Poised to secure an at-large berth in the NCAA tournament with a win against Princeton Saturday, the men's soccer team watched its post-season hopes dwindle as it lost 2-1 to the Tigers.
The Tigers cut short Dartmouth's six-game winning streak with two second half goals, the first coming just 40 seconds after the intermission.
Sophomore defender John House chipped the ball to senior Marco Madero, who settled the ball with his right foot before hitting a low, left-foot line-drive shot into the left side-netting of the Dartmouth net.
The Big Green quickly responded three minutes later, tying the score at 1-1. Bill Cronin '95 stole the ball from House and got past him, putting himself one-on-one with Tiger goalkeeper Ethan Bing.
Bing came out to challenge but had no chance of getting a hand on Cronin's left-foot blast that grazed the inside of the far-post before finding the back of the net.
Other second-half Big Green offensive threats came from Blaine LeGere '95 and Hunter Paschall '96.
LeGere fired two of his patented long-range shots, the first in the 66th minute and the second in the 72nd minute, both narrowly saved by Bing.
In the 77th minute, Paschall got behind the Princeton defense and went in alone on Bing. However, Paschall's curling right-footer went inches wide of the Princeton goal.
With just 4:37 remaining, Princeton's Jesse Marsch scored the game-winning goal. With his back to the net, Marsch controlled a loose ball inside the Dartmouth penalty box and then turned and struck a right-footed shot into the upper-right corner.
The Big Green had one final chance in the last minute of play. An Asa Marokus '95 head ball appeared to be going in the lower left corner of the Princeton net, but a fully-outstretched Bing barely got his hand on the ball and deflected it away.
The Big Green outshot the Tigers 11-10, a statistic that accurately reflected the parity between the two teams.
"It was back and forth," Coach Fran O'Leary said. "I'm disappointed with the result but happy with our performance."
Dartmouth finishes the season with a record of 8-4-3, but each of the Big Green's four losses came against teams that were nationally ranked at some point during the season.
The game marked the end of the collegiate careers of nine Dartmouth seniors.
Defenders Ian Saward '95, George O'Brien '95 and Marokus were mainstays in the Dartmouth back four for each of the past three seasons.
The combination of Jeff Cucunato '95 and co-captain Brian Wiese provided Dartmouth with the rare luxury of having two first-rate goalkeepers at all times.
The tenacity of Cronin was a perfect match for the technical skill of co-captain LeGere; together, they gave the Big Green a veteran midfield tandem.
The leading scorer of this group was forward Chris Mitchell '95 who tallied 18 goals in his four-year varsity career.
Peter Hecht '95, a two-time letter winner, also made valuable contributions to the team.
While the seniors received many individual honors, one team achievement stands out. In 1992, the Big Green defeated two nationally-ranked teams en route to the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament.
Considering its past successes, the team was upset it was unable to defeat the Tigers and move into post-season play.
The loss, though, was not the result of a lack of effort, O'Leary said. "It was a good game between two good teams," he said. "At this level, the result doesn't always go your way."
