On a chilly afternoon where the colors on the field were Big Red and
Big Green and one Cornell player wore a Santa Claus hat on the sideline, the Red field hockey team (8-9, 3-4 Ivy) couldn’t get any early Christmas gifts from the referees and took a heartbreaking 1-0 loss to Dartmouth College Red field hockey team (8-9, 3-4 Ivy) couldn’t get any early Christmas gifts from the referees and took a heartbreaking 1-0 loss to Dartmouth College (10-7, 4-3 Ivy) in the season finale at Schoellkopf Field yesterday.
Cornell closed out the season in a three-way tie for fourth in the Ivy League with Columbia and Brown, while the Big Green winds up the campaignwith three straight shutout victories and a third place finish in the Ancient Eight.
The Green came out hard on Sunday, outshooting the Red 19-2 in the first
half. Freshman goalkeeper Kaitlin Tierney kept the Red in the game by making nine saves in the first frame, and 12 in the entire game. Dartmouth freshman Caitlin Barrett notched the contest’s only point with an unassisted goal at the 21:59 mark.
Cornell was unable to capitalize on any of its seven penalty corners in the game. The Red came closest eight minutes into the second half, when a shot off a corner was deflected and landed on top of the net.
The play went back and forth for about 20 minutes after that, as Dartmouth’s long-pass strategy took the ball to one end and Cornell worked it back to the Big Green zone. With seven minutes left in the game, Tierney Dartmouth’s long-pass strategy took the ball to one end and Cornell worked it back to the Big Green zone. With seven minutes left in the game, Tierney made a huge stop on a shot from close range, keeping the Red within one. After that save, the pressure was entirely on the Dartmouth defense. Cornell had plenty of opportunities in the final minutes, including a pair of corners, but could not convert on any of them.
“We played with a lot of pressure in the second half,” head coach Michelle Tambroni said. “We were constantly trying to get out of a hole, and it was frustrating. We had opportunities to win the game, but we didn’t do it.”
The officiating in the game was a little suspect, and drew a good deal of heckling from the crowd, which was one of the largest for a home game this season.
“We had some difficult calls,” Tambroni mentioned.
Yesterday’s match was the last time in a Big Red uniform for the graduating seniors, and they all saw some playing time, with the exception of regular starting goalie Maureen Sullivan, who was out with an injury.
The class of 2001 is the first group of field hockey players to play out
of regular starting goalie Maureen Sullivan, who was out with an injury.
The class of 2001 is the first group of field hockey players to play out their entire Cornell career under Tambroni.
“They played with a lot of heart,” Tambroni said of the seniors. “You always put everything on the line on Senior Day. I’m proud of the senior class, I couldn’t be more proud. They’ve given me all they’ve got.”
Archived article by Alex Fineman