Big Green Tops Quakers, 2-0, For First Ivy Win

Saturday, October 13

Philadelphia, Pa.

7:30 p.m.

Dartmouth College

Penn

Rothenberg Named Ivy League Player of the Week

Big Green Tops Quakers, 2-0, For First Ivy Win

10/13/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer

By: Dartmouth

Boxscore

Philadelphia - The Dartmouth men's soccer team picked up a critical Ivy League victory over Penn tonight, 2-0, with two different players scoring their first goal of the season.

Dartmouth moves to 7-2-2, 1-0-1 Ivy while Penn drops to 4-5-2, 1-1 Ivy. The Big Green is in the thick of what should shape up to be a thrilling race for the Ivy crown. Earlier in the day, #14 Brown knocked off preseason favorite #6 Harvard to shake things up.

"Any time you can win on the road in the Ivy League is satisfying and our guys gave a really solid performance tonight," said Head Coach Jeff Cook.

The Big Green got started early when junior Dani Rothenberg (Atlanta, Ga.) scored his first goal of the season off a feed from senior Nick Christman (Falmouth, Maine) in the 9th minute.

Penn stepped it up following the Rothenberg goal, firing off six shots in the first 20 minutes of play before the teams settled into a midfield battle.

Dartmouth sophomore Ben Salmon (Auburn, Wash.) had a chance to score on a breakaway with 10 minutes left in the half but Penn's Drew Healy made a nice save in goal to prevent an increased Big Green lead.

The Quakers had a few chances late in the half including a last-minute shot by Omid Shokoufandeh that Dartmouth goalkeeper Sean Milligan (Westport, Conn.) turned away.

Dartmouth took a 1-0 lead into the half while Penn held a 9-5 advantage in shots.

Another early half goal gave the Big Green a 2-0 lead when Matt Miller (Skillman, N.J.) beat Healy in the 51st minute off a pass from Rothenberg.

The Big Green's back line stifled and frustrated Penn throughout the balance of the half as the Quakers furiously tried to mount a comeback. Milligan came up big to preserve the shutout in the 86th minute when Healy sent a long punt up to Hobson who fired a shot at the 6-5 junior who made a nice stop. Cook was quick to praise Salmon on an impressive night defensively to help Dartmouth secure the shutout.

Each squad took four shots in the second half, with Penn holding a 13-9 advantage for the game.

Milligan finished with three saves to earn his seventh shutout of the season and has not yet allowed a goal in Ivy play. Healy had two stops for Penn.

Making his first start of the season and just the third of his career, Rothenberg recorded his first career multiple-scoring game with the goal and assist.

Dartmouth is back in action next Saturday, Oct. 20 when it hosts Columbia at 7:00 p.m. at Burnham Field.