The Dartmouth men's soccer team came out fighting early, but faltered in the closing minutes to an upstart Lafayette Leopards team at Chase Field on Sunday. Despite an early 1-0 lead, the Big Green kickers couldn't manage to hang on and win their first game of the season, falling 2-1.
Dartmouth now owns a fledgling 0-3 early-season losing streak, while the Leopards improved to 3-1 on the season.
The Big Green struck first against the Leopards at 9:43 in the first half. Forward Hunter Paschal '96 took a dish just outside the penalty box from rookie mid fielder Bobby Meyer '99, and deposited it in the far left corner past the Leopard goalie to put Dartmouth ahead, 1-0.
On that shot, Dartmouth's Paschal, an All-Ivy first team selection last year, recorded his second goal of the young season.
The Big Green managed to hold their only lead of the game for a short fifteen minutes. Then, twenty-five minutes into the first half, the Leopards' Jon Hanks crossed a pass to forward P.J. Joseph, who caught the Dartmouth defense by surprise and fired a shot on target past diving goalie Matt Streng '98. That tally equaled the score at one.
With the score still tied at one a piece late in the game, the Leopards buried the Big Green's chances on a lightning-quick play. Lafayette's Geddes Alexander one-timed a crossing pass from teammate Hanks and connected, putting the Leopards ahead for good, 2-1.
The loss dropped the Big Green to a winless 0-3 mark, but the youthful Big Green team can understandably expect some growing pains.
Head Coach Fran O'Leary sports six starting freshman in his lineup and only two seniors on the 21 player roster.
Four of O'Leary's newcomers are representatives from their respective youth national teams. Chris Pedrick '99 (English Schoolboy), Tui'one Faleafa '99 (New Zealand), Gareth Jones '99 (Canada), and Matt Nyman '99 (United States) all are expected to make considerable impacts for Dartmouth men's soccer this year.
Dartmouth looks to change its luck against Vermont on Wednesday at Chase Field at 4:00 p.m.
