Bo Noonan's goal early in overtime allowed regional rival University of New Hampshire to defeat the Big Green men' soccer team in dramatic fashion yesterday, upending the No. 13 squad 1-0 at Chase Field.
The loss was the first for Dartmouth since the opening game of the season and ended the Big Green's ten-game unbeaten streak, four short of the school record of 14. The loss lowered Dartmouth's record to 7-2-3.
Although it appeared to be another typical overtime game for Dartmouth, the game, unlike previous contests that needed extra time ended rather quickly, leaving Dartmouth on the losing end.
Just 1:44 into the sudden-death overtime, Noonan shot the game-winning 30-yarder from the right center of the field after beating Dartmouth defender Bobby Meyer '99. Noonan's kick went through the left side of diving Nyman, and hit the right post and deflected into the net.
Throughout the first half, Dartmouth rallied onto the Wildcat's goal keeping the ball inside the Wildcats territory. The Big Green had more than a dozen chances to score against the Wildcat's sophomore goalkeeper Mitch Osman.
But every time, Dartmouth came one step short of scoring a goal against UNH, which came into the contest ranked No. 8 in New England.
The flow of the game changed in the second half as UNH started to control the game and kept pushing toward the Dartmouth goal. But the Wildcats also came a step short of scoring as Dartmouth goalkeeper Matt Nyman '99 stymied the few quality chances UNH had. Nyman entered the game ranked No. 2 in the nation with Goals Against Average of 0.43.
Dartmouth outshot UNH 18-7 in the game as Osman turned away 11 Big Green shots.
The 1-0 win by the Wildcats was the fourth straight 1-0 game between the two teams. Dartmouth has won the past three matches. The match was the first overtime loss for Dartmouth this season, and now the Big Green is 1-3-1 in extra minutes.
"Obviously, it is a big disappointment," tri-captain Matt Streng '98 said. "Both team played equally well, and it was just the matter of which team to finish it. Unfortunately for us, it was them that finished it."
"It is important to leave this loss behind and move onto the next step. We will focus on Harvard game. If we can't move on with this loss, we couldn't have won anything any way," Streng said. "My job is to encourage the players and to tell them to move forward," Streng said.
"We are over with it already. There is no problem," Head Coach Fran O'Leary said. "We just need to finish the rest of the season strong."
The Big Green will host the defending Ivy League champion, Harvard Sunday afternoon at 2:30 at Chase Field Dartmouth remains undefeated against Ivy League foes with a 3-0-1 record.
