Dartmouth Men Blank Brown in Critical Ivy Contest, 2-0

Boxscore

HANOVER, N.H. ? A boisterous Burnham Field sellout crowd witnessed the Dartmouth men's soccer team move into first place in the Ivy League with a 2-0 win over Brown tonight.

Well, first place for the night.

All eyes will be on Rhodes Field in Philadelphia at 7:30 tomorrow night where Penn (4-1-1 Ivy) hosts Harvard (5-1-0 Ivy) with the Ivy title on the line. Dartmouth (11-5-1, 5-1-1 Ivy) sits in first place alone with 16 points though the rest of the Ivy field will shake out tomorrow. Penn has 13 points while Harvard has 15. A Harvard win gives the Crimson the title outright while a Penn win puts the Big Green as co-champs with the Quakers. A Penn-Harvard tie has the Big Green and the Crimson tied for the Ivy title.

Regardless of who gets the Ivy's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, Dartmouth sits confident that it will receive a bid, given its solid record, schedule and current RPI rating of 21st in the nation.

Tonight's game was broadcast live nationally as the NSCAA Game of the Week on Fox Soccer Channel and the Big Green and the fans did not disappoint their national audience. Sophomore Andrew Olsen (Norwell, Mass.) provided the eventual game-winner in just the 19th minute while Sean Milligan recorded his sixth shutout of the season and 17th of his career. He is now just one clean sheet shy of Rowan Anders '07 career mark of 18.

Brown's first real threat came in the eighth minute as the Bears systematically moved up the field and Nick Elenz-Martin crossed the ball into the box for Austin Mandel. Mandel snagged the ball but lost his footing before he could get a shot off.

The Big Green countered with a similar fate, though Maarten van Ess (Marlborough, Mass.) nearly caught Bears' goalkeeper Paul Grandstrand off his line but the keeper snagged the ball.

Freshman sensation Lucky Mkosana (Bulawayo, Zimbabwe) got the crowd on its feet for the first time in the 12th minute when he outran the Brown defense then beat two defenders on the right side. Mkosana played keepaway with the Bears and fired a perfect cross into the box but the Brown defense headed it out.

The Big Green broke through in the 19th minute when Olsen fired an amazing off balance strike past Grandstrand. He got a feed from classmate Andrew Gaide (Avon, Conn.) and his shot skipped just off the foot of a Brown defender to give the Big Green a 1-0 lead.

Dartmouth nearly added to its lead seven minutes later with a dangerous sequence in which Austin Bowers (Old Greenwich, Conn.) had a close-range shot saved and the Brown defense blocked Mkosana's rebound attempt. The Bears had their best chance of the half when Sean Rosa received a cross and fired from just inside the box but Dartmouth goalkeeper Sean Milligan (Westport, Conn.) was there for the point-blank save.

The Big Green wasted little time in the second half as Mkosana broke through the defense in the 48th minute and had a clean look at goal but Grandstrand made a nice sliding save.

The Bears first attack of the half came in the 53rd minute when the extra pass actually proved their downfall as Austin Mandel finally got his foot on it but Milligan was perfectly positioned for the save. Just minutes later Brown's Jon Okafor managed to get his head on a looping cross but it went just wide.

The Burnham Field faithful got what they'd been asking for all night when Mkosana made one of his trademark runs and came through to put the Big Green ahead 2-0. He timed his run perfectly to avoid the offsides flag as he burst through the Brown defense. He faked out and jumped over Grandstrand before scoring his 11th goal of the season with a wide open net.

Dartmouth somehow survived a frantic Brown scramble in the box in the 75th minute when the Bears were just inches from getting on the scoreboard. Sophomore back Bryan Giudicelli (Emerald Hills, Calif.) slid in on the goal line and cleared the ball out to stop the Brown threat.

Milligan was poised for another big play and made a leaping stop but it was for not as Brown was called offsides on the play.

Brown kept pushing late into the game but was unable to break through. T.J. Thompson had a good look in the 85th minute when he fired from the left side but his shot went just wide.

The Big Green held out for the 2-0 win, outshooting the Bears just 6-5 in a game mostly contested in the midfield. Milligan finished with two saves while Grandstrand had three stops.

Dartmouth now waits to see the results tomorrow night and will learn its NCAA fate on Monday evening. More information about the selection show to come.

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