HANOVER, N.H. – The University of Pennsylvania men's soccer team closed out regular-season road action on Saturday night, shutting out Dartmouth 2-0 at Burnham Field.
 
After a scoreless tie heading into halftime, Patrick Cayelli scored his eighth goal of the year in the 68th minute to help lead Penn to victory over Dartmouth and a 2-1-2 Ivy League record.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*Senior Cayelli's goal bumps him up further in the Ivy League statistics with a league leading eight goals and 22 points.
 
*Marco Bottene netted the other goal in the match to record the third of his career.
 
*On the defensive end of the field, Phillip Falcon III stopped all three shots faced. The shutout accounts for the sixth of the season for keeper Falcon, and the 15th of his career.
 
*The Quakers outshot the Big Green 15-8 with ten of the shots reaching the goal, and six coming from Bottene and Cayelli.
 
*Connor Dawson, Falcon, George Herbert, Malachi Neal, and Joaquin Niehenke played the full 90 minutes in New England.
 
How It Happened
Both offenses started with chances early in the battle, as Erickson Sakalosky shot one at keeper Konstantinos Dellas, who scooped it up in the third minute, followed by a high shot from Dartmouth's Douglas Arveskar during the sixth. Penn kept the shots on goal up, with junior Niehenke coming from the left towards Dellas, forcing the goalie to smother the ball in the tenth minute.
 
The Big Green went striking down the field after Dellas' save, attempting their first shot at keeper Falcon, but the junior stopped it quickly before it could get past him. Dartmouth continued to put shots on the board three minutes later as Olly Spicer booted the ball at the goal too hard before Falcon could get a hand on it.
 
The next shot in the battle didn't come until the 33rd minute when Oliver Pratt had an opportunity off a corner kick, but keeper Dellas made his third save of the game to hold strong. With time running down in the first, Penn was awarded another corner kick in the 35th, but all that came was a wide header from defender Dawson. The last shots of the quarter came from a blocked attempt by senior Cayelli and a wide left shot from Dartmouth's Will Lulka to cap off the first 45 minutes.
 
Penn came out of the break trying to catch a spark, as Aiden Frick attempted a shot quickly off kickoff that went high, followed by a high shot from Jack Wagoner in the 49th minute. Both teams had solid chances almost ten minutes later, as sophomore Bottene recorded the first shot on goal in the second that Dellas saved, followed by Dartmouth's first attempt of the half from Spicer that went to the left.
 
The Quakers continued to apply pressure on the Big Green's defense, as Cayelli recorded another shot on their goalkeeper, but Dellas made his fifth save. Cayelli would not be denied, as he found the back of the net in the 68th minute to push Penn ahead 1-0. The midfielder's goal opened the floodgates, with the Red and Blue sneaking another past Dellas three minutes later off a shot that went bar down from sophomore Bottene to extend the lead to two with less than 20 minutes left in regulation.
 
Dartmouth tried to respond to the pair of Penn goals, with shots from Spicer in the 72nd and 79th minutes, but the first was blocked and Falcon saved the second to hold the deficit at 2-0. The Quakers did not give up their energy to end the games, adding three more shots, with two reaching Dellas from Bottene and Romeo Dahlen to help run the clock down and secure the Ivy League victory.
 
Up Next
The Quakers (7-3-4, 2-1-2) return to University City next weekend, hosting Yale for a 4 p.m. battle at Rhodes Field.