Looking Back at the 2023 Women’s Soccer Season

HANOVER, N.H. – The 2023 Dartmouth women's soccer campaign was one filled with growth and promise under the guidance of Taylor Schram in her first year as the Stacy and Nick Branca Family Head Coach of Women's Soccer.

The Big Green finished the year with a 7-3-5 overall record, making it the fifth-straight season in which Dartmouth finished at least .500. They went 2-3-2 in the Ivy League to claim fifth, finishing behind four teams that advanced to the NCAA tournament. It came down to the final weekend for a spot in the Ivy League tournament, but a defeat to No. 14 Brown in the last game saw the Big Green fall just short.

Dartmouth came flying out of the gates, beginning the season with a 7-0-3 overall record. The 10-game unbeaten start is the longest such run to begin the season in program history. The Big Green also went unbeaten in non-conference play for the first time in program history (5-0-3).

Dartmouth received numerous accolades at the conclusion of the year, first with five players being recognized by the Ivy League. Senior defender Taylor Williams was named to the All-Ivy Second Team. Honorable mention accolades went to sophomore Mary Lundregan, along with seniors Daisy Granholm and Emily Hardy, while Grace Faulkner landed on the academic team. Six student-athletes were recognized for their performances on the field and in the classroom as Faulkner, Carly Retterer, Williams, Danielle Burke, Audrey Marin and Hailey Rorick were named to the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District Team.

Faulkner, a two-year captain for the Big Green, also was selected to play in the 2023 NEWISA Senior Bowl.

After a 2-2 draw against Eastern Michigan in the season opener, the Big Green earned their first win of the year in a 1-0 victory over Quinnipiac, also the first career victory for Schram. That triumph was against a Bobcats team that went on to finish 13-4-1 and advanced to the NCAA tournament.

Dartmouth went on to win its next two games by 1-0 decisions as well. Retterer provided a goal in the final few minutes against the Raiders of Colgate, and Lundregan tallied the first goal of her career on the road against Merrimack.

A 1-1 tie against Boston College on a warm night in the Boston area ended the win streak, but the unbeaten start continued with victories in the next two games. First-year Frankie Valverde scored her first career goal to give the Big Green a 1-0 decision over Central Connecticut State, another team that went on to win its conference championship and advance to the NCAA tournament.

Dartmouth won the next game over Iona, 4-0, the highest output for the Big Green this season. The non-conference slate concluded with a 1-1 draw against UMass Lowell.

The Big Green continued the flying start into Ivy League play, opening the conference schedule with 1-0 victories over Yale and Cornell. Both contests came down to the final 20 minutes of play as Hannah Curtin and Hailey Rorick, respectively, scored the game-winners.

Dartmouth went 0-3-2 over the final five games, with four of those contests coming against teams that went on to win their first-round games in the NCAA tournament.

All seven victories were clean sheets, which now puts Hardy tied at No. 6 for shutouts in a season in program history. After allowing just 13 goals in 15 games this season, Hardy's career goals against average sits at 1.12, tied for ninth in the Dartmouth women's soccer record books.

Thirteen players on this year's team played in all 15 matches, with six of them starting every single one of them. While seven players from the 2023 roster are graduating and have concluded their Dartmouth careers, the 2024 roster sees the return of eight student-athletes that appeared in all 15 contests, as well as an additional four that played in at least 10.

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