NEW HAVEN, Conn. -  Yale men’s soccer coach Brian Tompkins had a pretty good idea what it would take to knock off Dartmouth Saturday at Reese Stadium. If his team could contain the Big Green’s Lucky Mkosana, who entered the game with seven goals, he knew they would have a good chance to win. The defense executed the plan to perfection, and the Bulldogs walked away with an impressive 2-0 Ivy League victory on a gorgeous afternoon.

“He is arguably the best attacker in the [Ivy] league, and I thought we did a really good job taking him away,” Tompkins said. “That made all the difference.”

Mkosana was held to just two shots, neither of which was particularly dangerous.

Yale, meanwhile, made the most of its scoring chances. Charlie Paris scored in the first half, and Charlie Neil added an insurance goal midway through the second half.

“This was our most disciplined and most complete performance of the season,” Tompkins said.

The Bulldogs (6-4-1 overall) improved to 2-0 in Ivy play and share the league lead with Cornell. Yale plays the Big Red next Saturday at home.

Yale grabbed the lead at 20:14 when Paris headed in a Max McKiernan cross just inside the far post from eight yards out.

It stayed that way until midway through the second half. Neil settled a Nick Alers pass and floated a shot toward the corner of the net. Dartmouth goalkeeper Noah Cohen got his hands on it but couldn’t control it and the ball trickled in.

“So many Ivy League games are decided by one goal, it was nice to get that second goal because it gave us some breathing room,” Tompkins said.

All three of Yale’s goals in Ivy play have come from seniors. Chris Dennen scored the only goal of the game in last Saturday’s win over Harvard.

The Bulldogs finished with a 14-12 edge in shots and had the only three corner kicks of the game.

Goalkeeper Bobby Thalman made five saves to post his second straight shutout.

Yale and Cornell meet next Saturday at 1 p.m. at Reese.

---

RECOMMENDED FOR YOU

Men's NCAA Tournament First Round Recap

TeamRank Presented By TeamSnap - Boys

Midwest High School Roundup - Nov.