South Bend, Ind., the location for the Big Green's second round game, recorded winds of 15 mph and gusts over 20 mph. Dartmouth won the coin toss and decided to play with the wind for the first half, leading to a 13-7 shooting advantage.
"We carried the play the first half," head coach Jeff Cook said. "We should have had one or two more goals."
The Big Green set the tone in the first minute, as forward Lucky Mkosana '12 put a shot on goal and made another attempt two minutes later. Despite a few close calls from both teams, the scoreboard remained blank going into the second half.
Notre Dame took advantage of the wind at their backs and put two shots on goal in the first 15 minutes, both of which were successfully blocked by goalkeeper Lyman Missimer '11.
"We knew it was going to be a difficult game," Cook said. "Notre Dame is one of the best."
The first goal came in the 64th minute when Mkosana collided with Notre Dame's keeper at the top of the box and the ball rebounded. Captain Andrew Olsen '11 fired the rebound into an open goal from 25 yards out.
The Fighting Irish maintained a 25-22 shot advantage over the Big Green and a 15-7 advantage in
corner kicks. Missimer helped fight the Irish away from the scoreboard by notching a total of 12 saves on the evening.
In the 73rd minute, Notre Dame sophomore Dillon Powers scored from the top right corner to tie up the game. Notre Dame surged through the end of the second half, outshooting Dartmouth 18-8.
"We had an outstanding defense in the second half," Cook said.
Cook credited midfielders Austin Bowers '11 and Dan Keat '10 as well as defenders Bryan Giudicelli '11 and Nick Pappas '12 for wielding the team's strong second-half defensive performance.
"Dan is a tremendous leader in midfield, first-class, and in my opinion showed why he is one of the best midfielders in Division I," Cook said.
Olsen scored both goals for the Big Green, with the game-winning shot coming in right at the end of overtime at the 99th minute.
"It was a fantastic team victory," Cook said, "I am so proud of the players for winning such a high level game and so proud to represent Dartmouth."
The Big Green received an at-large bid to the Championship after Dartmouth's 1-0 victory over Brown University in the final Ivy League game and being the third-ranked Ivy team overall. The Big Green then went on to beat No.11 Monmouth 4-1 in the first round.
"It is a coaching clich but we are going to focus on the task at hand," Cook said, "We do believe in ourselves."
Dartmouth will play No.8 University of California, Los Angeles on Nov. 28 in the third round of the NCAA Championship.
Players could not be reached for comment by press time.
