#9 Virginia Slips By Dartmouth on Late Goal

Sunday, September 14

Charlottesville, Va.

2:00 PM

Dartmouth College

Virginia

Sack Headlines Dartmouth's Four All-Ivy Honorees

9/14/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer

By: Dartmouth

Boxscore

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. ? #9 Virginia (6-0-1) escaped with a 2-1 victory over the Dartmouth women's soccer team (1-2) by scoring with just over three minutes left on the clock to win the Virginia Nike Classic.

The ninth-ranked Cavaliers could not find a second answer to Dartmouth's defense until the 87th minute in hard-fought battle on a 91-degree day in Charlottesville. After Virginia got on the board early, the Big Green responded 10 minutes later and the teams were tied until the closing minutes.

“This was a great team effort today,” said a pleased head coach Angie Hind. “We had a game plan and followed it to perfection and honestly were able to play more than we thought we'd be able to. We played a lot of people today and it's a credit to those on the field.”

The Cavs flexed their muscles with an early goal by Kelly Quinn. Virginia was awarded a free kick and went for the quick restart while Dartmouth's defense was still getting set. The Cavaliers capitalized on that when Sarah Senty fired a shot that Dartmouth keeper Laurel Peak (Redding, Conn.) saved. The ball rebounded out to Quinn, however, and she beat Peak with the second attempt from 10 yards out at 11:14.

The Dartmouth women kept their heads despite trailing 1-0 and junior midfielder Myra Sack's (Wynnewood, Pa.) heads up play resulted in her first career goal. Virginia attempted to clear the ball out and Sack picked it off and fired a shot past Celeste Miles from 10 yards to tie it at 1-1.

The Big Green took just one more shot in the period as the Cavaliers held a 7-2 advantage heading into the break, but maintained the tie thanks to another big save by Peak in the closing minutes of the first.

The teams remained in a stalemate as the second half wore on, with both teams substituting liberally to combat the hot weather. In all, 18 Dartmouth players saw action in the game. Peak came up with two saves in a span of three minutes with the second coming at 71:11 to keep the Big Green in the game.

Dartmouth mounted a late attack and held the momentum to pressure the Cavs defense and nearly had a winner after Miles saved a shot by Sack and rookie Aly O'Dea (Irvine, Calif.) picked up the rebound but shot it just wide in the 77th minute. Virginia made it's last stand of the game count, when it scored a goal similar to its first in the 87th minute. Peak saved a shot by tournament MVP Lauren Alwine at 86:23 but Meghan Lenczyk picked up the loose ball and got around the defense to slide the winner past Peak seconds later.

“This was a complete contrast from our game on Friday and it was great to see us bounce back after that and after Virginia scored first,” said Hind. “I was thrilled with our defense and ability to create scoring chances against a very, very good team in Virginia.”

Virginia held on to take the 2-1 victory and remain undefeated on the season. Peak had a solid day in goal with six saves. The Cavaliers outshot the Big Green, 17-5. For their efforts, Sack and senior defender Emily Forline (Bethesda, Md.) were named to the all-tournament team.

Dartmouth will take its confidence into a Thursday game at Maine where it will look to snap its two-game losing streak against the Black Bears. Maine (2-0-4) has seen five of its six games so far go into double-overtime.