Photo courtesy of: Doug Austin
SACO, Maine – A goal apiece by sophomore Melanie Vangel and junior Jessica Lukas and an own goal by the opponent led the Dartmouth women’s soccer to a 3-0 victory over Maine in a neutral-site game on Tuesday evening.

The Big Green improved to 7-1-2 and extended their unbeaten streak to eight games, while the Brown Bears dipped to 5-4-1. 

“We talked today about needing to have a complete team result and we knew we were going to rotate
and keep have high energy and play a high level game,” head coach Ron Rainey said. “Everyone on the field helped create chances and limit Maine’s attacking chances and we had some very nice attacking movements that led to goals. I am really excited to see how we played those 90 minutes and rotate people into the game and still play at a high level.”

Dartmouth controlled the ball for the first 15 minutes of the game, taking four shots – two of which had to be saved by Maine’s goalkeeper Claudia Dube-Trempe – and a corner kick before the Brown Bears got their first touch in the 19th minute, a shot saved by junior Casey Cousineau. In the remaining 25 minutes of action, Dartmouth outshot Maine, 6-2, with neither team able to make it past the keepers.

The second half started much the same as the first, with the Green controlling the action. At 54:00, Vangel received a cross from fellow sophomore Brittany Champagne and sent the shot high and wide over the keeper. Two minutes later, Vangel tried her hand at goal number two of the day, but Dube-Trempe was able to stop that one. 

Maine’s first play in the second that was not a foul or a substitution was a corner kick that came in the 74th minute. At 80:48, the Big Green increased their lead when sophomore Lauren Lackey's corner kick made its way to freshman Lauren Lucas, who attacked the end line and hit a hard cross that bounced off a Black Bear and resulted in an own goal. Less than three minutes later, the keeper came out of her goal to retrieve a loose ball and Lukas beat her to it, shooting over Dube-Trempe to give Dartmouth a 3-0 lead.

From there, Maine attempted to close the gap, taking four shots and a corner kick within a two-minute span, but Cousineau was there to save two of the four attempts and preserve the shutout.
The Green outshot the Brown Bears, 18-7, and held a 9-4 advantage in corner kicks. Earning her third solo shutout and improving to 6-1-2, Cousineau had five saves, and Dube-Trempe stopped five shots while fronting the loss.

When asked about preparing for the game against Princeton on Saturday, Rainey said “we get to start off with good recovery and a couple training sessions. Today’s game was a good step towards the things we want to do on Saturday and it is exciting to see. Now, we have to have good focus and work hard on the practice field and in the classroom and that will take us into a good weekend against a team that we know is very very good.”

On Saturday, Oct. 3, Dartmouth will host Princeton in an Ivy League contest scheduled for 7 p.m.