Minutewomen Edged By Dartmouth, 1-0

Oct. 24, 2007

AMHERST, Mass. - Dartmouth forward Lizzie Bildner scored a goal with 2:43 left in the first half to lead the Big Green (5-9, 1-4 Ivy) to a 1-0 win over UMass (10-8, 5-1 A-10) in Wednesday night's field hockey game at cold and damp Garber Field. The Minutewomen attack couldn't find the back of the net despite outshooting Dartmouth, 11-8. Ashley Heist made seven saves in goal for the Big Green. Becky Letourneau (Greenfield, Mass.) and Sarah Williams (Colorado Springs, Colo.) split the goalkeeping duties for UMass, with each playing a half. Letourneau made four saves while Williams didn't face a shot on goal.

The loss snaps a tied for season-best three-game winning streak for the Minutewomen. They had also won five of their last six coming into the night. It was the final non-conference game for UMass as they will close the regular season on Saturday when they travel to Rhode Island for an A-10 match-up.

Throughout the first half both sides exchanged scoring opportunities to no avail. Dartmouth drew three penalty corners in the first eight minutes of play, but Letourneau made two fine saves. UMass came back with three corners of their own later in the half, but were unable to score. Freshman Jaime Bourazeris (New Hyde Park, N.Y.) had two blasts that just missed the cage wide.

Bildner got the ball just inside the UMass circle with just under three minutes to go. Running to her left she used a reverse stick shot that got by Letourneau for her seventh goal of the season.

It was the first goal allowed by UMass since October 12 at Temple, a span of over three and a half games, or 245 minutes of play. The Minutewomen hadn't allowed a goal at home since September 26 versus Brown.

After being outshot 7-5 in the first half, UMass poured on the pressure in the latter stages of the second half. The Minutewomen won the shot battle in the second period, 6-1, but still couldn't score.

UMass' best opportunity came when with just over three minutes left, Katie Kelly (Dedham, Mass.) brought the ball into the circle along the right end line and fired a pass that found Erin Parker (South Deerfield, Mass.) 10 yards in front of the goal. Parker flicked a high shot that Heist just got enough of a piece of to send off the post.

Bourazeris led UMass with four shots, two of which were on goal. Kara Murphy (Dedham, Mass.) added two, while five others contributed one each.

The Minutewomen are currently tied with Temple for first place in the Atlantic 10 standings at 5-1. UMass closes out conference play at Rhode Island on Saturday in a noon contest. Free live stats will be available on Gametracker at UMassAthletics.com. While UMass is taking on the Rams, Temple will be playing at cross-town rival Saint Joseph's. Both UMass and the Owls are vying for not only the regular season conference title, but for the number one seed in the A-10 Tournament November 2-3 in Philadelphia.

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Jaime Bourazeris

Kara Murphy

Christine Rodgers

Makaela Potts

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