Box Score
SCHENECTADY, NY – Dartmouth needed just five minutes to light up the scoreboard and later added a power play goal to jump out to a 2-0 lead after one period. However, that was just a sign for things to come as the Big Green collected three more power play goals en route to a 9-0 road win Saturday at Messa Rink. The victory gave the Big Green (8-8-2, 5-5-1) a sweep of the season series between the two ECACHL foes, as Union fell to 3-16-1 overall, 0-12-0 in league play.
Maggie Kennedy opened the scoring with a mark at 4:59 for Dartmouth. The freshman center slapped the puck to the back of the net off a Meredith Batcheller deflected shot from the point for the 1-0 lead. Just over two minutes later the lead ballooned to 2-0 when Danielle Grundy notched a power play tally for the Big Green at 15:22.
The Dutchwomen had several good scoring opportunities in the first period, highlighted by six power play shots. One of those came off the stick of Elise Nichols (Pittsfield, MA) at 9:57 when she took a feed from Courtney Chais (Plantation, FL) in front of net for the one-timer, but was denied by Dartmouth goaltender Carli Clemis.
Dartmouth finished the period with a 21-10 advantage in shots. Both teams had 3 power play opportunities, but Grundy's goal was the only special teams' tally of the period.
In the second period, Union had no answer for the Big Green's offensive attack. Dartmouth tacked on four goals in the middle period - two of them coming via the power play - to take a 6-0 lead after forty minutes of action. Carrie Thompson made it 3-0 just 3:11 into the period. Carolina Ethier bumped it to 4-0 with Dartmouth's second power play goal of the night 1:28 later. Shannon Bowman scored the final two goals of the period for the 6-0 difference, the first coming on the player advantage.
The third period proved to be more of the same as Dartmouth continued to find the back of the net. Senior Dana Smullyan (Salisbury, CT) took over between the pipes for Union at the start of the period and stopped 12 shots in the final stanza. However, the Big Green still managed three more goals, including its fourth power play mark of the game. Bowman opened the period by scoring her third straight for the hat trick, and second on the power play, at 13:11. The game remained 7-0 until Grundy put home her second tally of the night at 4:49. Sixteen seconds later Julia Bronson put home the game's final goal for the 9-0 final.
The Dutchwomen were out shot 54-25 for the game and went 0-for-10 on the power play. Dartmouth finished 4-for-11 on man-up opportunities. Alex Zirbel (Clearwater, FL) stopped 33 shots in defeat for Union, which is now 0-6 all-time against the Big Green. Clemis pitched Dartmouth's second consecutive shutout in net, turning away all 24 shots she faced.
Union is idle until next Saturday when it hosts Cornell University in an ECACHL match set for 2:00 p.m. at Messa Rink.