McKinley Makes Seven Saves as Dartmouth Battled Vermont Sunday Afternoon

HANOVER, N.H. – Dartmouth field hockey ran into a tough test in Vermont on Sunday, but goalkeeper Kylie McKinley turned in one of her busiest and most impressive performances of the season, making seven saves to keep the Big Green in the fight for all 60 minutes in a 2-0 non-conference loss at Chase Field. Dartmouth falls to 2-5 overall but stays 1-1 in Ivy League play, while Vermont, off to a 7-1 start, needed everything it had to get past the Big Green defense.

Vermont grabbed an early goal just 3:27 in, but Dartmouth's defense settled in quickly and refused to let the game get away. The Big Green had their best look of the first half in the closing minutes of the second quarter, working a penalty corner that produced back-to-back Ella Bowman bids on net.

McKinley was the difference-maker through the middle of the game, coming up with five saves in the second quarter alone to weather a heavy Vermont push and keep the deficit at just one goal heading into halftime. It was a standout stretch that kept Dartmouth competitive.

Vermont doubled its lead in the third quarter on another DelOrefice goal, this one assisted by Fiona McMahon, but the Big Green continued to make the Catamounts work for every look, and McKinley added another save to close out the quarter.

Dartmouth kept battling in the fourth, pulling McKinley for an extra attacker in the final minutes in a push for a late goal. The Big Green defense held up well throughout, limiting a Vermont team that finished with 16 shots and 13 penalty corners to just two goals.

"All credit again to the group. Played hard, played tough, and in the last few minutes still looked like scoring," Klinkradt said. "I think the effort was there. We just got to work a bit more on the details today."

McKinley's seven-save afternoon came just two days after she posted the first shutout of her career in Friday's 4-0 win over Penn, and Klinkradt pointed to the entire goalkeeping group for her recent form.

"Kylie, she's playing really well, to be honest, right now. We're super happy to have her as part of our team," Klinkradt said. "But also credit to Isabel Andrews and Julie Seth, who are pushing her in training. They're a team within a team, and that team is quite strong. They are pushing each other on a weekly basis, and that allows one of them at any given moment to shine."

Dartmouth again leaned on its depth, rotating a deep bench throughout the afternoon, something Klinkradt sees as a sign of what the group is building.

McKinley led the way for Dartmouth with seven saves on nine shots faced, turning in five of those stops during a busy second quarter. Bowman paced the Big Green offense with all three of the team's shots, each coming in the second quarter, while logging 55 minutes on the field. Ruby Walsh came up with a key defensive save to deny a Gabriella Santini shot in the second quarter, and Raina Johns and Lucia Campaño anchored the Dartmouth lineup with heavy workloads. Vermont held the edge in shots (16-3) and penalty corners (12-4), but the Big Green defense limited the Catamounts to just two goals on 10 shots on target.