HANOVER, N.H. – It's hard to expect much from a team that has been off for an unprecedented 36 days, even if it's the No. 8 team in Division I up against a conference foe it beat by five goals in the fall at home.

That's what the Yale Women's Hockey Team was facing at Dartmouth tonight and the Bulldogs, who got goals from four players and 23 saves from Gianna Meloni, responded with a 4-2 win at Thompson Arena to improve to 11-3-1 and 6-2-1 in ECAC Hockey.

Yale, which last played on Dec. 8 at home against Boston University, shook off the rust by outshooting the Big Green 35-25 and never giving up the lead.

"It was a tight road game tonight, but we fought through a pesky Dartmouth team and then cashed in halfway through the third with a great slot finish by Bargman," said Mark Bolding, Yale's Susan Cavanagh Head Coach. "The team defense held strong, and it was a solid road win to get us going again here in January."
 
After a scoreless first period, sophomore forward Elle Hartje, who leads Division I in assists per game, gave the visitors a 1-0 lead midway through the second when she went top shelf from the slot.

Dartmouth tied the score in the second, but Tess Dettling whizzed through defenders and slipped the puck past Hannah Humphreys as she was being pulled down to draw a penalty late in the second to make it 2-1.

The home team evened things again in the third, but that did not last long. Anna Bargman one-timed a perfect feed from Charlotte Welch, who was behind the net and got the puck out to the slot.

Meloni, who had nine saves in the third period, turned it up a notch from there to register the win for the Blue after getting an empty-net tally from her captain, Greta Skarzynski.

Yale will be at No. 10 Harvard Saturday at 4 p.m.