Danilack's Goal in 88th Minute Gives Dartmouth Win over Penn

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – A header by sophomore Matt Danilack with less than two minutes remaining in regulation lifted the Dartmouth men's soccer team over Penn, 1-0, on the road Sunday.

The game was originally scheduled to be played on Saturday evening, but was postponed due to power outages during the women's game beforehand.

The Big Green, who are currently on a five-game winning streak, improved to 7-3-1 and 3-0-0 in Ivy League play, while the Quakers dipped to 2-8-1 and 1-2-0 in conference action.

Between the pipes, senior Stefan Cleveland had to stop just one shot to earn his sixth shutout of the season.

“Overall, we handled the adjustments very well,” head coach Chad Riley said. “We started the first very well. The team was very focused against a dangerous team. We came out in the second half and picked up right where we left off, but with a more energy and made the goalkeeper work a little harder. We kept pushing until we got that goal. Matt is dangerous on set pieces and it was great to see him do that.

“I give credit to Penn,” Riley continued. “Their record is what it is, and they've been a bit unlucky, but they're a tough team. We knew going in that it was going to be a difficult league game. The rest of the coaches and I are proud of how the guys responded to a little bit of adversity and were able to keep focused and find a way to perform to get that result.”

Both teams had a few chances in the first half, but the goalkeepers were on guard and prevented any would-be tallies. In the 36th minute, Danilack headed the ball straight at the net following a free kick by junior Ricardo Gomez, but Etan Mabourakh came out of the cage to make the save. Less than 30 seconds later, Joe Swensen's shot narrowly sailed to the right of the goal. In all, Dartmouth outshot Penn, 11-4.

The second 45 minutes were aggressive, with both teams trying to get the game-winner, but neither defense allowing many chances until the very end of the game. At 88:02, freshman Justin Donawa's corner kick was sent to the center of the box and Danilack headed the ball to the right corner of the net for his second game-winner of the year.

Dartmouth outshot Penn, 27-10, and had a 5-1 advantage in corner kicks. In net for the Quakers, Mabourakh had 10 saves while being saddled with the loss.

The Big Green will return to Burnham Field for the first time in 18 days, hosting Columbia in an Ivy League contest at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 24.

Schedules