F. Hockey Eliminated From Ivy Contention

The Harvard field hockey team officially bowed from the race for the Ivy League championship Saturday when Dartmouth came to Cambridge and defeated the Crimson, 2-1.

Harvard and Dartmouth entered the game tied for third place in the Ivy League, along with Cornell. Saturday's victory extended Dartmouth's winning streak to four games and gave the Big Green (10-5, 4-2 Ivy League) sole possession of third place as first-place Brown remained undefeated by clobbering Cornell, 7-0, in Providence.

Harvard opened the season by winning the first five games ever played at Jordan Field, but the loss to Dartmouth marked the third consecutive Saturday on which the Crimson (10-5, 3-3) was defeated on its new synthetic-turf home.

However, things looked good for Harvard in the first half, when freshman midfielder Kalen Ingram solved Dartmouth junior goalkeeper Brittany D'Augustine off a feed from sophomore back Katie Turck.

"Katie Turck had a free hit just inside the left circle," said Ingram, who has seven goals with one game left in her rookie campaign. "She sent the ball towards the goal and I deflected it into the far corner."

But a different Dartmouth squad came out in the second half, and the Big Green began to attack Crimson senior netminder Anya Cowan. Dartmouth recorded both its goals in the second half.

Meanwhile, Harvard's sticks went silent on the offensive end. D'Augustine entered the weekend leading all Ivy goalkeepers with a 1.21 goals-against average. Her low GAA went down even more Saturday because the Crimson only managed six shots on goal, while the Big Green doubled that output with 12 shots.

"I don't know what happened," Ingram said. "We dominated the first half, but then we just came out flat in the second half."

Dartmouth scored the equalizer 6:30 into the second half when sophomore forward Kim Jenkin--who made last week's Ivy League Honor Roll with a hat trick and eight points--scored on a penalty stroke.

The Big Green put the Crimson away with less than 10 minutes left in regulation. Senior forward Lauren Scopaz scored the game-winning goal at the 25:12 mark by knocking in a rebound off a penalty corner. That raised Scopaz's career scoring line to 99 points on 36 goals and 27 assists.

Falling to a tie for fourth place with three conference losses, Harvard must now hope for an invitation to the ECAC Tournament. Before that, however, the Crimson will finish the regular season with a short but intense road trip to Providence, where Tara Mounsey and Brown is waiting to cap off an undefeated season.

"We're not playing for a berth anymore, but we are playing to win," Ingram said. "We just need to get back on track and finish the season well, hopefully at the ECACs."