Four Second-Half Goals Send Dartmouth Men to 4-1 Win

Saturday, September 4

Hanover, N.H.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

Holy Cross

Four Second-Half Goals Send Dartmouth Men to 4-1 Win

9/4/2010 9:12:00 PM | Men's Soccer

By: Dartmouth

Boxscore

HANOVER, N.H. - The Dartmouth men's soccer team used a big second-half performance to dispatch Holy Cross, 4-1, in the season opener at Burnham Field.

More than 1200 fans turned out to see the Big Green open the 2010 season and after a scoreless first half, Dartmouth (1-0) had the crowd on its feet with four goals in the second.

Though Dartmouth did not get on the board in the first half, the Big Green had plenty of dangerous scoring chances, forcing Holy Cross (0-2) goalkeeper Evan Polanik into five saves in an impressive half. Senior Daniel Keat (Wellington, New Zealand) had a great shot from close range in the 12^th minute but Polanik turned on dime to make the save.

Polanik made another diving save in the 30^th minute off a great shot by Andrew Olsen (Norwell, Mass.) in the 30^th. He stopped a long-range offering by Aaron Gaide (Avon, Conn.) minutes later.

The second half was a scoring frenzy with a combined five goals in 45 minutes. Senior defender Donnie Surdoval (Sparta, N.J.) got things started in the 50^th minute with a nice touch in the box off a ball from Lucky Mkosana (Bulawayo, Zimbabwe) to make it 1-0. Holy Cross nearly responded right after the restart with an attempt that went just over the crossbar. The Crusaders had another chance in the 57^th minute with a long ball off a free kick by Sean Donovan (Burr Ridge, Ill.) was confident in goal to stop any challenge.

Dartmouth took a 2-0 lead in the 61^st minute with another good looking goal this time from Olsen. He one-timed a shot in the air off a feed from Austin Bowers (Old Greenwich, Conn.). The Big Green was up 3-0 eight minutes later when Lucky stole the ball from his defender and fired to the far post where the ball nicked the post and popped in past a diving Polanik.

Holy Cross got on the board in the 75^th minute with a nice breakaway goal. The Crusaders had a two-on-one play when Jon Werth brought the ball down the left side and sent it across to Kevin O'Connell, who beat Donovan with a goal to the right side. Junior Adam Rice (Manalapan, N.J.) made a nice play to head out a Holy Cross free kick just minutes later.

Dartmouth put the exclamation point on the win in the 88^th minute when junior Maarten van Ess (Marlborough, Mass.) scored after being in the game for just two minutes. Keat had fired a shot off the crossbar and van Ess was there for the rebound goal. Holy Cross almost scored after the restart when Tommy Uttaro sent a sure-fire goal off the far post.

The Big Green dominated the game with a 19-5 shot advantage and six corner kicks to Holy Cross' two. Donovan made two saves for Dartmouth while Polanik finished with six saves for the Crusaders.

Dartmouth is back in action next weekend when it hosts the Dartmouth Classic, starting the tournament against San Diego on Friday, Sept. 10 at 7:00 p.m.