Sophomore Lucy Cooper fired an errant pass out of bounds with eight seconds left, ending a last-minute effort by the Massachusetts field hockey team, which fell 4-3 to Dartmouth Sunday afternoon.
UMass (2-4) pulled goalkeeper Johanna von dem Borne with 7:48 to go after Dartmouth went up 4-2. Freshman Chloe Hillier tapped in a goal to cut the lead to one with just under four minutes to go, but the Minutewomen failed to capitalize despite a furious offensive push.
“I thought the last seven minutes of the game were our best hockey that we played all day,” coach Barb Weinberg said. “We had a ton of opportunities. I think that late in the game, intensity was high, Dartmouth was fighting with everything they had to stay on top of the score, and we just weren’t able to finish.”
Before Hillier’s goal, the only goals for the Minutewomen came off penalty corners, both scored by junior Antonet Louw. Louw, who leads UMass with eight goals on the season, took eight of 17 shots as the Minutewomen tried to force her the ball for much of the game.
“We’re going to go back to the basics this week,” Weinberg said. “So working a lot on our passing the ball under pressure, being able to move the ball as a team, and not relying on a couple individuals to carry us.”
Although the Minutewomen took an early lead on Louw’s goal in the eighth minute, Dartmouth capitalized on a slew of unforced UMass errors. Starting in the 15th minute, Dartmouth drew three straight penalty corners in a minute, ending with a goal from sophomore Lia Constantine to tie the game.
“Look, we weren’t protecting our feet well in the circle,” Weinberg said. “They were able to find our feet and get some penalty corners. Their execution was great. They didn’t get the first shot in the goal, but they were all over the rebounds to be able to finish.”
Coming off an 8-3 loss to UConn on Friday, the Minutewomen played sloppily and struggled to keep possession. In the first minute, a pass bounced off defender Maddie Ellnor’s stick and gave the ball to Dartmouth in the backfield, leading to Dartmouth’s first penalty corner and setting the tone for the game.
“Our passing and trapping were awful all day today,” Weinberg said. “Sometimes it was [that] we weren’t giving the simple pass, others we were and we just weren’t able to make a clean trap. Credit to Dartmouth, they did a really good job of stepping up and tackling us right away when we had a missed trap.”
The Big Green never trailed again, scoring again before halftime and adding two more after Louw’s second goal tied the game in the 47th minute.
The struggling UMass defense, still looking to replace the injured Jenna Garber, saw yet another new starter Sunday, as freshman Maggie Ellington made her first start for the Minutewomen and played 28 minutes after playing a total of 17 minutes previously.
The loss was the second in a row for UMass, which dropped to two games below .500. The Minutewomen will look to rebound at home Friday night against Lock Haven.
Thomas Haines can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @thainessports.
