The University of Pennsylvania showed why they are called the Quakers by providing little more than passive resistance against Dartmouth's high-powered offense. In Saturday's game, the Big Green started out sluggishly, but put on an offensive clinic in the third quarter that stunned the visiting Quakers and gave Dartmouth the 21-14 win.
The game featured two of the Ivy league's most explosive offenses. Penn's team centers around an exceptional attack line, led by Andy Crofton. Coming into Saturday's game Penn's attack had netted 76 goals.
As Penn found out though, few teams have the firepower to survive a shoot-out with Dartmouth.
Dartmouth exhibited a well-balanced offense, using ball movement and the team's athletic ability to break down its opponent's defense. Although the Big Green had trouble scoring early on in the game, during the third quarter they lit up the score board.
"This year's offense is especially potent, because we have a diverse group where both our [midfielders] and attackman pose a scoring threat," Brian Merritt '97 said.
Dartmouth's offensive leader is junior one-man-gang Scott Hapgood '97 who led the way against Penn with seven goals and leads the nation in goals per game, with a baffling 22 goals in four games.
Early on in the game, Penn jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead.
"One of the problems with our attack is that we need to get a spark to give us some confidence, but once we start clicking, no one can stop us," Hapgood said.
At the end of the first quarter Dartmouth received that spark with two man-up goals and a Scott Watts '97 score, that narrowed the deficit to one.
Throughout the second quarter Penn responded to virtually every goal, and at the half Penn held onto a 9-6 lead.
"We wore Penn down physically in the first half, and we felt that we could take the lead," Coach Tim Nelson said.
In one of Dartmouth's most offensively prolific quarters in the last several seasons, Dartmouth out-scored Penn 10-1 and had a 16-11 lead going into the final period.
One of the keys to Dartmouth's dominance was its ability to control the ball, starting with the defense. Senior co-Captain Justin Boyd set the tone for the defense by silencing Penn's normally vocal Andy Crofton and clearing the ball several times.
"Justin is a great player and a great guy," Nelson said. "We feel he is one of the top defensemen in the country."
When Dartmouth needed some big plays, one of its biggest stepped forward to get the business done. After being knocked down, Merritt scored Dartmouth's tenth and tying goal while on his belly.
Freshman sensation George Wisecarver then scored the go-ahead goal. Merritt hammered the nails in the coffin by beating his man one-on-one for a goal and then unleashing the one-armed whip check to strip a Penn player and setup a Tom Scott '96 goal. When the dust settled after this fury of goals, Dartmouth was up 13-10.
In the fourth quarter Dartmouth continued to dominate Penn with its fast-paced offense, finishing with a 21-14 victory.
Dartmouth cannot be satisfied with this victory, as it face one of its biggest challenges of the season on Monday when the Big Green face-off with the 11th-ranked team in the country, the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame.
