Men's Soccer Travels to Brown with Ivy League Title in Mind

THIS WEEK
Saturday, Nov. 12 - at Brown (Providence, R.I.), 4:00 p.m.
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The Dartmouth men's soccer team (8-5-3, 4-1-1 Ivy League) heads to Providence, R.I., to close out the 2011 regular-season with a chance to clinch its ninth Ivy League title and its first since the 2008 season. The Big Green and Bears will kickoff at 4:00 p.m. at Brown's Stevenson Field.

BIG GREEN TIDBITS
This One is For All The Marbles - The Big Green will be playing for an Ivy League title and the Ivy League's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament when it travels to Brown for the final game of the 2011 regular season. Dartmouth and Brown are tied for first place in the current Ivy League standings while Columbia and Cornell are tied for second place. To make things even more intriguing, Columbia and Cornell will also play each other on Saturday.

Win, Baby Win - In order to clinch the 2011 Ivy League Championship, all Dartmouth needs to do is win. The Big Green is in control of their own destiny with both Cornell and Brown as the final two games on the Ivy League slate. Dartmouth already defeated Cornell (Nov. 5) and with a win over Brown will clinch the title. Should the Big Green and Bears tie, Dartmouth will need to have Cornell defeat Columbia. In that instance, Brown, Dartmouth and Cornell would all share the Ivy League tile and Dartmouth would get the automatic bid by way of a win over Cornell and a tie with Brown.

Lucky Makes His Mark - Senior forward Lucky Mkosana (Bulawayo, Zimbabwe) became Dartmouth's all-time leading scorer with his goal against Cornell (Nov. 5) in the 89th minute of action. Mkosana, who entered this season with 24 career goals, broke a record that stood since the 1950s. Additionally, the senior captain broke Dartmouth's points record and with his 79 career points is now Dartmouth's all-time points leader.

The Big Green Are Streakin' - After a challenging preseason slate, Dartmouth has been impressive since the start of Ivy League action. In its last 10 games, the Big Green has a 7-2-1 record and is undefeated in its last four Ivy League contests. Dartmouth's lone blemish in Ivy League action is a loss at Yale (Oct. 8). Dartmouth also fell to New Hampshire (Nov.1) in non-conference action.

Dzierzawski On A Roll - Junior midfielder Kevin Dzierzawski (Oakland Township, Mich.) picked up his fourth goal of the season against Cornell (Nov. 5). Dzierzawski has scored in each of Dartmouth's last two Ivy League contests and leads the team in assists with seven. The junior midfielder has tallied points in five of Dartmouth's six Ivy League contests.

Gaide Racks up the Assists - Senior midfielder Aaron Gaide (Avon, Conn.) made his presence felt in the midfield against Cornell (Nov. 5) with two assists. The senior recorded his first multiple assist game against the Big Red and gathered his fourth assist this season.

Big Green Pick up Win No. 500 - The Dartmouth men's soccer team picked up the program's 500th victory with its 2-1 win over Penn (Oct. 15). Currently, the Big Green has a 503-448-110 all-time record. Dartmouth is one of four Ivy League schools with at least 500 program wins.

Cook Approaching 100 Wins -- Head coach Jeff Cook entered the 2011 season with 89 career wins as Dartmouth head coach and is poised to become just the second coach in Dartmouth men's soccer history to reach the 100-win plateau. Thomas Dent, Dartmouth's longest tenured coach, is Dartmouth's all-time winningest coach with 143 career wins in 35 years. Currently, Cook is sitting at 97 all-time wins at Dartmouth. The earliest Cook can reach the 100-win mark is in postseason action should the Big Green advance to the NCAA Tournament.

Big Green Players in the Ivy League Rankings - Senior forward Lucky Mkosana (Bulawayo, Zimbabwe) and junior midfielder Kevin Dzierzawski (Oakland Township, Mich.) are both ranked in the Ivy League rankings. Mkosana leads the league in goals (10), goals per game (0.67), points (21) and points per game (1.40). Dzierzawski leads the league in assists (7) and ranks second in assists per game (0.47). Goalkeeper Noah Cohen (Johannesburg, South Africa) ranks second in saves (64) and saves per game (4.27) while ranking third in shutouts with five.

Lucky and Dzierzawski in the National Rankings - Senior forward Lucky Mkosana (Bulawayo, Zimbabwe) ranks No. 20 nationally in goals per game (0.67) and is tied for 29th in total goals (10). Junior midfielder Kevin Dzierzawski (Oakland Township, Mich.) enters the national ranks this week and is ranked No. 19 in assists per game (0.47) and is tied for 29th in total assists (7).

Captain My Captain - Seniors Lucky Mkosana (Bulawayo, Zimbabwe) and Nick Pappas (Scottsdale, Ariz.) have been named captains this season. The duo will wear the captain's armband for the Big Green throughout the season.

Looking at Brown - Brown enters the weekend tied atop the Ivy League standings with a 10-4-2, 4-1-1 Ivy League record after defeating Yale, 1-0, on Saturday (Nov. 5). The Bears are undefeated in their last seven games and are winners of three straight. Saturday's meeting will be the 73rd meeting between Dartmouth and Brown with the Bears owning a 37-31-4 series advantage. Dartmouth won the last meeting between the two teams, but has had trouble with the Bears on the road. Dartmouth hasn't defeated Brown at its home field since the 1992 season and last earned a result there in 2005 with a 2-2 double overtime tie. TJ Popolizio and Sean Rosa lead the Brown offense. Popolizio has 18 points on eight goals and two assists to lead the Bears while Rosa has 10 points on four goals and two assists. Sam Kernan-Schloss is Brown's starting goalkeeper and sports a 7-2-2- record with 29 saves. He also has a 0.60 goals against average and has seven shutouts on the season. Alex Carr has also seen time in net with a 3-2-0 record. He has made 12 saves with a 1.40 goals against average and two shutouts.

Keep Up With the Big Green -- Stay current with everything going on with your Big Green by following Dartmouth men's soccer on twitter (@DartmouthMSoc) and "liking" the Big Green men's soccer team on Facebook.

UP NEXT
Monday, November 14 - NCAA Selection Show (NCAA.com) 4:30 p.m.

Schedules