Hanover
The Big Green (9-3-1, 3-0-1 Ivy), which entered the contest ranked 20th in the United Soccer Coaches national poll, initiated the scoring in the 15th minute. Dawson McCartney shot a left-side pass toward the front of the net, finding Eduvie Ikoba for a leaping header. The play developed out of a lengthy Big Green possession that saw the hosts move the ball across the field with an array of crisp passes.
Ikoba’s crashing header gave him his league-leading seventh goal of the season. Arthur Bosua, Columbia’s reigning Ivy League offensive player of the year, is second with six, but was shut down by a stingy Dartmouth defense as the Big Green improved to 6-0 at home this season.
“We were working hard all week, and we knew this team was going to come at us strong because we’ve beaten them the last three years,” Ikoba said. “We just wanted to make sure at home we were undefeated and remain just a disciplined team.”
Dartmouth came out of intermission with high intensity and quickly built on its lead. Zack Kalk created the scoring cushion with a serve from the left side that initially skirted past two players in the box, before Noah Paravicini finished it for his third goal of the season.
Columbia (6-1-4, 2-0-2) battled back late in the game with all seven of their shots coming in the second half. The Lions’ Kynan Rocks struck the crossbar from close range with 5:48 remaining; a minute later, John Denis scored on a ball bobbled by Dartmouth goalie Christopher Palacios. Denis’ ball wasn’t initially ruled a goal after Palacios dove and batted the ball out of the goalmouth, but the referees conferred and called it a goal. The game ended with Dartmouth defender Wyatt Omsberg heading away a final opportunity by the scrappy visitors.
“The last 10 minutes were a little bit sloppy,” said Palacios, a 6-foot-6 freshman. “We’ve had a couple games where we we’ve been facing constant attacks for the last couple of minutes. We dealt with it pretty well. We definitely could have done better.”
Palacios, the Ivy League co-league leader with six shutouts (tied with Columbia’s Dylan Castanheira) finished with four saves, all after halftime.
Dartmouth coach Chad Riley knew Columbia would come in and challenge hard.
“In a lot of ways, two good teams probably pulls out the best of both teams,” Riley said. “Overall, we finished our chances well, I think we could have done a little bit better and had a little more composure to get the third goal and put it out of sight, but we didn’t, so then the last 10 minutes is always going to be a little bit hectic.”
It was an eventful week for the Big Green, which found itself back in the national rankings for the first time since the end of the 2015 season. Dartmouth was ranked No. 20 on Tuesday, hours before falling to No. 18 UNH, 4-2, on the road. The Big Green, which hopes to keep a spot in the rankings despite the loss to the Wildcats, is the only Ivy League team currently ranked.
The Big Green opened the season with two losses before amassing a nine-game unbeaten streak, disrupted by UNH.
Dartmouth hosts Connecticut on Tuesday under the lights before closing the season with three Ivy League matchups.
“I always say the road to the NCAAs is through our league,” Riley said. “So we have to make sure we take care of business in our league.”
Notes: Dartmouth’s Kota Sakurai received a yellow card in the first half and Columbia’s Francisco Agrest got one in the second half. … Columbia has only given up six goals on the season. … Dartmouth attempted only two corner kicks, while Columbia took nine. … Dartmouth leads the Ivies with 28 goals scored. … McCartney was named Ivy League rookie of the week on Monday. … Saturday’s announced attendance was 465. … Dartmouth leads the lifetime series 29-22-7 including four straight victories.