Season Preview: Women's Soccer Prepares For 2016 Season

HANOVER, N.H. – The thermometer may say summer, but soon the calendar will turn to Fall and the Dartmouth women's soccer team will begin its 2016 campaign.

The Big Green are looking to improve on last season's 8-4-4 record, where the team allowed just 12 goals on the year, the third least goals allowed in the Ivy League. The team lost four seniors to graduation, including last year's leading scorer Lucille Kozlov, but head coach Ron Rainey and his staff have high hopes and expectations for the 2016 campaign.

“For the 2016 season we are excited about having all of our returners combine with the incoming class,” Rainey said. “The first couple of days of preseason have gone well and the group is working hard to establish some standards to help the team gel and get continuously better. We are looking forward to the next few days.”

Dartmouth returns several key players from last year's squad including its goalkeeper Casey Cousineau who was fifth among the Ancient Eight teams with 51 saves and a .780 goals against average. The Big Green will also look to some of last seasons rising stars to make contributions on the pitch in Hanover. Sophomore Remy Borinsky returns after earning a second team All-Ivy selection in her rookie campaign where she scored one goal and tailed three assists through 15 games.

Junior Brittany Champagne will also return to the lineup to anchor Dartmouth's defensive front after she was named to the Ivy League's Honorable Mention list with five points in 2015.

In addition to the returning players, seven freshmen will make their collegiate debut. Joining the Big Green this season are Zoe Boocock, Charlotte Esty, Zoe Enright, Hayley Soriano, Lorna McElrath, Mollie McGorisk and Alyssa Neuberger.

Dartmouth's non-conference portion of its schedule should test and prepare the Big Green for the competitive Ivy League slate. Dartmouth will compete against a pair of teams that participated in the 2015 NCAA Women's College Cup a season ago in a home tilt with Albany on Sept. 16 before it squares off with Ancient Eight foe Princeton on Oct. 1.

The Big Green look to challenge the Tigers after Princeton won the Ivy League crown with an impressive 6-0-1 record in conference play. Harvard will also be one of the teams to beat this season as the Crimson return key players from last year's squad that went 5-1-1 in the Ivy League, finishing second.

“The Ivy League is an incredibly competitive conference and I believe our path to challenge will be to become the tightest and best team possible,” Rainey said.

Dartmouth opens the 2016 season earlier compared to past campaigns, as the Big Green host Marist on Aug. 26 at 1:00 p.m. before playing host to Iona on Aug. 28.

Schedules