HANOVER, N.H. - The Dartmouth women's soccer team dropped a hard fought, 1-0, contest to regional foe Massachusetts at Burnham Field on Tuesday night.
The Minutewoman used a goal just 20 seconds into the contest when Julie Morrissey capitalized on a defensive breakdown in the box, which ultimately held up as the game-winner. Sophomore midfielder Chrissy Lozier (Fairfield, Conn.) had a chance for the equalizer in the 86th minute of action on a corner kick. Lozier connected with a ball in the box, brought it to the ground for a shot, catching the UMass goalkeeper off her line, but a defender was there to clear the ball off the line, securing the UMass win.
"We played well, but we just need to find a way to score" said head coach Theresa Wagner. "We did some things well tonight. We were able to get the ball to the outside pretty well, get crosses off and created a lot of corner kicks, but we need someone to step up and be a goal scorer for us. There have been a lot of opportunities for players, but ultimately we need someone to step up and put the ball in the net."
The Big Green spread out the offense and was led by senior Ally Dutton (Granite Bay, Calif.) who had a team-high three shots while sophomore midfielder Marina Moschitto (Andover, Mass.) added two shots in the contest. In all, Dartmouth had five players register shots on goal. Freshman Tatiana Saunders (Rye, N.Y.) made her third consecutive start in goal and made one save in 90 minutes of action.
Dartmouth picked up their offensive intensity in the second frame and had UMass on its heels for the majority of the second half. The Big Green outshot UMass, 9-7, for the contest and 6-5 in the second half and took a season-high 14 corner kicks while holding UMass to only two corner kicks.
Trailing 1-0 entering the second half, Dutton had a great opportunity for the equalizer in the 58th minute of action. Using her head, Dutton connected with a corner from sophomore defender Kelly Brait (Glenview, Ill.) that sailed just wide of the right side netting. Dartmouth had four corner kick opportunities in the final five minutes of action but couldn't get anything in the net, dropping its first home game of the season.
UMass picked up its fourth consecutive win and was led by Morrissey who had a team-best four shots. Goalkeeper Emily Cota made four saves in the contest.
In a game that seemed to be a tale of two halves, Massachusetts opened the game as the aggressor and was able to get into their offensive rhythm quickly in the first half, but the Big Green settled in they had several opportunities for the equalizer.
Senior forward Aly O'Dea (Irvine, Calif.) had a chance to tie things up in the 31st minute of action. After receiving the ball from junior defender Grace Best (Downington, Pa.), O'Dea took the space that the UMass defense gave her and dribbled all the way into the box where she fired a shot that sailed just barely over the crossbar.
Dartmouth will stay at home when it hosts Princeton on Saturday (Oct. 1) in the first game of a doubleheader with the men's team. The women's team will kickoff with the Tigers at 1:00 p.m. Fans can follow along with livestats and live video at Darmouthsports.com.
