Big Green Men's Soccer Shuts Out Albany, 3-0

Sunday, September 13

Albany, N.Y.

4:00 PM

Dartmouth College

Albany

9/13/2015 5:58:00 PM | Men's Soccer

By: Dartmouth

ALBANY, N.Y. — For the third time in four games, the Dartmouth men's soccer team posted a shutout as the Big Green handed host Albany a 3-0 defeat on Sunday afternoon at Bob Ford Field. Dartmouth improved to 2-1-1 on the young season while the Great Danes (3-2) had their three-game winning streak snapped.

“The final score is not indicative at all of how difficult an opponent Albany was today,” said head coach Chad Riley. “It was a hard-fought game on both sides, even got a little chippy at times, but I thought our guys did a good job of keeping their cool and finishing strong.”

It didn't take long for the Big Green to stake senior goalkeeper Stefan Cleveland to a 1-0 lead. Three minutes into the game, sophomore Matt Greer lined up a corner kick to junior Ricardo Gomez, who headed the ball into the upper right corner for his first goal of the year.

The score remained 1-0 until late in the first half when sophomore Tyler Dowse muscled his way past a defender down the right side and around the corner into the box near the end line. He then zipped pass across to the other side of the goal where senior Samuel Rosen came sprinting in and drilled a shot into the back of the net in the 37th minute.

In the second half, the game got more physical as the Great Danes tried to mount a comeback, but Dartmouth was able to extend its lead to three goals. Rosen stole the ball away from an Albany defender, and freshman Amadu Kunateh quickly hit classmate Eduvie Ikoba. With some quick footwork, Ikoba was able to fend off two defenders and another rookie in Noah Paravicini sprinting into the box. After one touch, he slipped a shot past the goalkeeper who came out to challenge the ball to no avail.

“This was a solid play all the way around,” Riley said. “We gained possession on a nice, aggressive play to steal the ball, and Kunateh and Ikoba both had great vision to make the play happen. Paravicini showed a nice touch to control the ball and beat the keeper as well.”

Cleveland, who owns two of the team's three shutouts this year, faced 13 shots, only two of which were on goal. The first came in the opening stanza when Nico Solabarrieta lined a shot from the right side of the box, only to have the Big Green netminder managed to get a hand on the shot and deflect it over the crossbar in the 27th minute. Just a few minutes into the second half, Leo Melgar put a shot on goal from 35 yards out on a free kick, which Cleveland easily caught.

While Dartmouth nearly matched the Great Danes with 12 shots, the three that were on goal all counted. Albany accrued 16 fouls to the Big Green's 12, and had four yellow cards to three for the visitors.

Next up for Dartmouth is a trip out West for a battle with Washington on Friday night at 10:30 p.m. (EDT) and Seattle on Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m.