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The Dartmouth
March 29, 2024 | Latest Issue
The Dartmouth

Men's soccer replaces four starters with 10-man recruiting class

The men's soccer team will welcome a talented group of nine freshmen and a transfer onto its 2007 roster.
The men's soccer team will welcome a talented group of nine freshmen and a transfer onto its 2007 roster.

The Dartmouth men's soccer team loses six seniors to graduation this year, including four regular starters. The defense will be hit the hardest by graduation, as starters Peter Savidis '06 and Lucas Richardson '07 will graduate along with goalkeeper Rowan Anders '07.

Stepping in will be nine freshmen and a sophomore transfer.

"Dartmouth has a program with a solid tradition of putting out winning teams every year," future Big Green midfielder Ben Salmon said. "They have a habit of winning, and that's something I want to get into again."

Salmon is transferring from Holy Cross to matriculate at Dartmouth next fall. He appeared in 12 of the Crusaders' 17 matches last fall and made one start as a midfielder for Holy Cross. While Salmon acknowledges that the choice to change schools and teams was not an easy decision, the upgrade in both academics and athletic programs made his decision easier.

"[Dartmouth] is a great environment for both soccer and school. I have friends from back home who currently go to Dartmouth and they can't say enough about their experience. [The switch] just made sense," he said.

Three of the incoming nine freshmen will brave Hanover winters after spending their high school years in California.

"Obviously the weather [will be different], but that's a given," Walker Linares said. "The whole East Coast experience is going to be different."

Linares, a defender, will be joined by Bryan Guidicelli on the Big Green's back line. Last fall, Linares' and Guidicelli's respective rivaling high school teams shared the WCAL title. Linares does not expect the rivalry to continue at Dartmouth, and instead thinks it will build stronger bonds.

"It's not going to be a big deal," Linares said. "Our schools had a rivalry but we personally never had a rivalry. I think we'll combine and forget the old rivalry and make it more of a California thing."

With the departure of Anders, the starting goalkeeper position will likely be bequested to Sean Milligan '09. However, the Big Green also added two top-notch keepers to its roster in recruiting Morgan Livermore and Lyman Missimer IV.

Livermore has recorded 28 shutouts in three years of starting as a goalkeeper in high school. In his senior year alone, the 6'4" keeper shut out his opposition 15 times en route to a .40 goals allowed average for the season.

Yet in order to contribute to Dartmouth's cause, Livermore knows he must step his game up to the next level.

"Everything is going to be on a completely different level," Livermore said. "Right now we're playing against high school kids who for the most part aren't as developed, both physically or mentally. The kids that make it to the next level are those who have made it both physically and mentally. Everyone is going to have to raise their game a lot just to make it and to succeed."

Missimer has an impressive athletic resume of his own and seeks to follow in his father's legacy at Dartmouth. His father, Lyman Missimer III '79 was an All-Ivy League keeper during his time in the Big Green uniform.

The Big Green only recruited one true forward. Daehyun An will be the sole addition to the front line, as fellow recruit Andrew Olson will likely split time between forward and midfield. Aaron Gaide, J.R. Keeve and Brendan Lane comprise the other additions to Dartmouth's midfield line.

The 2006 Big Green squad (6-8-3, 3-3-1 Ivy) will begin its quest to return to more prosperous times next September. With the help of the incoming class, the team looks to return to its glory days of the 2005 season when it qualified for the NCAA tournament and advanced to the quarterfinals.