When men’s soccer coach, Bryan Scales, looked at the schedule in the beginning of the season, he asterisked this weekend’s matchup against Dartmouth as a crucial game. With a potential share of the Ivy League championship on the line this Saturday, Scales’ prophesy held true. Unfortunately, the team did not hold up its end of the bargain, officially ending the Red’s chances of an Ivy league title.
Dartmouth squandered the Red’s title aspirations with three first-half goals. The Big Green’s senior midfielder Nick Magnuson opened the scoring when he scored on a penalty kick 10 minutes into the match. Dartmouth then scored two more goals in the first half on sophomore netminder Carlos Rodriguez, pushing their goal tally in the first forty-five minutes to three.
Rodriguez was inserted into the lineup due to the injuries of sophomores Doug Allan and Andrew Gordon. Allan was out with a broken nose and Gordon with a dislocated shoulder. Rodriguez had a shaky first half giving up the three goals, but settled down in the second half and collected nine total saves. On a couple of occasions in the second half, the crowd was on its feet in admiration of Rodriguez’ diving saves
“He (Rodriguez) was forced to play on very short notice,” Scales said. “The second half, he played a lot better. But at the end of the day, I know he won’t be happy.”
Cornell came out in the second half like a team trying to maintain its chances at a title. Ten minutes into the second half, senior captain Richard Stimpson skillfully led classmate Jay Rosen on a beautiful ball. Rosen took control of the pass, raced in on the left wing of the field and beat the Dartmouth keeper in the left hand corner of the net for the Red’s lone score.
The momentum seemed to be with the Red. The strikers kept up the offensive arsenal, but to no avail. With two minutes left senior Adam Skumawitz apparently knocked one in. With the crowd roaring and the sideline in pandemonium, the referee spoiled the moment with a handball call. Consequently, the goal was called off.
Down 3-1 with two minutes left, the Red was unable to muster any more scoring chances.
“In the first half, we did not play like we wanted to win a championship,” Scales said. “The second half we did play much better though.”
This game marked the last home game for the team’s seniors. At the end of the game, spectators saw the sentiments on the seniors’ faces – for they realized this was their last game at the beloved Berman field.
The seniors and the rest of the team try to regroup tomorrow as they take on in-state rival, Oneonta State.
Archived article by Jason Skolnik