The Dartmouth men's soccer team nabbed a victory over Columbia Saturday evening, beating out the Lions 2-1. Dani Rothenberg '09 scored two goals to lead Dartmouth to the win.
With the win this past weekend, Dartmouth improves its overall record to 8-2-2. The Big Green is now 2-0-1 in Ivy League play and moves into second place in the league standings behind Brown (3-0-0). Columbia (0-3-0 Ivy) drops to last place as its record falls to 2-8-1 overall.
The Homecoming match was a well-earned win for the Big Green.
"Columbia was a solid team. We came in as the favorites but they gave us a good game and we stepped up," Rothenberg said.
The Lions held the game scoreless for the first 20 minutes. The Big Green, eager to get an early lead, peppered Columbia's goal keeper but could not seem to find the back of the net. However, in the 22nd minute, Rothenberg capitalized on a rebound shot from Nick Christman '08 to put Dartmouth up 1-0.
"My first score in a home game, it was great," Rothenberg said.
As the half continued, Dartmouth became more and more aggressive with long-range shots. Midfielder Daniel Keat '10 hit two rockets from well outside the box, one of which missed just wide and careened off the post.
"It was a reaction to Columbia," Head Coach Jeff Cook said. "They defended deep and conceited us space. Keats and Olsen both had good shots."
Dartmouth continued to control the game as the first half wound down, but despite several good attempts, Dartmouth could not tally a second goal.
"We jumped ahead early but took it for granted," Rothenberg said. "We needed to put in our opportunities."
Down just a single goal, Columbia finally found its chance to even the score with two minutes left in the opening half. Lions' striker Tom Heinbockel volleyed a loose ball into Dartmouth's net, bring the game to 1-1.
"We were dominating the game, but we got complacent. To give him credit it was a good strike," Dartmouth keeper Sean Milligan '09 said. "It was a wake-up call."
Though the Big Green had controlled the ball for the majority of the half and held commanding shot lead, the game entered halftime tied at 1-1.
As the game resumed in the second half both sides had good shots, but no goals were scored until the 68th minute when a shot by Craig Henderson '09 slipped through the Columbia keeper's hands.
Rothenberg was the first to the ball and easily pushed it into the net for his second goal of the night.
"The team played well, I just finished the balls," Rothenberg said.
Dartmouth held onto its lead as the second half continued, but the Big Green could not seem to stretch its advantage and step out in front.
"We were being a little adventurous considering how big our lead was," Coach Cook said of the team's play.
Columbia threatened to even the score only once more in the half, but Milligan came up with the stop. Milligan had three saves on the night.
Dartmouth took the win 2-1 at the end of 90 minutes of play.
"It gives us good momentum going into this week," Rothenberg said.
Dartmouth plays a mid-week, non-conference game this coming Wednesday at Boston College followed by its next Ivy League game away at Harvard.
"It will be a huge game against Harvard," Milligan said. "And it would be great to get a win in a non-conference game to help our chances in the [NCAA] tournament."
Game time for the match at Boston College on Wednesday is set for 3 p.m. Dartmouth will then match-up against Harvard in Cambridge, Mass., at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday.
