After 95 scoreless minutes for the No. 23 men’s soccer team Wednesday night, a golden goal by Andrew Dealy ’05 gave the Elis (7-1, 1-0 Ivy) a 1-0 overtime victory over visiting Fairfield (2-5-1).

“It was a relief after I had squandered a few good chances earlier in the game,” Dealy said.

While Dealy might have notched the winning goal for the Elis, the Bulldog defense kept Yale in the game, turning aside every Fairfield opportunity. Goaltender Geoff Hollington ’05 posted his third shutout of the season, making three important saves to keep Yale in the game.

Although the Elis outshot the Stags 15-6, Fairfield controlled possession for much of the second half, routinely challenging the Eli defense and Hollington.

There were several tense moments late in the game in which it seemed Fairfield was going to break the scoreless tie, including Stags midfielder Billy Androutsos’s shot from 25 yards out. Fortunately for the Bulldogs, Androutsos’s shot hit the crossbar.

After playing to a scoreless tie through 90 minutes, the game went to overtime. Halfway through the first overtime period, midfielder Ryan Raybould ’05 turned the corner on the wing and fed the ball into the box, where Dealy ran onto Raybould’s pass and put it past Fairfield goaltender Steve Burns low inside the right post.

After losing 1-0 to Hofstra Oct. 2, head coach Brian Tompkins was worried about his squad’s ability to finish their chances on offense. After a 2-0 win against Cornell Oct. 5 and Tuesday’s win over Fairfield, the Elis have proved that the Hofstra game was more of an aberration than a problematic habit.

“I was delighted that it was a piece of great finishing that won us the game,” said Tompkins. “It wasn’t ugly or lucky — it was a piece of excellent execution.”

But before Dealy’s score, the Bulldogs were heading towards another disappointing defeat. Yale had created a number of offensive opportunities starting very early in the game but had misfired on all of them.

“[Our defense] kept them off the scoreboard and were patient with us when we missed some opportunities,” Dealy said of defenders Brian Roberts ’04, Steve Gibbons ’03, Marc Vimolratana ’06 and Ryan Morrissey ’06, who was named to the Ivy League Honor Roll this past week for his consistent play as a rookie.

Dealy’s goal gives him five goals and 11 points for the season, second only to Ivy League Player of the Week Lindsey Williams ’05.

The Bulldogs resume their play in the Ivy League when they travel to Hanover, N.H. this weekend to take on Dartmouth (2-5, 1-1 Ivy). The Elis’ next home contest is Oct. 23 against Quinnipiac.

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