On Saturday night at the Soccer-Lacrosse Stadium, the Yale women’s soccer team followed an intense men’s soccer victory with a down-to-the-wire game of their own. But there was one major difference — while the men won a late-minute nail-biter immediately before the women’s match started, the women lost their contest 1-0 in overtime.

2:04 into overtime, Dartmouth (5-5-1, 3-0-0 Ivy) forward Christina Ferraris, beat Yale (5-5-1, 0-2-1 Ivy) goalkeeper Sarah Walker ’05 off of a feed from midfielder Lea Kiefer, to earn the 1-0 win for the Big Green and keep them undefeated atop the Ivy League. With the tough loss, Yale drops into a tie for last place in the Ancient Eight with Columbia University (3-6-2, 0-2-1 Ivy).

“[Dartmouth] never stopped working up top,” midfielder Mia Arakaki ’05 said. “They kept going at the goal.”

Dartmouth had more scoring opportunities throughout the game, out-shooting the Elis 12-4. Only two Bulldogs players, midfielders Laurel Karnes ’06 and Lindsey Weening ’06, registered shots for the Bulldogs.

“They earned that goal,” Weening said. “They put away their chances and we didn’t.”

Despite not having many shots, the Bulldogs had an improved amount of offensive chemistry.

“We’re definitely clicking better up front,” team captain Lee Anne Jasper ’04 said.

Coming off of a 3-0 victory over Quinnipiac University (3-8-1) on Oct. 8, the Elis could not sustain their offensive output. Yale has scored the fewest goals in the Ivy League this year, with just two in three conference games.

Developing the cohesiveness necessary to score goals consistently is a process, Arakaki said.

Walker made five saves in the match, forcing the match into overtime with a difficult diving save on Ferraris from 10 yards out with four minutes remaining in regulation.

“It’s just another example of Sarah [Walker] stepping up for us again,” Weening said

Goal keeper Anne Marbarger made three saves to earn the shutout for the Big Green.

The Bulldogs, who are in the midst of a six-game homestand, have little time to dwell on the loss. The Elis take on Colgate University (8-5-0) tonight at 7 p.m. at the Soccer-Lacrosse Stadium.

“It’ll be a good thing,” Jasper said. “Hopefully our legs will be able to recover.”

The Raiders dominated the Holy Cross Crusaders (1-11-0) 5-0 on Sat. and have done well against Ivy League competition this season, defeating Columbia 3-1 on Sept. 5 and narrowly losing to Cornell (6-2-2, 1-1-1 Ivy) 2-1 Oct. 8.

“Hopefully we can carry some of our energy from our last game into this game,” Weening said.

Colgate midfielder Kate Barret, who figured in all five goals against the Crusaders, leads the Raiders and ranks sixth on Colgate’s all-time scoring list with 82 points.

With only six games remaining in their regular season, four of which are conference matchups, the Elis need to get back on track as soon as possible.

“We know that we have to win the next four [Ivy League] games,” Weening said.

Any hopes of postseason play depend on it.

“We’re motivated to do well, win the rest of our games, and hopefully put ourselves in a position to make the [NCAA] Tournament,” Jasper said.

[ydn-legacy-photo-inline id=”19261″ ]