For the past few weeks the team has enjoyed a string of successes, including tournament wins at Old Dominion in Virginia and the Dartmouth Classic in Hanover. However, their victories came to an end last night.
The team traveled to Durham yesterday afternoon in hopes of continuing their winning streak, but was faced with a solid University of New Hampshire team.
"UNH played a good game and put us under pressure," Head Coach Jeff Cook said.
Cook also noted that a lack of concentration on the game at hand might have played a role in the loss, especially in the shadow of the team's first Ivy League game next weekend. "Perhaps last night we were looking forward to the Yale match," Cook said.
Distraction, however, was not the only issue. According to almost every source, Dartmouth simply didn't play up to the team's potential.
"The buildup we had just wasn't what we were looking for," Coach Cook said. "We just couldn't establish a pattern."
As the game kicked off, the Wildcats attacked quickly. UNH got off several shots in the first few minutes, and continued to pepper Dartmouth goalkeeper Sean Milligan '09. In the first half of the game Milligan managed to hold off UNH with a number of brilliant saves, which would account for six of his total 10 saves in the game.
"Sean had a very good game," Cook said. "He kept us in the match."
Despite his strong performance, Milligan could not stop a 53rd-minute goal by Chris Banks.
Pumi Maqubela '10 praised the Dartmouth goalie.
"The score should have been 3-0, but Milligan had a bunch of great saves. He had a huge game," Maqubela said.
The goal by Banks would remain the only score of the night.
Unlike its opponent, Dartmouth struggled throughout to put shots on net. Mike Ordonez '08, Tom Lobben '08, Matt Carroll '09, and Derek Stenquist '10 all made attempts at New Hampshire's net, but their shots were blocked early by Wildcat defenders. In 90 minutes of play, the Big Green managed only a single shot on goal, fired by striker Andrew Olsen '11 late in the second half.
With the loss, Dartmouth's record drops to 6-2-1 for the year. Wednesday's game at UNH does not count towards Dartmouth's league play record.
The Big Green will play its first Ivy League conference game this coming weekend at Yale. Game time is set for 4:30 p.m.
