The field hockey team opened its Ivy League home slate with a victory against Dartmouth this weekend.
Going into the game, the Bears had lost six of their last seven contests, but the team delivered with a 3-1 win Saturday. Goals from Gina Openshaw ’20, Hannah Leckey ’20 and Danielle van Rootselaar ’22 sealed the victory for the Bears.
“We haven’t beat Dartmouth since I was a freshman,” Openshaw said. “We made a decision that we were going to take this game, and we did.”
The first half passed scoreless, with both defenses shutting down any scoring opportunities. Just minutes into the third quarter, Brown (3-6, 1-1 Ivy) took the lead when Openshaw took a pass from van Roostelaar and broke free from the Dartmouth (3-6, 0-2) defense for the goal. Within the first five minutes of the fourth, van Rootselaar collected a rebound and swiftly handed it off to Leckey for the goal.
The Big Green responded with a goal of its own, cutting Brown’s advantage to 2-1. But the Bears managed to put the game out of reach, as van Rootselar put up the final tally off an endline pass from Corinne Condie ’20.
“We are playing a nice team game,” said Head Coach Jill Reeve. “We need to be able to execute our corners and finish upfront, but we are pretty solid defensively.”
Van Rootselaar took part in all three of Brown’s goals, assisting two and netting one. The Bears outshot Dartmouth 17-10 overall and led in shots on goal 10-4.
Defender Ali Dunning ’20 attributed the victory to the team converting opportunities into goals. “It has been something we’ve been working on a lot in practice, so it is great to see it play out in the game,” Dunning said.
Reeve was pleased with the Bears’ intensity and performance. “We are playing a very nice team game, so that keeps us competitive, and I was glad that we were able to upgrade our intensity in the second half,” Reeve said. “That made the difference in the outcome of today,” she added.
“We have some pretty big challenges coming up with Harvard, Princeton and (University of California, Berkeley),” Reeve said. “We just need to prepare.”
This Thursday, Brown welcomes Cal to Goldberger Family Field for a non-conference game at 4:00 p.m. Brown will resume Ivy League play Sunday when the team travels to Cambridge to take on Harvard.
