The men's soccer team fought furiously on Wednesday against the University of New Hampshire only to get an end result of a 1-1 tie
"It was a great game," Coach Fran O'Leary said. "Both sides gave their all."
Despite outshooting the Wildcats 17-9, the Big Green was unable to put the ball in the net more than once.
UNH held a 1-0 lead for over 70 minutes of the game, thanks to a goal shot in the 8th minute by striker Ryan Lieb who received a pass from Dave Kurzontkowski and got the ball past goalie Brian Wiese '95 with a well aimed header.
In the second-half, Dartmouth's offense finally came to life, putting constant pressure on UNH and finally cracking the Wildcats' tough defense in the 78th minute.
The team was more successful, however, than what the scoreboard revealed. According to co-captain Wiese, the team has significantly improved since last year.
"The difference between past Dartmouth teams and this year's team is that in the past, we might not have come up with the tying goal," Wiese said.
John Bosacco '96 scored his second goal of the season -- and the goal to tie the game -- despite the inconsistencies in the first half of the game.
Blaine LeGere '95's corner kick resulted in a loose ball in front of the UNH goal and Bosacco pounced on it, sending the Chase Field crowd into a frenzy.
Minutes before Bosacco's equalizer, David Moran '96 narrowly missed tying the game when his header hit the crossbar.
In overtime, each team had excellent scoring opportunities, but neither was able to take advantage of them.
An amazing move by Methembe Ndlovu '97 three minutes into the second overtime period nearly resulted in a Big Green goal. Ndlovu, after out-manoeurvering three defenders with one change-of-direction dribble, crossed the ball to Zach Samol '98, but Samol's shot was prevented from entering the goal by UNH's Steve Baccari.
Thirty seconds later, Wildcat midfielder Aaron Porter's header met the same fate as Moran's. Set up by Kurzontkowski, Porter's header came off the crossbar but was cleared by the Dartmouth defense.
"It was a hard-fought game," said goalie Jeff Cucanato '95. "But we didn't panic despite being down 1-0 for so long."
The Big Green, who are ranked second in the latest ISAA New England Coaches Poll, now have a record of 3-0-1. They travel to Brown on Sunday for a pivotal Ivy League match-up. The game is the first of four consecutive road games.
"I go away feeling really good," O'Leary said after the game. "We're entering this weekend with great confidence."
