HANOVER — St. Mary’s (Calif.) goalkeeper Sam Bentley sunk his butt onto the grass, slid his left arm down the goalpost and stared into the back of the net.

Dartmouth men’s soccer coach Bo Oshoniyi wants to punish teams on set pieces. If all goes according to plan, as it did for the Big Green on two occasions in their 2-2 draw with the Gaels on Sunday at Whitey Burnham Field, this is the reaction it will elicit from the opposition.

A poor clearance from a St. Mary’s player off the initial Dartmouth corner kick allowed junior midfielder Oskar Magnusson to collect the ball and lay it off to senior midfielder Kristian Feed, whose one-time in-swinging effort found the head of an unmarked Sam Fenton. The junior defender leapt forward, narrowly fitting his header between the post and Bentley to hand the Big Green a 1-0 advantage less than three minutes in.

In the 35th minute, Dartmouth capitalized on another errant Gaels clearance. When Bentley unsuccessfully attempted to corral senior midfielder Phineas Callahan’s cross, the ball had to be booted off the line. But the attempted clearance never made its way out of the box, falling to the feet of sophomore forward Trenton Blake, who rifled a volley into the side netting.

“I liked the guys’ effort; they’re coming out and creating chances,” Oshoniyi said. “We just have to be more mature in certain situations, when you’re up two goals, to know how to kill off a game.”

On the heels of a 4-1 rout of Fairleigh Dickinson on Thursday, the Big Green (1-1-1) squandered several transition opportunities in the second half, while St. Mary’s took advantage of its chances in front of goal.

A 68th-minute penalty conversion brought the Gaels a goal back before an 83rd minute one-time finish from Ian Smith knotted the game up at 2-2.

“We kept giving the ball back to them; we got the ball into the middle third and attacking third and then just couldn’t connect passes,” Oshoniyi said. “We were a little naive in those moments to understand where the ball needed to go so that we could have gotten a third goal.”

When sophomore forward Vasilis Moiras’ potentially game-winning rebound effort in the final minute was called back for offside, a draw between the two sides was all but confirmed. As the final whistle blew, several Dartmouth players plopped to the ground or keeled over in frustration, mirroring Bentley’s dejected reaction almost two hours earlier.

“It’s one of those (results) where you have to pick yourself up,” Oshoniyi said. “We always talk about making sure that you start with yourself, because it’s really easy right now — you had a two-goal lead — to start pointing fingers.”

The Big Green, amid a five-game homestand, return to action against UConn on Friday.

Here’s how the rest of Dartmouth fall sports programs fared in the last week:

Cross country kicks off season in Rhode Island

The Dartmouth women opened the 2024 season with a win at the Shawn M. Nassaney Invite, hosted by Bryant.

All five Big Green runners placed inside the top 10, while four runners finished within less than two seconds of each other. Senior Caroline Livingston ran the fastest time — 18 minutes, 48.4 seconds — followed closely by junior Andie Murray, senior Bella Pietrasiewicz and junior Katherine Strong.

The Dartmouth men finished in fourth place at the same race, led by junior Eric Sankey’s individual seventh-place time.

Sailing opens season with four regattas

Dartmouth’s 2024 season began with four different regattas hosted by Harvard, MIT and Yale, respectively.

For the first time since the program began in 2010, the Big Green earned a season-opening women’s regatta win at the Toni Deutsch Trophy. Dartmouth also nabbed a first-place finish at the Harvard Invite while placing third at the Charles River Invite and fourth at the Harry Anderson Trophy.

Women’s soccer draws, loses on road

Dartmouth (3-2-1) began a three-game road trip on Thursday evening against its second ACC opponent this season, Pittsburgh. After a scoreless opening 45 minutes, the Panthers rattled off three goals in less than three minutes of game time, before rolling to a 6-1 victory.

The Big Green stayed in the Keystone State for their next match against Robert Morris on Sunday, drawing 1-1. Junior midfielder Hailey Rorick provided Dartmouth’s lone tally, converting from the penalty spot to notch her second goal in as many games.

Coach Taylor Schram’s squad will face Colgate on Thursday before returning to Hanover to host a Sunday matinee against Hofstra.

Field hockey drops opening two games

Mark Egner commenced his fourth season helming the Big Green last Friday in a 3-0 loss to Lafayette. The Leopards pounced on a pair of rebound opportunities for their first two goals before recording their final tally on a transition opportunity late in the fourth quarter.

Dartmouth had a quick turnaround over the weekend, traveling to Amherst, Mas.., for a game against UMass on Sunday. The Big Green were held scoreless once again in a 6-0 loss.

“It’s just the little details,” Egner said regarding potential fixes following Friday’s defeat. “Being a week or two behind some of these teams that started earlier this year, being an Ivy League team, that’s normal. So these things will tighten up as we get closer to conference play.”

Women’s volleyball wins twice at opening tourney

Dartmouth began its 2024 season at the Northeastern Tournament over the weekend. The Big Green dropped its season opener against Florida Gulf Coast in four sets on Friday but rebounded on Saturday with a four-set victory over Lindenwood.

Coach Kevin Maureen Campbell’s squad closed the tournament on Sunday with a thrilling five-set triumph over the hosting Huskies, notably overcoming a 2-1 deficit after the third set. Junior outside hitter Kauany Gutz earned Ivy League Player of the Week honors after leading Dartmouth with 57 kills in three games, including 30 in the win over Northeastern.

Alex Cervantes can be reached at acervantes@vnews.com or 603-727-7302.