Dartmouth (7-4-3, 3-1-1 Ivy) has played in overtime four times this season, but had not tied a game since its Sept. 11 matchup against the University of South Florida. Although the Big Green scored the game's first goal, Harvard (2-10-2, 0-4-1 Ivy) answered Dartmouth with its own tally just a few minutes later.
Kevin Dzierzawski '13 piloted the Big Green's offense with four of the team's 13 shots. Pat Murray '14 and co-captains Lucky Mkosana '12 and Nick Pappas '12 took two shots each.
In the 24th minute, Dzierzawski received the ball in the midfield and attacked the space in front of him. He made enough room to take a shot and, firing from 25 yards out, had his ball deflected into the net.
Dartmouth did not hold the lead for long, however, as Harvard tied the game just seven minutes later. Freshman Hiroki Kobayashi tracked down a long pass towards the goal from sophomore Eric Slingerland and redirected the ball just out of reach of Dartmouth goaltender Noah Cohen '14.
The Big Green got off three shots in the final minutes of the first half. Coming out of the locker room after the break, Harvard found a similar offensive surge and struck the post five minutes into the second half.
One of Dartmouth's best chances of the second half came off of a header by Pappas that the Harvard senior goalie Austin Harms stretched to stop.
The Crimson looked especially dangerous during the first overtime period, taking three shots in only five minutes. The teams combined for just two shots in the second overtime, and the match ended in a tie.
The two teams fought aggressively throughout the match and racked up a combined 33 fouls.
Cohen was again crucial to the Big Green's success, making seven stops and helping to extinguish 10 Harvard corner kick attempts.
Mkosana said that although poor weather conditions affected the game, the team was still disappointed with the result.
"The weather was really bad," Mkosana said. "It was windy and snowy starting in the second half so we had to adjust to play with that. It took a lot out of us and it is unfortunate that we ended up tying again. We knew our game plan and stuck to it but gave up a goal."
With only two weeks left in League play, Mkosana said each match is important if Dartmouth is to win the League.
"We really wanted to win so it was very frustrating," he said. "We feel we can still win the Ivies but the results of other team's games matter now, too. The tie will affect our position for the NCAA tournament more than for the League." In a break from conference action, Dartmouth plays the University of New Hampshire in Durham, N.H., on Tuesday. The team then plays first-place Cornell (8-1-4, 3-0-1 Ivy) on Saturday evening in Hanover. Mkosana called the game "big" for the team's Championship efforts.
Mkosana added that the team needs to improve in specific areas this week in order to be ready for the two games.
"We will train [Sunday] and Monday for Tuesday's game, take Wednesday off and then use Thursday and Friday to prepare for Cornell," he said. "Hopefully it stops snowing so we can get out on the field to work on our shape, finishing, defending and [setting] pieces."
