San Diego State Escapes Dartmouth with Last Minute Goal

Sunday, September 6

Hanover, N.H.

11:00 a.m.

Dartmouth College

San Diego State

San Diego State Escapes Dartmouth with Last Minute Goal

9/6/2009 1:45:00 PM | Women's Soccer

By: Dartmouth

Boxscore

Hanover, N.H. – The Dartmouth women's soccer team dropped a 1-0 heartbreaker to San Diego State this afternoon, with the Aztecs scoring the winner in the final minute of regulation.

It was a tale of two halves, with Dartmouth (1-1) getting the bulk of its scoring opportunities in the first and San Diego State (3-2-1) controlling tempo in the second. San Diego State's Cat Walker netted the winner with just 42 seconds left to play with a shot from outside the 18. Walker fired an arcing shot that hit off the crossbar and goalie Colleen Hogan (Houston, Texas) misjudged the hard rebound and the ball broke the goal line for the score.

Dartmouth furiously counterattacked but there was not enough time on the clock to get an equalizer. Overall, the Big Green outshot the Aztecs 10-6 including a 5-1 advantage in the first half.

The Big Green's back line had impressive plays to keep the Aztecs from getting off shots throughout the day including an early clearance in the 12th minute. San Diego State's Megan Jurado came down the right side wide open and sent the ball in but Thea Sutton (San Rafael, Calif.) bumped it off and Erin Fleischli (San Mateo, Calif.) cleared it out.

Dartmouth had real threat 10 minutes later when senior Becky Poskin (Leawood, kan.) came streaking down the right side, beat her defender, turned and fired by SDSU's Aubree Southwick made a nice save.

Though it was a midfield battle for much of the first, Dartmouth kept the pressure on, allowing just one shot by the Aztecs and constantly testing the defense. Just before the half, Myra Sack (Wynnewood, Pa.) played the ball up to Peyton Tata (Virginia Beach, Va.), who pulled Southwick off her line but the keeper somehow scrambled to get a hand on the ball.

San Diego State kept a rotation of players in and out in the second half and managed to make it a more even period, with each team taking five shots. The Aztecs pressured the Big Green from the start, forcing the midfield and back line to retreat with their direct play.

In the 65th minute Walker found herself breaking away past the Big Green defense and looking at an open shot before Fleischli came streaking in with a nice tackle to clear the ball. Just over a minute later Sack nearly had a goal for Dartmouth but Southwick made a stop to preserve the shutout.

San Diego State's attack was furious in the final five minutes and Dartmouth struggled to get the ball out of its own defensive half. Hogan remained calm and made some nice plays including picking off a free kick in the 84th minute. Both teams were in a scramble in the seconds before Walker's game-winner and the attack paid off with the rebound goal.

Southwick made four saves for Aztecs while Hogan had two stops for the Big Green.

Dartmouth now embarks on six-straight road games including back-to-back tournament weekends first at the University of Virginia on Sept. 11-13 and then out west to the Oregon State Classic (Sept. 18-20). Dartmouth takes on Seton Hall on Friday, Sept. 11 at 3 p.m. in Charlottesville.