On a beautiful fall afternoon in Hanover, the Dartmouth men's soccer team sent the crowd home happy with a 1-0 conference win over Yale on Saturday.
Dartmouth co-captain Craig Henderson '09 delivered the game-winning tally, his fourth goal of the season. After a physical 90 minutes, Dartmouth prevailed to remain undefeated in Ivy play, improving to 6-3-1 overall (1-0-1 Ivy).
The Big Green is now third in the Ivy standings, behind Brown University and Harvard University, who are tied in first place with two Ivy wins apiece. Yale University(4-5-1, 0-2-0 Ivy) is tied for seventh place with Cornell in the standings.
Coming off a tough road loss to regional rival University of Vermont Wednesday night, the Big Green was clearly fired up and came out running on all cylinders, applying pressure to the Yale defense throughout the first half.
Head coach Jeff Cook admitted that after the Vermont game, the team was coming out looking to get its confidence back.
"When things are going well and then you take a hit, it can be really tough to get that momentum back," Cook said on Saturday. "But I think we did that today."
Dartmouth's first good chance came in the seventh minute, when Andrew Olsen '11 sent a free kick into the box, but Henderson's well-timed header missed just high of the net.
Yale immediately came back and took a shot from in the box that just missed the goal before committing a foul. Dartmouth kept the pressure up, and again it was Henderson almost connecting on a highlight-reel play. After the ball bounced around the box, Henderson flipped it to himself and fired a point blank-shot in mid air, but Yale goalkeeper Travis Chulick was there for the impressive save.
The teams continued to battle through the half, with Dartmouth getting another great opportunity in the 42nd minute. The corner kick from Olsen bounced around the box until Dartmouth's Donnie Surdoval '10 drilled a shot that was blocked and cleared out.
"We really came out playing with a lot of belief and had a great start," Cook said. "We could have had a couple goals early, which would have stabilized us, but we just kept pressing and pressing."
The Big Green would not let up coming out of the break, as Dartmouth attacked Yale relentlessly for the second half.
"I felt that if we kept the tempo up in the second half, Yale wouldn't be able to cope," Cook said. "The way we looked at it was that we basically had 45 minutes, plus overtime, to win the game."
As it turned out, Dartmouth would only need 30 minutes to get a victory against the Bulldogs. The Big Green finally broke through in the 75th minute after drawing a free kick in Yale territory. Again, it would be a perfectly placed free kick from Olsen 30-yards out that set up the goal. Henderson took advantage and beat Yale's Chulick with a diving header for the game-winner.
The Bulldogs did have a chance at an equalizer in the 81st minute, when Yale's Aden Farina-Henry fired a point-blank shot that was blocked by Derek Stenquist '10. The Big Green held on for nine more minutes and walked away with its first Ivy victory of the season.
Dartmouth finished with a decisive shot advantage, out-shooting Yale 12-6. Goalkeeper Sean Milligan '09 only needed one save to notch his fourth shutout of the season.
Unfortunately, the team will not have much time to enjoy its victory, as it now travels south to face No. 13 University of Connecticut.
"This is what we would call an opportunity game," Cook said. "If you end up in a situation down the road where you're looking for an at-large bid, these are signature wins against a highly rated program like UConn, on the road."
The Big Green will kick off at the University of Connecticut at 7 p.m. on Wednesday in Storrs, Conn., before returning home to face Ivy rival University of Pennsylvania on Saturday.
