Game 1: Dartmouth (0-0) at Massachusetts (2-0)
Date: Friday, August 31, 2012 - 6 p.m.
Location: Garber Field - Amherst, Mass.
Last Time vs. UMass: 10/28/09 - W, 6-3
All-Time Series: UMass, 21-9-0
Live Stats - Live Video

Game 2: Dartmouth (0-0)* vs. Northeastern (2-0)
Date: Sunday, Sept. 2, 2012 - 2 p.m.
Location: Chase AstroTurf Field - Hanover, N.H.
Last Time vs. Northeastern: 9/11/08 - L, 5-0
All-Time Series: Northeastern, 8-2-0
@DartmouthSports - Live Stats - Live Video

HANOVER, N.H. - Summer's over. And with that short statement, it's time to turn our collective attention back to fall collegiate sports. Kicking off the 2012-13 year for the Dartmouth Athletic Department is the field hockey team with two games in three days this weekend.

On the road to start the year at UMass and back at home for the first game of the year held in Hanover on Sunday against Northeastern will mark the official start of the 2012 campaign for the Big Green as they look to continue working their way up the Ivy League standings.

FOLLOW THE ACTION
Fans can follow all the action this weekend using the live video stream and live stats links above. Sunday's game will also feature in-game updates on Dartmouth's official Twitter page: @DartmouthSports. Fans joining in on the conversation on Twitter should use the hashtag #DartFH.

All seven home games will be broadcast live this season on DartmouthSports.com's Big Green Insider.

THIS WEEKEND
Dartmouth will open the season on the road Friday night at UMass' Garber Field. The 6 p.m. start time in the season opener is the only night game on the entire schedule for the Big Green in 2012. After their night tilt with the Minutewomen, the Green and White will be back in the Upper Valley Sunday against Northeastern for the first home game of the season for any Dartmouth team in 2012-13 as they take on the Huskies at 2 p.m. 

CAPTAINS
Seniors Maya Herm (Bethesda, Md.) and Lisa Masini (Ann Arbor, Mich.) will serve as the co-captains for this season's Big Green squad. Herm and Masini are both talented midfielders that will add veteran leadership to a team that features 10 freshmen and sophomore players.

IVY HONOREES BACK IN 2012

Masini was a 2011 All-Ivy Second Team player as a junior. She was not alone on the league's second team as teammate Ali Savage (Orange, New South Wales, Australia) also earned the distinction her first year in Hanover. Now a sophomore, Savage and her classmate Janine Leger (Johannesburg, South Africa), who was an All-Ivy Honorable Mention player last fall, will look to build on two tremendous starts to their careers wearing the Green and White.

SCOUTING UMASS
The Minutewomen will play their third game of 2012 when they play host to the Big Green on Friday evening. Boasting a 2-0 record coming into the matchup, UMass earned consecutive 2-1 overtime wins over No. 18 New Hampshire and No. 15 Ohio State last weekend in Durham, N.H. Hannah Prince scored both OT winners for her team, earning Atlantic 10 Player of the Week honors for her late-game heroics. The game with Dartmouth will mark the home opener for Massachusetts.

SCOUTING NORTHEASTERN
Like UMass, the Huskies began the year with a neutral-site weekend, opening the season with wins over No. 23 Louisville and Northwestern at the Sherrill Brakmeier Classic in Louisville, Ky. Northeastern took down the host Cardinals, 3-2, on Friday before moving on to dispatch the Wildcats Sunday afternoon, 2-1. Deidre Duke was tabbed as the CAA Rookie of the Week for potting what would be the game-winning goal against Louisville, while Crystal Poland leads the team in scoring through two games with seven points on three goals and one assist.

SEASON OPENERS
Dartmouth has won each of the last two season openers, 5-0 last year over Sacred Heart and 2-1 over Fairfield in 2010. This marks the first time opening a year on the road since the Big Green went to Maine on Sept. 6, 2009 to play the Black Bears. In 12 seasons under head coach Amy Fowler, Dartmouth is 7-5 in the first contest of the fall.

PRESEASON NOTES
The Big Green played twice in the last week as they traveled to Harvard to take on the Crimson in a three-part scrimmage, taking down its conference foe by a combined score of 4-0. Returning home for the first game at Chase Field since last November, Dartmouth posted a come-from-behind exhibition win over the University of Victoria on Monday afternoon. Trailing 2-0 early in the first half, Dartmouth fought back to beat the Vikes, 3-2.

For a complete preview of the 2012 Dartmouth field hockey team and the season ahead, please click HERE.