Off pace. It's the only way to describe Dartmouth's soccer team, which began the season this month and has since failed to achieve a win in its first four games. The first 16 days of the season saw the Big Green players lose one game and tie three at 1-1.
In the opening game of the season, at home against Cal State Northridge Sept. 3, Dartmouth was unlucky to lose due to a late second-half free kick. In a game that could have gone either way, the Matadors grabbed the win through Gabriel Montoya's set piece in the 83rd minute. The next game was again scheduled to be played at Chase Field six days later, but the encounter with Boston University was cancelled due to the heavy downpour in Hanover and the bad condition of the pitch.
The Big Green started its series of three consecutive away games at Fairfield, Conn. It was a dream start for Dartmouth as Mark Limpert '07 scored the team's first goal of the season at 15:07. However, at 68:51 Alex Cunliffe converted a spot kick for the Stags to earn a deserved draw for his team.
Next, the Big Green traveled to San Diego for the San Diego State Tournament. Limpert managed to score again in the first game of the tournament against San Diego. Andrew Ehrich put 10-man USD ahead in the 53rd minute with a nice shot from a sharp angle, but Limpert leveled the game with a breakaway goal 13 minutes later.
In a very physical game, both teams finished with ten men on the pitch. At the end of the first half, USD's Kevin Wilson was ejected for his second yellow card, while two minutes into the first overtime Dartmouth's Scott Darci '05 was also sent under the showers for two bookable offences.
In the second game of the tournament against San Diego State, the Big Green recorded their third 1-1 draw in the last three games. Dartmouth had again fallen behind due to a Dione Scott goal late in the first half, but Amar Takhar '06 converted a penalty kick three minutes from time to give the team a deserved draw. This game marked yet another good performance by Rowan Anders '07, who made a total of 18 saves in the first four games of the season, averaging 4.5 saves per game.
"We are very positive about the direction [in which] the team is going," commented coach Jeffrey Cook on the start of the season. "You always set out to win games, of course, but we played three out of the four [games] away from home and the quality in that position has been excellent," he added.
Commenting on the freshmen contribution to the team, Cook said, "They've done very well, added a lot to our team. We've brought in a large class -- nine of them -- and I think that to a different degree everyone's made a very positive impact on the team."
Dartmouth will host the Adidas/Hypertherm tournament at the Chase Field this weekend. The team's first game is Friday, Sept. 24 at 4 p.m. against Bradley, who holds a 4-2-0 record. The second game against Temple is Sunday, Sept. 26 at 1:30 p.m.
"These are the last two games before we open up the Ivy League season away from home next weekend, so it's going to be important to establish a winning tradition at home," Cook commented.
