M. Soccer Cruises Past Dartmouth Behind Freshmen Hoff and Altchek

In a season filled with hard-fought victories, the Harvard men’s soccer team finally got something on Saturday that has been tough for it to find—an easy win.

“Out of all our games, this was our only blowout this year,” sophomore midfielder Nicholas Tornaritis said. “It was nice to just put them away.”

The Crimson (7-4-3, 2-2-1 Ivy) soundly defeated Dartmouth (4-8-2, 0-5-0) 4-1 thanks to a flurry of offense led once again by freshman forward Matt Hoff.

Though Harvard seemed in control for most of the game, a Big Green rally that began midway through the first half nearly erased the Crimson’s 2-0 lead.

Amar Takhar got Dartmouth on the board in the 34th minute when he scored a goal off a pass from teammate Damien Quinn.

Less than a minute later, it appeared that the Big Green had tied the game at two apiece, but the goal was called back when the officials ruled that a Dartmouth forward was offsides.

After the scare, though, Hoff put the final nail in the coffin. Though he was turned away in the 37th minute on a breakaway in front of the goal—prompting him to throw up his hands in disgust—Hoff persevered and finally got the clinching score with just over a minute to play in the first half.

This time, Hoff’s first shot went off the crossbar instead of the goalie’s hands. But with the help of Tornaritis, he was able to corral the rebound and shoot it past Dartmouth goalie Rowan Anders for his team-leading seventh goal of the season.

“We got lucky that Hoff scored a great goal right before the half to give us some momentum,” Harvard coach John Kerr said. “Clearly, we were the stronger team and we showed it.”

This game stands in contrast to the Crimson’s recent struggles to put teams away. In last Saturday’s match against Princeton, Harvard dominated the action but was only able to come away with a 2-0 victory, giving the game some unneeded excitement.

This time, the Crimson shut the door on the Big Green when, just over two minutes into the second half, freshman forward Charles Altchek scored his second goal of the season to put the game even farther out of reach for Dartmouth. After junior midfielder Zach Chandis’ shot was mishandled by Anders, Altchek polished off the rebound to give Harvard a 4-1 lead.

“We had a little talk at halftime,” Kerr said. “We really wanted to bury them and we did.”

The Altchek goal was just another example of Harvard’s ability to capitalize on Anders’ miscues.

“I think he put himself in that position a lot,” Tornaritis said. “He did it to himself more than us doing anything out of the ordinary.”

Tornaritis scored the first goal of the game in the 23rd minute when Anders put himself in a bad position after blocking a Hoff shot. Tornaritis tracked down the ricochet on the left side of the penalty area and—with Anders still scrambling to recover—lobbed a shot over the head of a Dartmouth defender who had positioned himself where his goalie should have been.

Only the second goal of the game—which came off of a free kick from senior midfielder Kevin Ara—did not result from an Anders mistake.

Still, Harvard was happy to have a chance to spread around the scoring opportunities. Hoff, Altchek, Tornaritis and Ara each had a goal and an assist.

Even more impressive, the Crimson’s explosion came without one of its best offensive weapons. Sophomore forward Brian Charnock (two goals, four assists) came down with a virus that knocked him out of action this week.

With the win, Harvard elevated its home record to 6-1-1. Only No. 11 Brown has beaten Harvard at home.

The Crimson returns to action on Tuesday when it plays Providence in a makeup for last Wednesday’s match, which was rained out.