Men's Soccer: First-half barrage sinks Tigers on road

Four first-half goals were more than enough for Dartmouth to topple the men’s soccer team on Saturday. One of the early favorites in the Ivy League, Princeton fell victim to a series of unfortunate soccer-related events at Dartmouth’s Burnham Field, losing 4-1. The Tigers once again dominated possession of the ball and outshot their opponents, but as in many previous games, they could not put the ball in the net.

Although disappointed with Saturday’s result, the Tigers (1-7-1 overall, 0-1-0 Ivy League) felt that they outplayed Dartmouth (3-3-2, 1-0-0) from start to finish. The Tigers dominated possession of the ball and took 12 shot attempts to Dartmouth’s six. But they continued another trend, losing their fourth consecutive match.

“I think our offense looked really good — we played really well. It’s just been that kind of a year,” junior forward Matt Sanner said. “We’ve been through so much weird stuff this year ... The breaks have got to start coming our way.”

Dartmouth opened up its lead early when midfielder Colin Heffron booted in an unassisted goal from outside the box just 10 minutes into the contest. Exactly 60 seconds later, Heffron made a quick pass to teammate Kevin Dzierzawski, who netted a short goal. Just like that, the visitors took a commanding 2-0 lead.

“Even after they scored their first goal, we knew we had the better team,” Sanner said. “When they scored [their second], we were like, ‘It’s happening again.’ It was like, bam-bam.”

The unfortunate events for the Tigers’ side continued through the end of the first half. Dartmouth buffered its lead further when forward Lucky Mkosana netted a pair of goals. Mkosana took a pass inside the box and hit a close-range shot in the 16th minute, completing a run of three scores in a six-minute span. Twenty-one minutes later, Mkosana sliced up Princeton’s defense before scoring his second goal of the half.

The defending Ivy League champions were flummoxed by the events in their conference opener. “It wasn’t like we had complete breakdowns. It was really weird — basically everything just went their way,” Sanner said.

Princeton did have its chances, though. After the first 10 minutes of play, the Tigers bombarded the Big Green box. Sophomore midfielder Dylan Bowman nearly netted a volley from inside the box, and corner kicks taken by senior midfielder Colby Hahn peppered the Dartmouth box early and often, and sophomore forward David Dubow’s volley hit the post. But the visitors could not put a shot away.

Sophomore midfielder Patrick O’Neil netted the lone Princeton goal, scoring unassisted from the box just before halftime.

“We bossed most of the game, especially in the middle of the field,” freshman defender Myles McGinley said. “But we need to be more clinical in finishing. We’re just missing that X-factor.”

The Tigers hope to find that X-factor soon. They now find themselves tied at the bottom of a strange-looking Ivy League table, looking up at a quartet of leaders that includes Cornell, Yale and Columbia, which rarely finish near the top of the standings. Princeton, Brown and Penn, which all reached the NCAA Tournament in 2010, are cellar-dwellers after one game of Ivy League play.

“The Ivy League is a crazy league,” Sanner said of the weekend’s shakeup. “5-2 could win the league.”