The Dartmouth men's soccer team, with a little help from a Vermont defender, captured its fourth victory of the season by a score of 1-0 at Vermont yesterday.
The only goal of the game came on a free kick in the 19th minute, when a Vermont player headed the ball into his own goal.
The rest was left to Dartmouth keeper Ben Gebre-Medhin '02, who had yet another impressive game with six saves. Vermont goalie Chris Shaver made only three saves.
The Dartmouth freshmen continued their aggressive play on offense, as forward Matt Labarre '04 and midfielder Damien Quinn '04 together were responsible for half of Dartmouth's eight shots.
"It was a scrap," Gebre-Medhin said. "Every year UVM turns the game into a battle and this year we fought hard and didn't give anything up. It is great that we are coming out on top in these tight games that I think we would have lost last year."
Yesterday afternoon, Dartmouth's defense was busy trying to contain Vermont's junior forward Jamie Farrell, who got off eight shots in the game.
"I am really happy with the way everyone is starting to come together and fight for each other," Gebre-Medhin said. "We have worked hard to gel together and start to play as a unit and I think we are almost there. Our defense is going to be the deciding factor in most of these games, so we will have to continue to work hard and work together if we want to keep winning games."
The Big Green's record is 4-2 (1-0 Ivy), already giving the team more wins than all of last season. Dartmouth is also on a two-game winning streak. The Big Green's previous win was against nationally-ranked Princeton on Saturday.
Vermont falls to 4-5 with its fourth loss in five games.
The Big Green return to action this Saturday when they team up with the women's squad for a doubleheader at Chase Field. The women open the day at noon against Penn, while the men take on the Quakers at 2:30 p.m.
Penn is 3-3 on the season and is coming off a win against Temple yesterday.
