The Big Green (5-4-3, 2-1-0 Ivy) is now tied with Brown University, Columbia University and Yale for second place in the Ivy League.
Co-captain Nick Pappas '12 said the win was signficant for the entire men's soccer program.
"The win shows the success Dartmouth soccer has had and the type of program our coach has been able to build over the last 10 years," Pappas said in an email to The Dartmouth. "We were lucky to hear from Paul Mott, a '79 soccer player and All-American, about what it means to play at Dartmouth before the Penn game. And it was really cool to see the links to the past that Dartmouth soccer has."
The Big Green came out firing at Rhodes Field and only took 14 minutes to find the back of the net. After an early shot by Kevin Dzierzawski '13 was blocked and an attempt by Adam Rice '12 went over the crossbar, Dzierzawski connected on a corner kick with teammate Maarten van Ess '12 in the box. Van Ess headed the ball into the far left netting to give Dartmouth the early lead.
"The players showed great character and produced an excellent performance to win a critical Ivy game," head coach Jeff Cook said. "Scoring first allowed us to play with confidence away from home." The Quakers wasted little time responding and tied the game in the 20th minute. Senior Christian Barreiro met a corner kick and knocked the ball beneath Big Green goalkeeper Noah Cohen '14.
The Big Green quickly retook the lead, however, when co-captain Lucky Mkosana '12 converted the team's first penalty kick of the season in the 21st minute. Dartmouth was awarded the penalty kick when Penn freshman goalkeeper Max Kurtzman knocked over an attacker who was going for a header in the box.
"Our player went in hard to get the ball and was knocked over," Mkosana said. "The call was one of those tough decisions for the referee to make and the Penn team was frustrated."
Dartmouth used a balanced offensive attack that was difficult to stop. Mkosana took four shots, Brian Joseff '14 took three shots and Dzierzawski took two.
"With the ball we were able to sustain more possession than in previous games and created several good scoring chances," Cook said.
The Big Green attempted five more shots in the second half while Penn took eight, but neither team capitalized. Cohen turned away four shots that came on frame to secure the win.
"We played pretty good and really wanted to go out and win the game," Mkosana said. "We had a week of practices where we were all very focused and worked hard. It was tough having a long bus ride and then training on Friday at Penn's facility but our mentality in the game was focused and we had good energy."
Pappas said the win was a stride in the right direction toward winning the League.
"Before the game we were 1-1 in the Ivy League and it was more or less a must-win game for us to keep our hopes of winning the Ivy League alive," he said. "They're a good passing team but not the biggest so we thought we'd be able to take advantage of that on set pieces and assert ourselves physically. I think the work we did as a team was a huge step for us and being able to stick to our game plan will be big for us as we continue this year."
Van Ess said the team must learn to adapt to its circumstances in order to continue its success this season.
"Our season hasn't gone perfectly to plan, but we dug in last night and got an important win, and now we're still in position to win the Ivy League," Van Ess said in an email to The Dartmouth.
The Big Green now has a week to prepare for its match against Columbia University on Saturday at Burnham Field. The Lions won last season's matchup against Dartmouth in New York, and Columbia is one of four teams tied for second place in the League.
"We've actually lost to Columbia for the last two years and so this is certainly a game we look forward to, as it will help position us for an Ivy League Championship as well as to get a big win during Homecoming weekend," Pappas said. "We've been doing really well in training the last few weeks, so as long as we continue to work hard in practice this next week we should be able to come out with a result against Columbia."
Mkosana said the team will amp up its intensity in practice to prepare for the matchup.
"I think we will do what we did last week in practice again and continue working on one v. one defending to get ready," Mkosana said. "Every game matters now and while it's great to win, we need to keep moving forward and play each team at our best from now on."
