Princeton’s Theresa Sherry posted a second-half double late in the match and dropped the Cornell women’s soccer team 2-0 to its fifth straight conference loss (3-13, 1-5 Ivy).
The upset bid against the league-leading Tigers (11-5, 5-1 Ivy) lasted over eighty minutes, as Red goalie Meghan Cauzillo kept the match scoreless with ten saves during that span. Included in the performance were multiple punches for clears over the crossbar, and a spectacular array of diving saves.
“Megan played absolutely amazing, and she has kept us into so many games,” freshman midfielder Lindsay Rovegno said.
“I think that she had the best game I’ve ever seen her play in my three years here,” junior midfielder Andrea Madison added.
Cauzillo, however, did not feel that she deserved to be the focus of the attention.
“Goalkeeping is a lot about skill, but its also about luck,” the senior said. “Just a couple more things went my way. Maybe I was just a split second faster and was able to make some more saves. But it was the wind that was hard deal with, and we really misplayed that corner.”
Indeed, the blustering Ithaca gusts proved critical in a match that saw each team control a half. A fast-paced Cornell team took the upper hand in the first period playing with the wind, only to struggle once it switched sides.
“We were really hoping to score that first half since we had the wind and we just dominated,” Cauzillo said.
Princeton remained patient as it waited its turn, stymieing the Red with skillful passing, sheer speed, and an incredible goalie of its own. Tiger keeper Jordan Rettig has allowed only seven goals against this season, in the meantime posting eight shutouts and a .50 goals against average.
The Cornell defense gave a strong challenge, but finally broke down in the 81st minute after already stopping eleven corners in the game. Midfielder Heather Deerin floated a corner kick straight at the penalty marker, where the unmarked Sherry waited. The freshman converted emphatically, with a perfect header into the upper ninety.
“[Sherry] hit the upper right goal perfectly,” Madison said. “It was placed so perfectly that it couldn’t be stopped.”
Sherry followed with another score in just four minutes, catching a rebound off Cauzillo and directing it back to the net. Sherry now leads the Tigers with seven goals and fifteen points.
“I thought that we played really hard and we really fought,” Ravegno commented. “They are ranked number-one in the league, and I think we gave them a really good showing. The game could’ve gone either way.”
“They were probably more composed than we were,” Madison said. “We played really well for 80 minutes, and the rest of the time we were nervous and panicky.”
The Red still showed a vast improvement in focus and really limited the early mistakes that have plagued most of its season.
“Our back three played really well and really hard. Its just the mental that we sometimes seem to lack,” Cauzillo said. “Sometimes it takes a goal [against] for us to get into it, and we did not give up a cheap goal, like we did with Brown. Once we’re in a deficit it makes it that much harder. We made sure to play hard in the first five minutes of each half.”
The soccer team ends its season next Saturday hosting Dartmouth (10-4, 3-1 Ivy), with a chance to stay out of last place.
Archived article by Simon Chan