Dartmouth College goaltender Christine Honor watches a puck fly past her crease Friday during the Big Green's 5-1 loss to ECAC foe Quinnipiac at Thompson Arena. (Valley News - Tris Wykes) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com.
Dartmouth College goaltender Christine Honor watches a puck fly past her crease Friday during the Big Green's 5-1 loss to ECAC foe Quinnipiac at Thompson Arena. (Valley News - Tris Wykes) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com. Credit: —Tris Wykes

Hanover — Compared to recent seasons, the Dartmouth College women’s hockey team has better players playing better hockey. The improvement, however, has yet to manifest itself on the scoreboard.

On Friday, the Big Green was bowled over by ECAC foe Quinnipiac, 5-1, suffering its fourth consecutive loss and its sixth defeat in its last seven games.

If the 12-team conference’s eight-team playoffs began today, 10th-place Dartmouth would miss the tournament for a fourth consecutive season.

“We’re doing a lot of positive things,” said third-year Big Green coach Laura Schuler, whose team has outshot seven of its last 10 opponents and held a 31-28 advantage against the Bobcats. “But we have to score more than one goal. We’re getting quality shots, but we have to become tougher around the net.

“We were a program that didn’t get many (scoring) chances, but now we have to be ready for rebounds and screen the goaltender.”

Quinnipiac’s Abbie Ives was impressive in not allowing a goal until five minutes remained. The lefthander is among the ECAC leaders in goals-against average (1.80) and save percentage (.929) and was staked to a 1-0 lead during the eighth minute. Off of a faceoff, a slap shot from the left point sailed by forward Tess Bracken, caromed off defender Lottie Odnoga and beat Dartmouth netminder Christine Honor.

The Bobcats (6-11-3, 5-5-1) doubled their lead early in the second period by popping a rebound under the crossbar from close range. The visitors went up, 3-0, when Melissa Samoskevich took a pass while accelerating through center ice, blew up the middle past three opponents and faked out Honor.

Quinnipiac went ahead, 4-0, after Odnoga coughed up the puck in the corner to Honor’s left two minutes before the second intermission. A quick pass to Samoskevich cutting down the slot, a beautiful move that left defender Caroline Shaughnessy prone and the Bobcat slid a pass to the far post for Randi Marcon to tap home.

“I wasn’t happy with the second period and didn’t think our defensive zone coverage was good,” Schuler said. “We’ve got to be willing to take a bullet in front our own net. We need to get out there and front shooters and block shots. We have to get tougher.”

Emily McLaughlin ripped a wrist shot over Ives to pull Dartmouth within 4-1 with five minutes remaining. Sarah Coutu-Godbout closed the scoring on a wraparound shot against Big Green backup goaltender Shannon Ropp, who had relived Honor midway through the period.

“We’re deeper than we have been, and that’s why we’re creating more offense, but we have to work harder around both nets,” said Schuler, whose team hosts No. 6 Princeton (11-2-4, 9-0-2), the ECAC leader, at 3 p.m. today.

Schuler, who took a sabbatical last season to coach the Canadian women’s Olympic team to a silver medal, said interim coach Joe Marsh was beloved by the Dartmouth players and did a fine job on the ice, despite the Big Green’s 5-19-3 record. She said next season’s incoming freshmen should give the Big Green a significant boost, and she clearly enjoys the support of athletic director Harry Sheehy, who watched Friday’s contest.

“We’ve got better skaters, but you can’t create experience out of thin air,” Sheehy said, comparing the necessary rebuilding job to that of Dartmouth men’s lacrosse, long the Ivy League doormat in that sport. “We’re going to take our lumps while we learn how to win at places like Harvard and Cornell.

“I’m confident Laura can bring in women who can do that. I don’t lose a lot of sleep over the direction of this program.”

Notes: Bracken leads Dartmouth with four goals and four assists for eight points. … Plainfield resident Sabrina Huett, who played the last two seasons at Dartmouth as a freshman and sophomore and had a goal and two assists in 55 games, is no longer listed on the roster. … Honor has a 3.18 GAA and an .890 save percentage. … Today’s game can be seen on NESNplus. … Dartmouth beat Quinnipiac in overtime, 3-2, on the road on Nov. 3, then lost at Princeton, 4-1, the next day. The Tigers boast a 15-game unbeaten streak and haven’t lost since Oct. 21 against Wisconsin. … Dartmouth freshman Sara McClanahan is the daughter of 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey gold-medal winner Rob McClanahan. … Dartmouth has scored one or no goals in six of its last seven games.

Tris Wykes can be reached at twykes@vnews.com.