Justin Donawa scored in the 71st minute to propel the Dartmouth Men’s Soccer team past New Hampshire, 1-0, at Burnham Field.
Dartmouth came into the contest looking to record its second victory at home, after they played to a draw with Princeton in the Ivy League opener last weekend.
Each team did a solid job maintaining possession of the ball throughout the game as Dartmouth and UNH took 10 shots apiece through 90 minutes.
“New Hampshire is a really great team,” Dartmouth head coach Chad Riley said. “Overall I’m really pleased with our performance through midterms and in between two league games, it is always going to be a tough challenge. I think the guys really took it well. UNH is one of the top teams in our region and I think it’s a good win for us. They tested us at times, but I thought we got some good chances.”
Dartmouth was able to set the pace of the game early on, pinning New Hampshire back in their end of the field. About halfway through the first, UNH had a flurry of shots that were either blocked or turned aside by James Hickok, who finished the night with three saves.
After a scoreless first half, the teams returned to field in search of the all-important first score. With 33 minutes to play Matt Greer had a solid look, but his shot sailed high.
About 10 minutes, later Emmanuel Arteaga made a nice move and tried to cross the ball into the box, but nobody could get there in time.
Donawa broke the stalemate with his second goal of the season when the Bermuda native received a pass from Matt Danilack and sprinted up toward the box, finishing with a hard shot that ended up in the lower left corner of the net.
For the remaining 19 minutes, the Big Green did a solid job protecting their one-goal lead by not allowing UNH a decent scoring chance.
“I’ve never seen a lack of confidence in this group,” Riley said. “They know they’ve played the fifth hardest schedule in the country so far and they’ve battled well. They know there’s a lot of little things they need to do to turn things in our favor, but I’ve never questioned this group.”
