HANOVER — Sometimes you are in the right place at the right time.
That was the case for freshman Tasha Udebhulu, who scored her first career collegiate goal, providing the difference in a 1-0 victory over a red-hot Holy Cross squad for the Dartmouth women’s soccer team on Thursday at Burnham Field.
With over 15 minutes remaining in a scoreless contest against the Crusaders, who had won four straight, an attempted clearance by the Holy Cross goalkeeper careened off the foot of Udebhulu, who was just outside the 18-yard box.
The freshman, who is from Guildford, England, and came to the U.S. last month, gathered the ball, weaved her way past the keeper and eluded Crusader defenders to give the Big Green a lead they would not relinquish.
“I think it was a very special moment,” Udebhulu said. “I was very happy, came in to celebrate with the team — a lot of the freshmen were over there (on the sidelines), so it was good to celebrate with them, and it’s good to get the game-winner.”
The 5-foot-2-inch forward from across the pond has gelled with the rest of the Big Green on and off the pitch, according to head coach Taylor Schram, due to her personality and tenacity within the white lines.
“She’s a gnat; she presses, she buzzes, she’s a handful, she loves contact for her size, which I think is a really big strength of her game, and that’s what she does: she gets herself into positions where she’s able to pick off balls, and then she has composure in and around the 18,” Schram said.
She put those skills on display Thursday.
“Credit to her, she’s taken on her role and has accepted it and challenged it and really embraced it in a lot of ways. So, she comes in; she’s a spark plug off the bench for us, and what a great way to have your first collegiate goal be a game-winner,” Schram added.
Dartmouth’s (4-1-2) win made its head coach proud, especially given the Crusaders’ physicality and quicker tempo, which contrasted with their last two opponents, Arizona State and the University of Arizona.
In addition to that, the Big Green rallied back from a first half in which Schram admitted her squad was not at its best.
“(We were) just doing things that were uncharacteristic, that weren’t a part of the game plan,” she said of the first half in which Dartmouth was outshot 6-3.
“We were playing around with the ball inside our own half too much rather than trying to win the territory battle first and push them back and attack from there,” Schram added.
That changed in the final 45 minutes as the Big Green racked up eight shots in the second half and had multiple quality chances, including two shots from junior Emmanuella Frimpomaa that were denied with 28 minutes remaining and a volley at the top of the 6-yard box from sophomore Michal Cagungun that went over the net about 10 minutes later.
“At halftime we got told to up it,” Udebhulu said with a laugh. “So we came out, worked a bit harder, won the first, the second ball, the third ball, whatever it took.”
The added offensive urgency finally paid off as Udebhulu gave the Big Green the lead, and Holy Cross was unable to tie the contest before the final horn.
Riding a two-game win streak, the Big Green will next visit Colgate (1-5-2) on Sunday for a contest at noon.
