Midfielder Sebastian Serra ’11 scored his first career goal against Dartmouth on Saturday night, but it wasn’t enough for a win. The Bulldogs (1–9–1, 0–2 Ivy) fell 3–1 to the Big Green (6–3–1, 1–1 Ivy) at Burnham Field in Hanover, N.H.
Serra’s goal tied the game in the 57th minute, and the Elis stayed in the match until midway through the second half. But Dartmouth forward Lucky Mkosana hurt the Bulldogs for the second year in a row. The junior scored both goals in Yale’s 2–1 loss to Dartmouth last season, and added a crucial assist and late goal to seal the victory for the Big Green.
“They did a better job than we did of finding a way to penetrate in the offensive end and finding a way to score,” captain and midfielder Andy Shorten ’11 said.
Both teams played solidly on defense in the first period, and entered halftime scoreless. But Dartmouth took the lead just seven minutes into the second half when midfielder Brendan Lane sent the ball into teammate Daniel Keat who one-timed it passed Bulldog goalie Bobby Thalman ’13.
“The game was extremely fast-paced,” midfielder Andy Hackbarth ’12 said. “It suited their direct style of play and we struggled to impose ourselves and play how we wanted to play.”
But the Bulldogs were down for only 10minutes until Serra’s rocket from inside the box off an assist from midfielder Eric Meyer ’11 tied the score1–1.
“Especially against these Ivy League teams we have to play our own game,” Serra said. “Many of them just hit the ball up in the air a lot which doesn’t really suit our strengths. What we have to do is really put the ball down and play possession, and when we did that yesterday we were really successful.”
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The Big Green responded just two minutes later with the game-winner as Mkosana sent a cross to Dartmouth’s Aaron Gaide who found the back of the net at minute 59:10 to make it 2–1. Mkosana left his mark six minutes later when he dribbled through the Bulldog defense and knocked it passed Thalman to solidify the score at 3–1.
“After they got their game-winner right after we scored it seemed like that kind of took a little bit of our momentum,” Hackbarth said.
Although the Eli defense remained solid as it has for much of the season, it wasn’t enough to shut down a persistent Big Green attack. Dartmouth had a 20-7 advantage over Yale in shots on goal and a 10-5 leg-up on corner kicks. Thalman recorded eight saves while Big Green keeper Sean Donovan needed only three to secure the win.
“I think we competed really well against Dartmouth and went hard at them in the last 30minutes when we were down,” Serra said. “But next weekend we need to come out and do that for the full 90minutes.”