away from becoming the fourth Dartmouth player in history to reach 100-career points. After a 39-point season in 2013, Savage enters this year with 92 points in three seasons. Only Kelly Hood '12 (134), Lauren Welsh '02 (113) and Lauren Scopaz '99 (112) have more points in a playing career than Savage does with one year of eligibility remaining.

15 AND COUNTING
With the start of the 2014 campaign, head coach Amy Fowler will be on the Dartmouth sidelines for her 15th season. Only Mary Corrigan's 18 years (1975-92) have marked a longer tenure with the Big Green field hockey program than Fowler's.

FIVE AWAY
Fowler needs just four wins to tie Corrigan as the program's all-time winningest coach and five to surpass the record with her 127th coaching victory at Dartmouth. Corrigan compiled a 126-11 (.528%) record in 18 years, while Fowler begins 2014 with a 122-121 (.502%) career mark in 14 seasons with the Green.

WHAT'S AHEAD?
Following the weekend in the shadows of the Windy City, Dartmouth will return to Hanover for its 2014 home opener against Pacific on Tuesday, Sept. 9 at 11:30 a.m. The Tigers will have a familiar face on their sideline as longtime Dartmouth assistant coach Andy Smith is now in his second season at the helm of the program.

Schedules