HANOVER, N.H.- After playing a scoreless first half the Dartmouth men's soccer team used second-half goals from junior defender Teo Larsson-Sax (Kalmar, Sweden) and sophomore forward Patrick Murray (Lakewood, Ohio) en route to a 2-0 win over Ivy League foe, Columbia on Saturday night.
The win keeps Dartmouth (6-4-2, 3-1-0 Ivy League) in the hunt for the Ivy League title. The Lions and Big Green entered the night tied for second place in the league standings and with the win the Big Green now own a tiebreaker over Columbia with games remaining against league leader, Cornell, as well as Harvard and Brown.
Dartmouth came out in the second half with an offensive mindset, after being outshot, 7-3, in the first half, the Big Green posted 11 second-half shots and held the Lions to just four shots in the second stanza.
The Big Green spread the offense out and had nine players record shots in the contest. Senior midfielder Adam Rice (Manalapan, N.J.) led the charge with four shots on the afternoon. In addition to goals from Larsson Sax and Murray, junior midfielder Kevin Dzierzawski (Oakland Township, Mich.) added assists on both goals. Dzierzawski has picked up points in five of Dartmouth's last six games and posted his second multi-assist game this season.
Sophomore goalkeeper Noah Cohen (Johannesburg, South Africa) led the Big Green offense. He posted four saves in 90 minutes of action while earning his fourth shutout of the season.
Larsson-Sax ended a 56-minute scoreless stalemate between the Lions and Big Green with his first goal of the season. Dzierzawski served a perfect corner kick and Larsson-Sax used his head to put it just past Columbia goalkeeper, Alex Aurrichio to give Dartmouth the early advantage.
The Lions wouldn't go away and pressured the Dartmouth defense throughout the remainder of the game including several shots that Cohen was able to keep out of danger with point-blank saves or punches out of the air.
Murray added an insurance goal for the Big Green in the 79th minute. Dzierzawski placed the ball at his feet inside the Columbia box and Murray just gently tapped it past Aurrichio for the goal and the Dartmouth victory.
In a hotly contested first half, the Lions and Big Green each had several scoring opportunities. Lucky Mkosana (Bulawayo, Zimbabwe) had a great chance in the opening minutes. After catching the ball on his foot in the right corner in Columbia territory, he was able to pull the ball back and elude several defenders while working his way into the box. He got off a shot but Aurricho made the save.
As play continued in the first half Columbia made the Dartmouth defense work but goalkeeper Cohen kept the scoresheet clean making several key stops including punching the ball out of the upper corner on a shot from David Najem and making a diving save to keep the game tied at 0-0 heading into the halftime break.
Dartmouth concludes its two-game homestand with a non-conference matchup with Colgate on Tuesday (Oct. 25). Game time is set for 5:00 p.m. at Burnham Field.
