by David F. Pendrys (Eyewitness report checked against official box score.)

NEW HAVEN, CT- The Dartmouth Big Green provided quite the challenge to the Yale Bulldogs Saturday night at Reese Field, but ultimately the home team was able to prevail with the 1-0 victory. The goalkeepers for the match were Casey Cousineau for Dartmouth and Ivy League saves leader Rachel Ames for Yale.

The game’s lone goal was caused by a great effort from Yale’s Keri Cavallo at 47:58 assisted by Sofia Griff. During a Yale attack the ball got to her amidst a scrum of players Cavallo handled the ball and navigated straight through two Dartmouth defenders to come face to face with Cousineau who she outmaneuvered and shot a low ball into the net.

Part of the story of the game was how Dartmouth was unable to capitalize on 10 corner kicks, to Yale’s none. The Big Green did try initially few to just dribble the ball out rather than kick it but returned to traditional kicks soon afterward but every attempt was thwarted by Yale.

Ames had 4 saves and Cousineau 2. Ames was not challenged much, though she had to make a critical save, knocking the ball back into the field of play, where Dartmouth’s rebound attempt sailed over the goal in a fortuitous result. Other than the goal, Cousineau was also rarely threatened though Michelle Alozie broke in on her but with the help of the D she took care of it.

Dartmouth took 11 shots on the day but only 4 on goal as the Big Green had been putting a lot of pressure on Yale especially in the first half but not getting too many good looks. Yale took only 5 shots but 3 were on goal, and of course the 1 that mattered got in.

Jackie Friedman had 2 shots on goal for Dartmouth, Lucille Kozlov had 1 and Gia Parker had 1. Yale’s 2 shots on goal in addition to Cavallo’s both came from Alozie.

A few other observations from the game, not meant to be an exhaustive list.

Yale Defender Hannah Coy did an excellent job disrupting many Dartmouth attacks. The Big Green were constantly challenging her and she often was knocking the ball away with whatever means she had. Fellow Defender Ally Grossman was also very on point getting in Dartmouth’s way. It didn’t produce a goal, but Geneva Decker had a sweet “backhanded” kick pass around the defense when she kicked the ball backwards.

Dartmouth’s Hayley Snyder broke up a centering pass in the first and was effective in stopping many Yale attempts. Brittany Champagne was busy for The Big Green setting up plays and getting things into motion. Kozlov stopped a Yale opportunity at midfield breaking up the set up.

Dartmouth’s Lindsay Knutson fed it to Lauren Lucas but Yale’s Brittany Simpson disrupted her run up the side. Kozlov came in to try to knock a loose ball into the net, but Ames beat her to it. Friedman was a major part of the Dartmouth offense throughout the night including getting in close from the goalie’s left but not having a great angle when she launched a shot in. It did force Ames to make a rare save though.

Yale is now 4-5-2, 1-2-0 in the Ivy League, Dartmouth drops to 7-3-2, and 0-2-1 in Ivy League Play. This game also served as Yale Coach Rudy Meredith’s 200th career win.