HANOVER, N.H. - Senior Andoni Georgiou (London, England) scored a pair of goals to lead the Dartmouth men's soccer team to a 2-1 victory over Holy Cross in its home-opener at Burnham Field on Sunday (Sept. 2) afternoon.
Dartmouth (1-1-0) used two second-half goals to pull away from the Crusaders, who scored the first goal of the game in the 27th minute.
The teams opened the second half knotted at 1-1 and the score remained tied until the 60th minute of action when Georgiou connected with a ball from Brian Joseff (Santa Barbara, Calif.). Georgiou caught the ball in the midfield and sent it past Holy Cross goalkeeper, Michael Thompson to give the Big Green the upper hand.
From that point on, the Crusaders barely threatened and the home team added an insurance goal in the 79th minute when Alex Adelabu (Houston, Texas) found classmate Robin Alnas (Gothenburg, Sweden) to cap the Big Green scoring at three goals on the day.
The Big Green seemed to have the upper hand early, controlling the run of play and forcing Holy Cross (0-2-0) to play deep into their defensive territory. Forward Brad Jacobson (Larchmont, N.Y.) continued his excellent play in the early goings and produced several scoring chances early in the game, including a ball that just sneaked over the top of the net at the 32:00 mark.
Junior Patrick Murray (Lakewood, Ohio) also found his way into the Holy Cross backline and seemed as if he might give Dartmouth the early advantage on shot just inside the box nearly 10 minutes into the game.
The Big Green's best shot of the first half came at the 24:52 mark. Sophomore Stefan Defregger (Guilford, N.H.) had an open look at the right side of the net and hit a driven ball, only to have it deflected off the post and out of danger.
The Crusaders took advantage of a momentum shift and just after Defregger's shot, took the lead on a high arching shot that went just past the outstretched hands of goalkeeper Noah Cohen (Johannesburg, South Africa) and into the upper right corner.
Despite, being down the Big Green continued to move the ball efficiently and were able to get the equalizer before halftime. Georgiou connected with a long ball out of the midfield and weaved through the Crusader defense to goal, tying the game with just four minutes remaining in the first half.
Georgiou was the man of the match with two shots on goal resulting in two goals. Jacobson also added five shots while Alnas, Murray and freshman Sten Stray-Gundersen (Frisco, Texas) each added multiple shots.
Cohen was a workhorse and made three saves in 90:00 of action in between the pipes.
The Big Green will continue its three-game home stretch when it welcomes No. 20 SMU to Burnham Field on Friday (Sept. 7). Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
AGATE
Holy Cross (0-2-0) vs. Dartmouth (1-1-0)
Date: Sep 02, 2012 Attendance: 1007
Weather: sunny and breezy, low 80s
Goals by period 1 2 Tot
Holy Cross.......... 1 0 - 1
Dartmouth........... 1 2 - 3
SCORING SUMMARY:
1. 26:45 HC Sanders, Monty (unassisted) - high shot into upper right corner
2. 41:28 DART Georgiou, Andoni (1) (unassisted) - pass from midfield to goal
3. 59:36 DART Georgiou, Andoni (2) (Joseff, Brian) - pass from outside right of box to score
4. 78:40 DART Alnas, Robin (1) (Adelabu, Alex) - battle in box to goal
Shots: Holy Cross 8, Dartmouth 22
Saves: Holy Cross 1 (Thompson, Michael 1), Dartmouth 3 (Cohen, Noah 3)
