Dartmouth
HAMDEN, Conn. – A Daisy Granholm goal in the first half and a six-save shutout from Emily Hardy lifted the Dartmouth women’s soccer team to a 1-0 victory over Quinnipiac on Sunday afternoon in Hamden, Connecticut. The win gives Taylor Schram, the Stacy and Nick Branca Family Head Coach of Women’s Soccer, her first collegiate win as a head coach.
“There’s a lot of emotions running through me right now, but I am so incredibly proud of our group,” said Schram after the game. “Sunday games in college soccer are not always the prettiest, but it comes down to fight, it comes down to heart, and our team showed a ton of it today.”
The lone goal of the match came in the 18th minute of play. Mary Lundregan served a looping ball over the Quinnipiac defense to Granholm inside the Bobcats’ penalty area. Granholm beat the defender to the ball, but was tripped, earning the Big Green a penalty kick. Granholm stepped up from 12 yards out and slotted her shot to the bottom left corner to give Dartmouth a 1-0 lead, scoring her second goal of the season.
The Big Green were held to just one shot on goal but played well for all 90 minutes on the defensive side of the ball.
Quinnipiac’s best chance of the afternoon occurred late in the game as they searched for the equalizer. The Bobcats had the ball at the top of the Dartmouth penalty area and Morgan Cupo let loose a shot towards goal but was saved by Hardy. Hardy burst off the line to cut down the angle and made the quick reaction diving save to her left to keep the Big Green ahead.
The Big Green defense shut down the Bobcats offense as time ran down, not allowing a single shot on goal in the final six minutes of the game.
“It was a big-time win and the team played really well, especially playing two games in three days,” said Hardy after earning her first collegiate shutout. “I’m super proud of the effort.”
Schram ended with, “It was a great team performance. We had a lot of players step up, I’m really proud of it and it gives us a lot of momentum going into next week.”
The Big Green improved to 1-0-1 with the win while the Bobcats fell to 0-2.
Dartmouth returns to Burnham Field tonight with a non-conference matchup against Colgate. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Season opener
In Dartmouth’s season opener against Eastern Michigan on Friday, both teams scored twice in the second half for a 2-2 draw at Burnham Field in Hanover.
Dartmouth opened the scoring in the 68th minute off a corner kick. Mary Lundregan served the corner into the front of goal, and it was tipped out by EMU goalkeeper Ella Holland. The rebound fell out to Carly Retterer at the top of box, who controlled the ball and struck it through traffic into the back of the net for her first collegiate goal.
The Eagles (0-1-2) equalized minutes later through Arielle Fink. Kate Robinson’s shot was saved by Emily Hardy and Fink crashed the net to put home the tying goal.
The Big Green took back the lead in the 82nd minute, following up on a rebound of their own. Retterer gained possession in the midfield and brought it nearly 25 yards into the box to create the opportunity for Dartmouth. Retterer took a touch around the EMU defender and fired a shot towards goal and was saved by Holland, but the rebound fell into the path of Daisy Granholm, who tapped it in to put the Big Green ahead with just over eight minutes to go in the contest.
Eastern Michigan scored the tying goal just over a minute later when Meagan Lukowski took advantage of a high-looping ball in the box, finishing with a header over the Dartmouth defense for her second goal of the season.
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