The Big Green held nearly every statistical edge, but could not take advantage of their opportunities and allowed Sacred Heart to sit back and defend a late first-half goal.
The Big Green outshot the Pioneers (2-4-1, 0-0 NEC) by a 14-4 margin, and Dartmouth had an 8-0 advantage in corner-kick opportunities.
The loss Friday was the Big Green's first since early September.
Dartmouth (5-2, 0-0 Ivy) had several opportunities throughout the first half, with its best opportunity coming on a Maarten van Ess '12 header, with a follow-up shot on the rebound by Lucky Mkosana '12 and another shot attempt by van Ess.
"We just didn't play up to our potential," co-captain Craig Henderson '09 said. "The games are always going to be close like this, so when you play below your potential, you get losses like this."
Sacred Heart's Jason Tessitore provided the game's lone goal in the 41st minute off an assist by Lusiano Dadario. Tessitore took the cross and put it in the right corner past goalie Sean Milligan '09.
"We had played okay for most of the half, but we had a sort of defensive nightmare for a minute and they managed to take advantage and score a goal," Henderson noted.
Henderson added that with that goal, Sacred Heart could just sit back and bunker down, and it turned out to just be one of those frustrating days when Dartmouth could not seem to get the pieces to fall into place for a scoring opportunity.
The second half started off slow but Dartmouth did its best to ramp up the pressure. The Big Green controlled much of the half and in the last ten minutes managed to land several good looks. The flurry started with a header by van Ess in the 77th minute, and Henderson had his chance on the rebound blocked by the Pioneer defense. Van Ess nearly tied it on the ensuing loose ball, but Sacred Heart netminder Matt Jones managed to save the goal. Nick Pappas '12 had his shot miss wide, and the Sacred Heart backline was finally able to clear the ball toward midfield.
The Pioneers managed to hang on to the win, despite their four yellow cards and the Big Green's shot advantage for the match.
Pioneer goalies Jones had four saves on the day. The Pioneers' goal was the only shot Dartmouth's Milligan faced.
The defeat was Dartmouth's first since its 2-1 loss against then-No. 8 Notre Dame on Friday, Sept. 5, in South Bend, Ind., to open the season. Over the course of the following four-game winning streak, the team jumped from being unranked to 17th in the national polls.
Now Dartmouth faces the pressure of being the favorite against most of its opponents as Ivy League competitions begins next weekend.
"We need to start winning away games which we are favored to win," Henderson said. "The Ivy League is pretty competitive, so we need to step up and start winning those games. Then we can take care of business at home."
Following Friday's defeat, the Big Green downed San Diego State at Burnham Field in Hanover, 1-0, on Sunday afternoon. Dartmouth opens league play against Princeton on Saturday, Oct. 4 at 4 p.m. in Princeton, N.J.
