Men's Soccer Closes Regular Season With 1-0 Win Over Princeton

Boxscore

Hanover, N.H. - The Dartmouth men's soccer team won a critical battle with Princeton, 1-0 this evening at Burnham Field.

The victory was Dartmouth's 11th of the season in a game that had NCAA Tournament implications as the Big Green is fighting for an at-large bid.

“We are delighted with the win this was a difficult game to handle because we had a lot of pressure on us,” said Head Coach Jeff Cook. “I was pleased with the end of the first half to get the goal but we knew Princeton had a lot of talented attacking players and they threw everything at us in the second.”

The Big Green came out of the gates hot and dominated Princeton from the early goings. After three corner kicks in the first four minutes, Dartmouth settled into its offense and controlled the ball well in midfield though Princeton goalkeeper Joe Walter made seven saves to keep his team in the game.

Dartmouth finally broke through in the 30th minute when Daniel Keat (Wellington, New Zealand) sent a cross in for Dani Rothenberg (Atlanta, Ga.) who had his shot blocked. Craig Henderson was right there for the opportunistic rebound from point blank range to put the Green up 1-0.

The Big Green ended the half with a flurry, taking three corner kicks in the last minute but could not convert and took the 1-0 lead into the break after out-shooting the Tigers 13-1.

Princeton threw everything it had at Dartmouth in the second half, holding a 7-3 shot advantage. Dartmouth goalkeeper Sean Milligan (Westport, Conn.) made a great save in the 60th minute on a close range shot from Kyle McHugh to keep the Green ahead early on.

Dartmouth had two close calls in the second half with goalmouth scrambles that Milligan cleared up in the 66th minute and the final minute of the game.

The Big Green held on and Milligan made three saves to earn his ninth shutout of the season, breaking the school record for shutouts in a year. He is seventh all-time in the career category with 11.

Walter finished with eight saves in a solid effort for Princeton.

Dartmouth finished the regular season at 11-4-2 and second in the Ivy League at 5-1-1 while Princeton ended at 5-10-1, 3-4 Ivy.

The Big Green awaits the release of the NCAA Tournament field of 48 on Monday at 5:30 p.m. to find out its postseason fate.

“We look forward to NCAA selections on Monday knowing we are in a good spot,” noted Cook. “We hope the committee agrees that we have a strong team and I think we deserve to play at home in the tournament and I think we have the capability to advance in the tournament.”

Schedules