The Cornell field hockey (7-5, 2-2 Ivy) team lost a heartbreaker this homecoming weekend, falling yesterday to Harvard (6-4, 3-0) 1-0 on Schoellkopf Field.
The match had two very distinct faces to it. The Red dominated the first half, controlling the ball the majority of the time and out-shooting the Crimson 5-2. But in the second half it was all Harvard. Cornell only had one penalty corner the entire half, with the ball rarely crossing in to the Harvard zone.
“We had no offensive action,” head coach Michelle Tambroni said
The score would have been much worse for the Red had it not been for some very acrobatic saves by sophomore goalie Kaitlin Tierney.
“She saved the game for us,” Tambroni added.
The only shot that got by Tierney was off the stick of Kate Gannon, when she dug the ball out of the scrum and forced it past Tierney at 56:33.
The Red rallied in the remaining minutes, keeping the ball in the Harvard zone, even getting a couple of shots off in desperation, but it wasn’t enough.
“We need to organize our defense and stay focused. We weren’t intimidated, we just need to play two consistent halves,” Tambroni said.
This brings the Red’s overall record to 7-5 and 2-2 in conference play.
With only the last three weeks of the regular season remaining, the Red will play three out of its four games against Ivy League teams. Wins against oncoming Brown, Princeton and Dartmouth are all critical to keep the Red at the top of the Ivy League.
“We match up pretty evenly with Brown, but we need to be aggressive and maintain a high energy level throughout the game,” Tambroni said.
The Red is now on a two game loosing streak, and is hoping to break it when the Bears comes to town on Sunday “It’s going to be a team effort. We want to end with a win,” junior Sarah Rosenbaum said.
Archived article by Josh Vlasto