Andrew Olsen '11 notched the game-winning goal seven minutes into overtime to send the Big Green past the Wildcats in the team's final non-conference game of the season.
Dartmouth (9-5-1, 3-1-1 Ivy) dominated UNH (7-6-4) offensively in the win, as the Big Green continued to build its resum for the NCAA tournament. The Big Green out-shot the Wildcats, who have played six overtime games this season, 22-10.
UNH, however, got on the board first when in the third minute a Wildcat drew a foul in the Dartmouth box, earning a penalty shot.
UNH senior Kyle Urso took the kick, firing low, but Dartmouth keeper Sean Milligan '09 made a great save to his left. The ball rebounded to Urso, who put the ball past Milligan to get UNH on the board. It was Urso's fifth goal of the season.
The Wildcats had another shot on goal just a few minutes later, when UNH's Sean Coleman got the ball past the Dartmouth defense. His shot was saved by Milligan, but Dylan George got the rebound. Luckily for the Big Green, George sent his shot wide.
The Big Green, however, was quick to battle back. In the fourth minute, freshman superstar Lucky Mkosana '12 had a shot on goal that missed, sailing high.
Dartmouth also had a great opportunity in the 25th minute, when a Big Green corner kick found its way to midfielder Aaron Gaide '11. Unfortunately, Gaide's shot was saved by Wildcat keeper Chris Devine.
The Big Green men continued to put pressure on the UNH defense, putting another four shots on goal in the first half and out-shooting the Wildcats, 10-8.
With just minutes left in the first half, Mkosana fired from 20 yards out. His shot hit the crossbar, bounced down and then back up, almost passing the goal line but falling short.
Just after halftime, in the 48th minute, Dartmouth finally got on the board. Donnie Surdoval '10 converted on a header, assisted by Brendan Lane '11 and Gaide. It was Surdoval's third goal of the season.
Dartmouth continued its dominance throughout the rest of the half, out-shooting UNH, 9-1. Mkosana looked like he was going to score the go-ahead goal in the 60th minute as he took the ball upfield into UNH territory, but his shot missed just wide.
Austin Bowers '11 nearly had the game winner late in the match, but his shot missed as well. Bowers performed well off the bench, putting three shots on goal.
Neither team was able to convert on its opportunities, and the second half ended in a 1-1 tie, forcing sudden-death overtime.
The Big Green didn't wait long to put the game away. In the 97th minute, Olsen fired a high rocket from the top of the box past the leaping UNH keeper to win the game for Dartmouth. Olsen's goal was assisted by Mkosana and was his second score of the season.
"Overall, as a team, I think we played well," Mkosana said. "We were behind in the first half, but we came back in the second half with confidence, which is good. We supported each other and fought our way back. Even though we were down by one at the end of the first half, we came back to win the game."
Dartmouth finished its non-conference schedule with six wins and four losses. The Big Green's losses came against the University of Notre Dame, ranked No. 8 when the teams met, the University of Connecticut, No. 20 at the time of their meeting, the University of Vermont and Sacred Heart University. The Big Green has two Ivy League games left -- one at Cornell and one against Brown -- to finish out its season.
"We have to win at least 10 games to qualify for the NCAA playoffs," Mkosana said when talking about the team's goals for the rest of the season. "We have nine wins right now, so if we can win at Cornell this weekend, we'll qualify."
The Big Green returns to Ivy League competition this weekend, as it fights to remain in contention for the Ivy title.
Currently the Big Green sits in third behind the University of Pennsylvania (10-2-3, 4-1-0 Ivy) and Harvard (9-4-0, 4-1-0 Ivy) and will likely need to win each of its final games if it is to win its first Ivy title since 2005.
Penn and Harvard are currently tied for first place, but only Penn has the required 10 wins to reach the national tournament.
Harvard will face league bottom-feeder Columbia (3-11-1, 1-4-0 Ivy) this weekend at home, while Penn will face fifth-place Princeton (5-9-1, 2-2-1 Ivy) on the road.
Dartmouth will travel to Ithaca to face last-place Cornell (1-13-0, 0-5-0 Ivy) this Saturday, Nov. 8 at 7:00 p.m. On Saturday, fourth-place Brown (9-5-1, 3-2-0 Ivy) comes to Hanover to face off against the Big Green at 8:00 p.m. on Burnham Field. The game against Brown will be nationally televised by the FOX Soccer Channel.
