In the final regular season game, at Bright last night, Dartmouth
blitzed the Crimson.  Big Green played a great match.  They totally
dominated the contest, scoring two goals in each period.
 
Kim Reid (Margot Whinery, Sarah Howald) opened the scoring for
Dartmouth, when she drilled home a centering pass from the slot.
Gretchen Ulion (Rachel Rochat, Sarah Devens) scored on a slow break,
resulting from a defensive error.  The line of Rochat, Ulion and
Devens was tremendous.
 
In the second period, Reid (Whinery, Rochat) made a great shot, high
glove side, after a nice 3 on 2 break-in.  Michelle Erickson (Pheobe
Manchester, Ulion) got it to 0-4, when she drove a low shot across the
crease, after a three-way passing play.  Reid, Whinery and Howald, of
the second line, had also been playing marvelous, putting on tons of
pressure.  Harvard got its only goal, on a twirl and fire shot, from
the blue line, by Francie Walton (Holly Leitzes, Jo-anne Alissi).  The
shot found the goal through a screen of players.
 
In the final period, Whinery (Volger, Reid) swept the puck in, off a
quick center from behind the net.  Ulion (Kim Cohen) got her second
goal of the night, to close the scoring, on an oh-la-la breakaway.
She finished off the play with a deke out.  I could not say enough
positive things about Ulion.  She has speed, power and a certain
grace of movement on the ice.  She killed a couple of penalties by
just ragging the puck.  Combine that with goal scoring touch (43 goals
in 25 games) and extremely good use of her teammates, and you have one
of the best players I have seen this year.
 
Dartmouth played a very intelligent style.  Instead of putting on tons
of pressure, all the time in the Harvard zone, and allowing Harvard to
build a defensive wall, Big Green was able to suck Harvard out of the
middle ice areas.  They did that by using only one fore-checker.  The
rest of the players just hung close, waiting for Harvard to react.
When the Crimson moved for the puck, Dartmouth quickly sent the puck
to the open players.  In fact, Dartmouth never really cared if Harvard
broke out of its zone.  They would just wait their chance, and then
make the much easier break-in play.  The result was an easy win for
Big Green.  Other powerhouses have used heavy pressure, and not gotten
as good results.  Dartmouth's only poor showing was the lack of
players used. Like Harvard, the coach used only three defenders.
Maybe he was preparing for the playoffs.  Nevertheless ...
The ECAC quarterfinal match they have with Brown should be super.
 
Harvard's bright spot was the play of goalie Erin Villiotte.  She made
many dazzling saves.  With the way Dartmouth passed and moved, they
was no way she was going to be able to stop all the shoots.  But her
efforts were superb.  The Crimson next plays at Providence in the
quarterfinals of the ECAC playoffs.  Bonne chance!
 
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 good shooting
 rhun
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