Men's Soccer: Big Green triumphs, 4-2, in sloppy conditions

With passes skidding short on the wet grass, shots stopping in puddles on the field and goals slipping through the goalies’ gloves, the men’s soccer team (4-4 overall) played a different kind of game at Dartmouth (6-2-1) on Saturday evening.

“It was the worst field conditions I’ve ever played in,” senior defender Danny Steiner said. “We literally couldn’t pass the ball. It wasn’t really a soccer game.”

These conditions did not help the Tigers. The Big Green scored three goals in the final 15 minutes to defeat Princeton, 4-2, in its first Ivy League match of the season.

Dartmouth star forward and 2008 Ivy League Player of the Year Craig Henderson opened the game with a shot on goal, setting the tone for the entire first half. By halftime, the Big Green had taken 11 shots in comparison to only two from the Tigers.

“We dodged a few bullets in the first 25 to 30 minutes where Dartmouth could’ve easily scored a few goals,” head coach Jim Barlow ’91 said. “We got one lucky break when [junior goalkeeper] Sean Lynch had been beaten, but the shot stopped in a puddle before it crossed the line. The first 30 minutes were not very good for us.”

Dartmouth and Princeton swapped goals at the end of the first half, with both sides taking advantage of the sloppy play caused by the slippery conditions. Freshman defender Matt Sanner scored the first goal for the Tigers by edging around the diving keeper and sending the ball into the open net. When the halftime buzzer sounded, Princeton was relieved to get off the field and put itself back together.

“I think Dartmouth was just sharper in the first half, especially in terms of getting into spots early, playing balls into space, getting numbers first and getting dangerous,” Barlow said. “I thought we did a really good job of regrouping and coming out stronger in the second half.”

After a pair of missed chances for the Tigers, Dartmouth took advantage of a Princeton defensive breakdown to net a goal and go up, 2-1.

“It kind of came down to who was going to get the second goal,” Steiner said. “They scored, and the game changed after that.”

After Princeton’s second-half resurgence, the Big Green goal was a demoralizing moment.

“That was a pretty disappointing goal,” Barlow said. “Now we were down, 2-1, and we had to take a lot of chances and throw everything forward trying to tie.”

The Tigers’ efforts fell short, and the Big Green didn’t hold back, scoring two more times in just more than 10 minutes to build a dominating 4-1 lead.

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“It was very frustrating for us because we’d thought we’d turned the game around a little bit,” Barlow explained. “We’d done a much better job with some of their very dangerous guys up front, and we thought we were getting some of the second balls in the midfield and were doing a good job getting forward and getting dangerous ourselves.”

Junior defender Benjamin Burton managed to score in a scramble around the Dartmouth goal with less than a minute left on the clock, but this was too little, too late for the Tigers.

Dartmouth’s victory was a well-coordinated team effort, as four different players scored and two others helped out with assists.

“They have a really good combination of skill and athleticism on the attack,” Barlow said. “They’re very fast and strong on the attack, but they’re also very capable of putting together combinations, and they can dribble one-on-one. They’re definitely one of the better attacking teams that we’re going to face.”

As a silver lining for the Tigers, Princeton did a good job of shutting down the Big Green’s leading scorer, Daniel Keat, who has scored seven goals this season but did not record any on Saturday.

In such poor weather conditions, perhaps the toughest job is that of the goalie, who must block a wet ball with slippery gloves. Both goalies had a tough night: Lynch blocked five attempted shots out of nine, and Dartmouth goalkeeper Sean Donovan saved three out of five.

The Tigers are hoping for better weather and better results this Wednesday as they host Adelphi at Roberts Stadium. Adelphi has only lost one game this season, at the hands of No. 23 Brown. The Panthers are on a six-game winning streak and are currently receiving votes in the national poll.