Dartmouth Shuts Out Oregon State with O?Dea's Overtime Winner

Sunday, September 21

Hanover, N.H.

11:00 AM

Dartmouth College

Oregon State

Dartmouth Shuts Out Oregon State with O?Dea's Overtime Winner

9/21/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer

By: Dartmouth

Boxscore

HANOVER, N.H. - Sunday, Sept. 21, 2008

Dartmouth Shuts Out Oregon State in Overtime on O'Dea's Winner

HANOVER, N.H. - Dartmouth rookie Aly O'Dea (Irvine, Calif.) capped a solid week with her first collegiate goal to give the women's soccer team a 1-0 win over Pac-10 foe Oregon State (5-3) this afternoon at Burnham Field.

The game marked the second overtime win of the week for the Dartmouth women (3-2), who put forth another solid team effort. The Big Green was knocking on the door all game and dominated offensively, outshooting OSU 16-6, but Oregon State goalkeeper Colleen Boyd had a tremendous outing and made nine saves to keep her team in the game. It took 96 minutes but Dartmouth finally cracked her when O'Dea slipped a ball past her after a feed from junior Myra Sack (Wynnewood, Pa.). Sack was all over the field in a solid performance that culminated with her second game-winning overtime assist of the week.

Dartmouth kept the Beavers on their heels defensively for the first 30 minutes of the game, consistently attacking the goal and forcing Boyd to make five first-half saves. The Big Green had some near misses on great crosses but was just seconds off on a few headers.

Oregon State rallied to close the half with great energy. Its first real threat of the game came in the 32nd minute when Julie Arrendondo fired from 30 yards out with a great arc but Dartmouth keeper Laurel Peak (Redding, Conn.) timed her jump perfectly to avoid the ball slipping over her head. Dartmouth countered just over a minute later when Katie Davis (San Marino, Calif.) sent a great ball into the box but Becky Poskin's (Leawood, Kan.) header was just off the mark. Poskin gave the OSU defense fits all day, playing physically and winning a host of one-on-one plays.

Peak made a diving save to preserve the shutout late in the half after Brittney Sheffield pulled the trigger on a very hard shot from 25 yards. The Big Green outshot the Beavers, 7-4, on the half and the teams went into halftime scoreless.

The second half was more of the same with the Big Green making some amazing attempts only to see Boyd come up big in goal consistently for her team. Junior Kelsey Quick (Bernardsville, N.J.) paced the offense from the right side with consistently great runs up the sideline. Dartmouth peppered Boyd early and often and she had a nice stop in the 60th minute off a rocket from the right from Sack.

Oregon State mounted a counterattack during the next five minutes and junior center back Thea Sutton (San Rafael, Calif.) came up with two huge one-on-one stops in the box to keep the Beavers from getting a shot off. Peak made her only save of the half in the 73rd minute off another attempt from Sheffield. That was one of just two shots in the half by Oregon State while Dartmouth took seven. The Big Green went down attacking as the seconds ticked off in regulation but carried its momentum into overtime.

Dartmouth's determination was palpable as the overtime period started. Davis, Quick and Poskin did some nice work to keep the ball in Oregon State's defensive half almost exclusively. After a failed attempt in the box, the ball came back out to Quick about 25 yards out who turned and fired but missed just high.

The efforts finally paid off when, after a scramble in the box, Sack tipped the ball to O'Dea whose shot went just past the reach of Boyd to win the game at 96:24.

Dartmouth's backline of Sutton, Melisa Krnjaic (Washington, D.C.), Whitney Odden (Bozeman, Mont.) and Emily Forline (Bethesda, Md.) played a great game in support of Peak who made five saves to secure her second shutout of the season.

The Big Green is back at it on Thursday when it heads to Durham, N.H. to face instate rival New Hampshire at 4:00 p.m. The Ivy League season opens with a bang on Sunday when Dartmouth hosts Brown (2-2-2), who recently knocked off #11 Penn State and played #1 UCLA to a scoreless tie. Kickoff for that game is at 2:30 p.m.