Giudicelli's Winner Sends Dartmouth Men Past New Mexico, 1-0

Saturday, September 25

Hanover, N.H.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

New Mexico

Giudicelli's Winner Sends Dartmouth Men Past New Mexico, 1-0

9/25/2010 9:26:00 PM | Men's Soccer

By: Dartmouth

BOXSCORE

HANOVER, N.H. - Senior defender Bryan Giudicelli celebrated his birthday in style, scoring the game-winner in the 81st minute to lead the Dartmouth men's soccer team past New Mexico, 1-0 in front of 1,725 fans at Burnham Field tonight.

Giudicelli's goal came amidst a scramble in the box after a corner kick from the left side by sophomore Kevin Dzierzawski (Oakland Twp., Mich.). It marked the second time in as many games that Dzierzawski had assisted Giudicelli for a goal.

Dartmouth (4-2) got the key victory over New Mexico (3-2-2), which ranked 25^th in this past week's Soccer America poll, but was not in the NSCAA poll.

Dartmouth held a 13-8 shot advantage in a game that featured a lot of attacking play as the teams spent little time in midfield, each trying to get the ball in the other's defensive end. To that end, New Mexico had seven corner kicks to Dartmouth's five.

Sophomore goalie Sean Donovan (Burr Ridge, Ill.) made three saves to earn the shutout while Justin Holmes had a solid game for New Mexico as well with five stops.

The first half of the game was extremely balanced, with Dartmouth taking six shots to New Mexico's five. The Big Green pressured from the early goings of the game including a strike that went just high from Lucky Mkosana (Bulawayo, Zimbabwe) and two corner kicks in the 13^th minute. Donovan had his first dangerous action in the 20^th when he beat New Mexico's Lance Rozeboom in a footrace to preserve a goal.

Senior Aaron Gaide (Avon, Conn.) got in on the action in the 32^nd minute after Mkosana sent a great ball into the box for him. He connected with a diving header but sent the ball just high. He had another near miss a minute later in a footrace with Holmes but got to the ball second in what might have been a sure goal.

Donovan preserved the shutout late in the first half with a great play after a scramble off a New Mexico corner kick. Donovan had been knocked down but got back to his feet in traffic to snag the loose ball.

The Big Green came out high energy in the second half and was gunning for a goal from the opening whistle. Mkosana fired one into the box off an Andrew Olsen (Norwell, Mass.) corner kick in the 58^th but it was blocked by a Lobo defender. In the 62^nd minute, Donovan picked off a New Mexico corner and punted it nearly three-quarters of the way down the field for a streaking Mkosana but the defense collapsed on him.

The teams had to put the action aside for more than 20 minutes after a New Mexico player was injured in the 73^rd minute and had to be tended to. Following the delay, Dartmouth picked up the energy level and it was not long before Giudicelli got the game-winner in the 81^st.

The Lobos pressured and battled to get the equalizer in the last nine minutes, including a dangerous look off a corner kick by Josh Caffey that went just high. The Big Green got some late possessions to burn the clock and held on for the shutout.

Dartmouth's senior-laden backline of Giudicelli, Walker Linares (Santa Cruz, Calif.), Teo Larsson-Sax (Kalmar, Sweden) and Brendan Lane (Southport, Conn.) held tight to help Donovan keep the clean sheet.

Dartmouth will be back in action this Wednesday, Sept.29 on the road for a 3 p.m. start at UMass.