For 32 minutes of Saturday’s men’s soccer game between Dartmouth (8-7-1, 4-1-1 Ivy) and Cornell (4-7-3, 1-4-1) on Berman Field, the two Ivy foes waged a tight, close battle against each other. Each team made play after play, generating a couple of good looks to score.
Then, the wheels fell off for the Red.
Junior goalkeeper Nate Dunlap drew a yellow card with just over 13 minutes remaining in the first half, and the Green’s Scott Lish scored on the ensuing indirect kick. Dartmouth would go on to add two more in the final five minutes of the half and never looked back en route to a 7-1 rout over the Red on Senior Night.
“We got outplayed in every facet of the game,” said head coach Bryan Scales. “They kicked our ass all over the field. It’s embarrassing. It’s just tough to take.”
The Green continued its unrelenting pace in the second half, as Matt Miller and Scott Darci converted on penalty kicks within two minutes of each other.
Cornell finally got onto the scoreboard in the game’s 52nd minute, as freshman Andrew George scored off an assist by sophomore Steve Reuter. However, Dartmouth continued to punish the Red, as Juan Romera beat Red goalkeeper Peter Francis at 54:59, and Darci tallied his second of the game with 29 minutes remaining.
“They’re a team that puts a lot of pressure on you, and they get the ball forward quickly,” said Scales. “It’s tough to fault the back four or Nate or Peter Francis, they do the best they can. [Dartmouth] just played at a speed that we were uncomfortable playing at. We just couldn’t get a hold of it.”
Late in the game, many Cornell players saw some of their first action of the year, including freshman Brian Jonas and sophomore Adam Krotman. Freshman Sean Shannon also played for a significant amount of time in the second half.
“It’s tough to pull any positives out of this game,” said Scales, “but those guys were ready to go when they were called upon, and they did their best.”
Dartmouth outshot the Red 28-12, including 12 shots on goal as compared to Cornell’s three. Goalkeeper Doug Carr made two saves. For Cornell, Dunlap saved three, and second-half replacement Francis saved two.
Prior to the game, seniors Doug Allan, Scott Benowicz, student assistant coach Andrew Gordon, Liam Hoban, Kevin London and Jayme Schnedeker were honored for their years of service to the team. All of them started except for goalkeeper Allan, who remained out with a broken finger. Schnedeker, who made his first ever start at Cornell, was particularly impressive in the backfield.
With the win, Dartmouth remains in contention for a tie of the Ivy title. First-place Penn tied Princeton on Saturday to bring its conference record to 5-0-1. The Green will wrap up its season against Brown next Saturday, while the No. 14 Quakers will host Harvard.
Cornell will visit in-state rival Hartwick on Wednesday before completing its season Saturday at Columbia.
“We’ll show up on Monday and get ready for our next game,” said Scales. “We’ll see where this takes us.”
Archived article by Owen Bochner