With just two games left in the regular season, the men’s soccer team is looking for that elusive first Ivy win this weekend as the Red travels to Dartmouth this weekend for a 4 p.m. contest tomorrow for the Cornell’s last road match of 2009.

Defending Ivy champion Dartmouth (9-5-1, 3-2 Ivy) is tied with Brown for second place in the Ancient Eight, while Cornell (5-5-5, 0-2-3) has tied more times in league play than any other Ivy foe.

But senior captain Matt Bouraee sees some chinks in the Green armor.

“Maybe their season isn’t as good as we thought,” he said, considering Dartmouth’s recent struggles.

Though the team’s three-game losing streak ended Tuesday when the Green notched a win over in-state rival New Hampshire, the victory was bittersweet. The goalkeepers kept it close, but Dartmouth’s only scoring in the 1-0 match was an own goal that was deflected off a New Hampshire defender.

This is only the second week that the Green hasn’t made it into the national rankings — the squad climbed as high as No. 10 in the Sept. 15 poll. Dartmouth remains a regional power, however, as the team is tied with Princeton for No. 7 ranking in the Northeast.

On the other hand, the Red has not had much luck against the Green in the past.

It’s now or never: The Red’s first Ivy League win won’t come easy against defending champion Dartmouth. The Green is currently tied with Brown for second place in the conference. Cornell has tied more times in league play than any other Ivy rival.

“Dartmouth is always a very good team,” Bouraee said. “Last year … it wasn’t a pretty game.”

A year ago, the final score of the Red’s home matchup with the Green was 5-2, on Senior Night.

Bouraee scored both goals for the Red, one in each half, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the Green’s high-powered attack. Dartmouth’s rookie phenom, sophomore forward Lucky Mkosana finished with a hat trick, starting with two goals in the first 10 minutes of the game.

“They have a couple of great players, even superstars on that team,” Bouraee said.

Those players that Bouraee singled out, Mkosana and captains Craig Henderson and Daniel Keat, are back with the same resumes in the offensive third. Junior midfielder Keat is among the league leaders with seven goals and five assists, along with Mkosana’s seven goals.

Fifth-year senior Henderson adds four goals and the same number of assists, including four game-winners in 2009 — this is after missing six games due to injury. Henderson was the unanimous Ivy League Player of the Year in 2008 and played for the New Zealand National Team in the 2008 Olympics.

“Those are three very dangerous players,” Bouraee said, “so we’re going to have to contain those three players and win our individual battles with the rest of the team to get the win.”

“[Dartmouth has] had one or two key players injured,” said Cornell head coach Jaro Zawislan, “but they are expected to be in the lineup for our game.”

Yet Zawislan emphasized the need not to focus on just a few intimidating players.

“We need to prepare against the whole team,” he said. “We will keep working on our individual defense to make sure we’re as sharp as possible on the defensive side of the ball. But we don’t want to underestimate their key players. They are definitely at the national level. … [But] our philosophy has been that we’re approaching the whole team as a unit.”

The Cornell coaching staff will not have a decision on the starting goalkeeper until 24 hours before kickoff, but freshman Rick Pflasterer has started the last three games for the Red, with 10 saves in last weekend’s tie with Princeton.

Also in the game at Princeton, Bouraee scored Cornell’s lone goal, which moved him into a tie for ninth place on Cornell’s all-time career points list. With 18 career goals, Bouraee is two out of 10th place. With a repeat of his scoring performance from last year’s Dartmouth matchup, Bouraee could pass that benchmark tomorrow.

Pflasterer, the rookie, summed up the attitude of the players, as they try to overwrite the memory of last year’s loss to the Green: “… new team, new season.”