The Northeastern Huskies denied the Dartmouth men's soccer team their first mark in the win column this season defeating the Big Green 3-2 at Chase Field Saturday.
"I thought is was ours to win, but we gave away some silly goals" Coach Fran O'Leary said."Today the team gave us everything they had, but we fell short because of some lapses in concentration."
The match was played tentatively by both squads for the first 15 minutes.
A Husky shot off the crossbar served as a wake-up call for the Big Green, and the team rallied, erupting for three shots on goal in just five minutes.
In the 17th minute, Chris Pedrick '99 lofted a perfect bending corner kick that hit off the far post. A charging Hunter Paschall '96 stuffed it in the net for his third goal of the year to give Dartmouth a 1-0 lead.
The tally ignited the crowd and Dartmouth responded with crisp passing and smart controlled play.
"We played well," Captain John Bosacco '96 said. "We just didn't play well for 90 minutes."
The first important Dartmouth lapse came four minutes into the second half when the Husky's Ross Hainsworth blasted the equalizer into the lower left corner from 17 yards out.
Undaunted, the Big Green pushed forward after the restart, hungry for another score. Andy Warner '99, who turned in another strong performance, served a bending volley from the right side of the yard into the center of the box. At the other end was none other than Paschall who sent a leaping header over the keeper into the upper corner of the goal.
With 38 minutes to play and a one goal lead, Dartmouth looked unbeatable. They kept up the pressure and nearly made it 3-1 when Paschall served a ball from the touch line across the area just beyond the reach of the charging Pedrick.
"When we're on top, we've had chances to kill teams, and we've failed to do that," O'Leary said.
After that missed chance, the Northeastern squad began to come alive as Dartmouth seemed to be content on trying to protect their lead for the win. That's when Dartmouth suffered its second major lapse.
In the 70th minute the Big Green goalie Matt Streng '98 called for a ball that came his way but wasn't able to snag it during a confusing split second. Hainsworth, the Husky's Irish import, took advantage and lofted a neat header into the open net for his second goal.
Six minutes later the Husky's Nils Aass blasted in the game winner with a shot that was just untouchable. A late appearance byBosacco, who has been sidelined with injuries, could only give Dartmouth an emotional lift.
At the gun blast the scoreboard had the Big Green on the short side of the 3-2 contest.
After the match Northeastern standout and Captain Eric Jackson was quick to credit the Big Green. "They played a great game," Jackson said, "and from what we hear they are getting better every game."
Bosacco summed it up best for Dartmouth. "We played very well today, but we didn't play 90 minutes. We played well at times and poorly at times, and when we played poorly they took advantage" he said.
The Big Green outshot the Huskies 17-14 and was fouled twice as often.The loss was the first time the Big Green had lost to the Huskies in 65 years. The last time they played was in October of 1930.
It doesn't get easier for the men as they travel to Storrs to take on Joe Morrone and the University of Connecticut Huskies on Wednesday. The loss dropped the men to 0-5-0 while Northeastern improved to 4-2-0.
