Men's Soccer Tops William & Mary, Claims Stihl Classic Title

Sunday, September 16

Norfolk, Va.

12:00 p.m.

Dartmouth College

William and Mary

Men's Soccer Tops William & Mary, Claims Stihl Classic Title

9/16/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer

By: Dartmouth

Boxscore

Norfolk, Va. - The Dartmouth men's soccer team extended its unbeaten streak to four games with a 2-1 victory over William & Mary to claim the title at the Stihl Classic at Old Dominion.

Dartmouth moves to 3-1-1 and is unbeaten in its last four games and William and Mary falls to 2-3.

“Five games into it and we are off to a great start,” said Head Coach Jeff Cook. “This was a very determined performance by our players and I am pleased to see us getting goals from our forwards.”

The Big Green took hold of the game early when freshmen Andrew Olsen (Norwell, Mass.) scored his second career goal in the fourth minute of the contest. Olsen picked up the ball at the far post off a feed from senior Mike Ordonez (Coral Gables, Fla.) and nailed a left-footed finish.

William and Mary made things interesting with a goal in the 29th minute when Nathaniel Baako found Alan Koger on a breakaway and Koger beat Dartmouth junior goalkeeper Sean Milligan (Westport, Conn.).

The Tribe made good on its lone shot attempt of the half as the Big Green used its early momentum to hold a 7-1 advantage in shots for the period.

“We played very well early in this game and I would have like to see us seize the advantage to score when we were up early. William and Mary took our momentum away when we let them score in the first half,” said Cook.

The Big Green responded well in the second half and took the lead as Olsen came through in the clutch again, this time as the passer. He picked up the ball about 40 yards out from the goal and played a pass behind the Tribe's defense to junior Craig Henderson (Wellington, New Zealand) who scored a one-on-one goal in the 62nd minute, his third of the season and second game-winner.

Dartmouth held on for the 2-1 win and was bolstered by yet another impressive performance in goal by Milligan, who made his only save late in the game to preserve the victory. Cook credited him with solid ball distribution throughout the game.

Craig Henderson took home Tournament MVP honors and was joined on the All-Tournament Team by Olsen, Milligan and senior defender Tom Lobben (Glen Head, N.Y.)

The Big Green returns home to Hanover to host the Dartmouth Classic Tournament this weekend featuring St. Francis (Pa.), Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Yale. The Big Green takes on Milwaukee on Friday night at 7:00 p.m.at Burnham Field.