The men's soccer team came up with one big goal to enhance its Ivy League title chances as the Big Green knocked off Yale, 1-0, Friday night in New Haven. The squad then followed up that victory by knocking off Hartwick, 2-1, yesterday afternoon. The Big Green are undefeated in their last nine games and off to their best start since 1990.
The Big Green entered the game raked #1 in New England and #13 in the national ranking from the latest Umbro Coaches Poll. Dartmouth now has a season record of 6-1-3 and is 2-0-1 against the Ivy League teams. The preseason favorite for winning the Ivies, Yale University, entered the game raked #5 in New England and dropped their record to 5-4-1, 1-1-1 Ivy.
Courtesy of losses by Brown and Princeton, Dartmouth now remains the only undefeated team in Ivy League play and sits alone atop the standings in first place.
Tri-captain Keith Zadourian '98 scored the only goal of the game at the 29th minute on a goal assissted by Tui'one Faleafa '99. Zadourian hit a 12 yarder into the upper corner after Faleafa kicked a crossing pass near the goal area from the left side.
It was Zadourian's first collegiate goal and all Dartmouth would need to hold off Yale, who seemed to be dominated physically and mentally by the Big Green throughout the contest.
The defense continued to work its magic for Head Coach Fran O'Leary's squad. Dartmouth has allowed only four goals in nine games this season while tallying thirteen goals themselves.
"This was a great result for us," O'Leary said. "To go out and beat the Ivy League's preseason favorite on their own field is just superb. Yale is a good team, so for us to pull out the win says something about the lads."
"Yale came out thinking they could play with us, but after Keith [Zadourian] scored, they had to be really worried," Alan Lemley '99 said. "They already had their best and only scoring chances in the first five minutes, and Matt [Nyman '99] shut them down with ease."
Nyman, the Big Green goaltender, had another shutout game, his third straight and sixth of the season. Nyman had seven saves and he lowered his goals against average (GAA) to 0.42, second-lowest in the nation. The Big Green outshot the Bulldogs 20-12, forcing Bulldog goalie David Boehmer to make 11 saves.
"Each player on the field played their individual role really well," Matthew Blanton '98 said. "Since were the front runners in the Ivies, I think everyone has the desire to take it undisputedly. You could see that we wanted it more than Yale did."
The team's second win of the weekend came at the expense of Hartwick, 2-1, at Chase Fields yesterday. The Hawks entered the game raked 5th in the New York region.
Despite playing their second game of the weekend, the Big Green played hard and showed they deserved their ranking by defeating the Hawks. The win helped the Big Green avenge a 3-2 loss last season.
Hartwick took a lead just 13 minutes into the game. Andrew Nicolarsen faked the Dartmouth defenders and passed to Nick Miles, and Miles beat Nyman one-on-one, as the ball went right into the left side of the goal. The goal was the first ball to get past Nyman in four games
That would be the end of Hartwick's offense, though. Dartmouth controlled the rest of the game, playing mostly in Hartwick's area. With some bad communication between Hartwick's defenders and goalie, the Big Green took dozens of shots against Hawk goalkeeper Pete Doneit.
After a few good chances in front of the Hartwick goal, finally with 4:36 remaining in the first half, Brad Christof '01 rifled home a volley, from a cross ball by Jamie Hozack '00. Hozack beat a few Hartwick defenders and crossed in from the right side, passing over the head of Chris Dedicik '99, and landing the ball right to Christof. Christof's acrobatic shot was the first goal of his collegiate career.
"It was a good game. We came out slow at the beginning. But we picked up at the second half. We could have played better, but we won it anyway," Christof said.
Dartmouth took a crucial lead when Dedicik scored at the 54th minute.
The Big Green made a couple of short passes from the left side to the center where three Dartmouth forwards were waiting. Christof made the final pass to Dedicik, who easily beat Doneit. Doneit had 1.36 GAA entering the game.
"[The goal] was a result of hard work, pretty much. It just fell in my legs and I just had to put in the net. Nothing too special, but we will take the win," Dedicik said.
The Big Green kept pushing against the Hawks goal for the rest of the game. With 12 minutes left, freshman Nicholas Magnuson '01 had a breakaway, but his shot was a few inches above the goal post.
Dartmouth kept the lead and won the match, in which all the players played confidently and with good team work.
"It was a great show that how much our team has matured. Last year, we could have lost the game by two goals after getting scored the first goal. But this year, nobody got excited or nervous, we came back and scored two goals," Zadourian said. "This maturity is important for winning the Ivy League," Zadourain said.
"The good thing about being captain this year is that I don't have to do much. Just because the team has matured so much that nobody needs a captain or a father figure. Everybody takes responsibility for their own action." Zadourian said.
Dartmouth will play their next four games at home, including a match against Cornell next Saturday.
"We are now thinking of winning the Ivy League. We will concentrate on Cornell next week," Dedicik said.
