The women’s soccer team has a great obstacle ahead of it if it wants to extend its winning streak to two. Tomorrow, Princeton comes up to East Hill to play the Red in the second-to-last game of the season.
Cornell (3-12, 1-4 Ivy) is riding a convincing 4-2 win against Bucknell from last Tuesday. The Bison succumbed to the Red behind freshman striker Emily Knight and sophomore midfielder Sarah Olsen’s outstanding play. Both women were one goal short of a hat trick.
But the Red will need to outdo itself if it wants to compete with the Tigers. Princeton (10-4, 4-1) is coming off a two game losing streak, but it has notched wins against Ivy foes Brown (1-0) and Yale (2-0). Both teams beat the Red earlier this season. Princeton is currently tied with Harvard for first in the Ivy League.
The game against Bucknell lifted the women’s spirits, but also indicated some lapses in the team’s play.
“It was definitely good to win. We needed a [victory],” senior striker Erica Olson said. “Still it wasn’t one of our best games.”
“There were a few mistakes,” head coach Berhane Andeberhan agreed. “We have a tendency to give up cheap goals.”
Tomorrow when the Red takes the field at 4:00 p.m. the team will have to be perfect. A team as fast and talented as Princeton will surely capitalize on any error. Any cheap goal will certainty hurt the Red, especially since Tiger netminder Jordan Rettig is one of the top goalies in the Ivy League. She has an impressive .882 save percentage in the Ivies.
However, senior goalie Meghan Cauzillo, who has had a solid season thus far, captured second place on the Cornell career saves list after facing Syracuse on October 12th. She has 262 saves, behind only Sue Delong ’95 who notched 370.
The Red, as always, is optimistic about its chances tomorrow.
“We’re going into Princeton knowing that we could have beat [either Brown or Harvard],” Olson commented. “We could have won as easily as they could have.”
Unfortunately, the women did not win either game in a season that has seen more heartbreakers than wins. They do not want to rely on the twists of fate and late game goals anymore.
“Yes, there’s been bad luck, but we could have gotten more goals, also,” Olson said. “We need to dictate our luck.”
Cornell needs its confidence when the Ivy League first-placed Tigers enter Berman Field. But the Red is more concerned with its own game play than the one Princeton presents.
“Basically we’re going in playing our own game,” Olson said. “We just need to be competitive.”
Archived article by Amanda Angel