Big Green Take Down Harvard On The Road in OT Thriller

Saturday, October 31

Cambridge, Mass.

4:30 PM

Dartmouth College

Harvard

Big Green Take Down Harvard On The Road in OT Thriller

10/31/2015 7:03:00 PM | Men's Soccer

By: Dartmouth

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – For Amadu Kunateh, his third goal of the season could not come at a better time, as the Dartmouth men's soccer team defeated Harvard 1-0 in overtime on Saturday in Cambridge.

With the victory, the Big Green improve to 9-4-1 overall and 5-0 in the Ivy League. The loss drops Harvard to 7-6-2 overall and 3-2-0 in conference play.

In the 98th minute, off a Justin Donawa corner kick, Kunateh was able to head in the ball for the only score of the night and Dartmouth's seventh victory in eight games.

With the winner getting the upper hand in the Ivy League title race, both teams had a lot to play for. The first half remained scoreless as Harvard and the Big Green traded field position. The Crimson had a chance to score early just three minutes into the game, when a shot from Jake Freeman hit the goalpost. At around the 20-minute mark, the Big Green started to dictate play by getting shots to the Harvard net.

“It was a great way to end a game and I thought we played well,” Dartmouth head coach Chad Riley said. “Harvard started well and we started to get into our game 10 or 15 minutes in. It was a fairly even first half and when you play away from home that's what you play to do. I give credit to our guys for getting corners and for being dangerous and eventually putting it away. Harvard is one of the better teams we've played this year and I couldn't be more proud of our squad for being focused.”

In the opening minutes of the second half, Dartmouth continued to pressure Harvard netminder Evan Mendez. At around the 58-minute mark, Kunateh fired a shot that was saved by Mendez. Two minutes later Wyatt Omsberg shot just high of the Crimson net. The second stanza of the contest ended in another stalemate, requiring overtime to decide a winner.

Harvard challenged Big Green netminder, Stefan Cleveland several times throughout the night, but could not find the back of the net as Cleveland recorded seven saves, including two in overtime. The shutout was Cleveland's seventh of the season.

“Stefan played really well for us tonight,” Riley said. “A lot of shots were from a distance, but he did a good job concentrating on moving his feet and getting good angles. It takes a lot of contention when there can be so much chaos in the game, so lots of credit to him for managing the game well.”

Dartmouth returns home on Tuesday, Nov. 3, for a nonconference game against Northeastern at 7p.m. Following that contest, the Big Green host Cornell on Saturday, Nov. 7 at 4 p.m. for Senior Day.