Yesterday afternoon the Dartmouth men's soccer team reaffirmed the notion that the Big Green are a dangerous team on the rise with an impressive 2-0 victory over nationally ranked Northeastern.
Even though the final score was only 2-0, this was not a close game at all -- it was Dartmouth all the way.
"Our back four was the key for us today," Coach Fran O'Leary said. "They closed off anything that [Northeastern] tried to put together, and they struck some key long balls for us."
Despite the fact that the Big Green's back line controlled the play for most of the contest, the game was still scoreless at halftime. Captain Dave Moran '96 quickly changed that at the start of the second half.
With 39:17 of the second half remaining, Dartmouth finally hit pay dirt when Methembe Odlovu '97 crossed a ball from just outside the keeper's box and it was redirected past the Northeastern keeper by Moran with a diving header.
"We figured it would take about four games for [Moran] to hit his stride," O'Leary said. "It's definitely good to see the big guy back causing havoc in the air and on the ground."
Unfortunately for Northeastern, Moran was not yet done reaking havoc on their defense.
During the 31st minute of the second half, goalkeeper Matt Streng '98 punted a ball down field which was redirected by Augie Lopez '97 with a brilliant header to a streaking Moran who put the ball away past the diving Northeastern keeper.
Next up for the Big Green men's soccer team is the Lipton/Umbro Invitational this weekend.
