Dartmouth Falls, 2-1, to No. 6 Syracuse in Second Round

Sunday, November 22

Syracuse, N.Y.

2:00 PM

Dartmouth College

Syracuse

Dartmouth Falls, 2-1, to No. 6 Syracuse in Second Round

11/22/2015 4:06:00 PM | Men's Soccer

By: Dartmouth

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – After opening scoring in the 29th minute with freshman Justin Donawa's second marker of the season, the Dartmouth men's soccer team ultimately fell to No. 6 Syracuse, 2-1, in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at the SU Soccer Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

The Big Green saw their season come to an end with a record of 12-6-1, while the Orange improved to 13-5-3 and will play the winner of the No. 11 Seattle/UCLA matchup in the third round next weekend.

“I could not be prouder of our team,” head coach Chad Riley said after the game. “We stood up to all of the challenges, not just during the game but in preparation of the game, like handling finals well, and you could really see that in our performance today.

“We did really well getting the goal in transition,” he said. “There was a little bit of an unfortunate deflection that made it difficult for Stefan to save that first goal, and we went to halftime tied at 1-1. We came out really aggressive in the second and after their second goal put us down, 2-1, we played at another level and made some quality chances. I truly feel like it was a game where we just ran out of time.”

The home team held the lion's share of possession in the early stages of the first half, spending a lot of time deep in Dartmouth territory. The Orange had their first attempt just a minute and a half into the game, but a diving save by senior goalkeeper Stefan Cleveland kept things at zero.

The Green got its first opportunity in the 19th minute when sophomore Matt Danilack won the ball and sent it to Donawa, who charged down the right side and had a great shot that flew just over the crossbar.

Dartmouth's third shot of the game turned out to be the first goal of the day. At 29:12, Donawa received a cross from sophomore Matt Danilack and fired to the left of goalkeeper Robbie Landeros – who did not appear to see the shot coming – to give the Big Green a one-goal advantage with just over 15 minutes left in the first.

The visitors did not enjoy that lead for very long, as Ben Polk tied the score at one three minutes later at 32:15, getting the ball from Julian Buescher in the box and shooting past Cleveland. This is the first time all season that one of the Green's opponents has scored a first-half goal.

Ten minutes into the second period, a Dartmouth foul deep in its own territory gave Syracuse a free kick in a very dangerous spot. Buescher had his shot blocked, but the ball was cleared by a Dartmouth player and sent right back to Buescher. He danced around a few Green players on the end line and passed to Louis Cross, who pocketed the ball in the left corner from inside the box.

A bicycle kick by freshman Amadu Kunateh in the 68th minute looked as if it could be the tying tally Dartmouth needed, but the ball went wide. Kunateh returned a few minutes later, popped the ball up to himself in the box and fired to the left, but this one hit the post. With four minutes left, Polk had a breakaway and went to fire directly at Cleveland, but a great sliding tackle by sophomore Wyatt Omsberg prevented that could-be goal.

“This is the part that is so hard,” Riley continued. “We have a very special senior class made up of such classy guys who are a joy to coach on a daily basis. I am so sad I won't get to coach them anymore."

Syracuse narrowly outshot Dartmouth, 14-13, and had a 6-1 advantage in corner kicks. Cleveland made four saves, while Landeros made just one stop.

“Syracuse is a very good team and we wish them all the best moving forward in the NCAA Tournament,” Riley concluded.