In their last game at home on Burnham Field of the regular season, the women’s soccer team achieved a 2-0 Senior Day victory over the Yale University Bulldogs, putting Dartmouth in strong position to make the Ivy League tournament as a top four team.
Dartmouth’s offense dominated early in the first half, with 7 shots on goal in the first 22 minutes of the match. The Big Green finally broke through when Stephanie Lathrop’28 passed the ball to Lourdes Lauterborn ’28, who delivered it to the feet of Emmanuella Frimpomaa ’28. Frimpomaa took a couple of touches before shooting the ball past Bulldogs goalkeeper Kyla Holmes into the left side of the net to score Dartmouth’s first goal. Both Lathrop and Lauterborn were credited with the assist.
The Big Green had three more shots on goal in the remainder of the first half but were unable to find the back of the net.
Dartmouth had a slightly slower start to the second half, but Madison Rose ’29 and Frimpomaa had shots on goal in the 59th and 62nd minute respectively.
The Big Green scored its second goal in the 66th minute to go up 2-0. Defender Ellie Davidson ’27 sent a long ball up the field, and Lathrop headed the ball in Frimpomaa’s direction. Frimpomaa then dribbled past a Yale defender and the goalkeeper, and shot the ball into the lower right corner of the net. Davidson and Lathrop both earned an assist on the goal.
Frimpomaa said after the game that she was happy with the team’s offensive performance as a whole, including her two goals.
“Finding each other’s feet and playing to score — that’s what we came here to do, and I know we did that in a good way,” she said.
Head coach Taylor Schram was also excited for Frimpomaa.
“I’m really happy for Manny that she was able to get two goals and put the game away for us,” she said.
The two were Frimpomaa’s fifth and sixth goals of the season, making her the team’s leading goal scorer this season.
Dartmouth had a few more offensive chances in the remainder of the game, but all shots were either off target or saved by the Yale goalkeeper.
The Dartmouth defense was strong throughout the game, allowing zero shots on goal and four shots total.
Goalkeeper Ola Goebel ’27 joked that she had a quiet game in net since the team’s field players prevented any shots from going her way.
“Everybody all around defended great, so I got to watch a great game for my senior night,” she said.
Schram credited the back line for the “the desire that they have to defend until the last whistle every single play” but emphasized that the forwards and midfielders “were disruptive high on the field” as well.
By the end, Dartmouth had 23 shots and 16 shots on goal, far outshooting the Bulldogs.
The game was also Senior Day, so the team celebrated the team’s four seniors — Davidson, Goebel, defender Kate Ryan ’27 and midfielder Frankie Valverde ’27 — before the game, honoring their contributions to the team over the last four seasons.
Schram had high praise for the impact of the four players, the first class whom she coached for all four years, on Dartmouth’s women’s soccer program.
“When we look back at the trajectory of the program and the shift … so much of it I would place on the shoulders of those four players being bought in, setting high standards, showing up with a DWS first mindset every single day, and I’m incredibly grateful,” she said. “Their impact here will certainly live on for many years after they depart.”
Frimpomaa also complimented her senior teammates’ “significant impact” on the team.
“They’ve left a great legacy, and we’re going to really miss them all,” she said.
Goebel said she and her fellow seniors were “so grateful to have such an amazing group of girls around us” throughout their years at Dartmouth and will be “so proud to watch the girls continue” after they graduate “because they’re a family.”
The Dartmouth women face Cornell University at 7 p.m. next week in Ithaca, N.Y., for their last regular season game. The results of this matchup, along with the outcomes of other intra-Ivy League games, will decide whether Dartmouth qualifies for the Ivy League tournament.
Dartmouth currently stands in third place in the league with 12 points, behind Brown University and Columbia University, which each have 13 points. This puts the Big Green in solid shape to end the season in the top four and make the postseason tournament, but they have not yet clinched a spot. A loss next week to Cornell, combined with wins by Princeton and Harvard would leave Dartmouth out of the tournament.
“We wanted to put ourselves in a position to compete for a title to make the Ivy tournament again,” Schram said. “And right now we’re in a good place to do that, so we’ve just got to continue to do what we’ve done all year long.”