The men’s soccer team (3-5-3, 0-3-1 Ivy) continues to struggle as it dropped a 1-0 contest to Ivy League foe Brown (5-4-4, 1-1-2) Saturday night on a wet Stevenson Field. Both teams entered the game winless in conference play and fresh off losses to Fairfield University.
Of the game, head coach Bryan Scales could explain his feelings in one word, frustrating.
“Everyone is frustrated,” he stated. “We had five or six good scoring opportunities that are harder to miss than make. It’s just very frustrating. The effort is there, that’s not the issue. The issue is having confidence and winning these games.”
Senior captain Liam Hoban explained, “It was basically how things are going. They had one good chance and they scored. We had a lot of chances and we didn’t capitalize on them. It seems like another unlucky loss.”
After a scoreless first half which saw both teams manage just three shots apiece on goal, Brown got on the board when freshman Ibrahim Diane sent a hard shot high into the net past Cornell keeper Doug Allan. Junior Jilian Jordan assisted on the goal, which came in the 74th minute of the game.
Brown goalkeeper Chris Gomez made seven saves, to earn his third shutout of the season. Allan recorded six saves for the night.
The Cornell defensive unit once again had a strong showing, despite the absence of junior Matt Bluemnstyk due to a concussion. Sophomore Sean Mendy stepped in for Bluemnstyk and played well in the back.
Of his team’s defensive effort Scales stated, “The defense played extremely well. I can’t think of any clear opportunity Brown had. They didn’t really give anything away, that’s what is even more frustrating.”
Hoban also felt the defense played well.
“Overall the defense was really good; the back four played well. Matt Bluemenstick was missed, but Mendy did a pretty good job,” he said.
Offensively, Scales believed the team created some chances but were not able to capitalize on them.
Of these missed opportunities he said, “If it wasn’t so frustrating, it would be comical.”
One of the team’s best chances at scoring a goal came from sophomore Peter Lynch who had a strong volley off a corner kick. As the shot was heading up to the corner it hit off of freshman Andrew George and rolled out of bounds resulting in a Brown goal kick.
Scales explained that the team cannot keep relying on an already strong defensive unit to keep them in games.
Overall though, Hoban felt the team played well.
“Everyone played really hard, it was a really tough loss for the team because we put everything we had into it and we thought we had it.”
He later added, “We gave a good effort, a really courageous effort the whole game.”
With just half a dozen games remaining, the team will be looking for its first win in its last six attempts. Despite this long drought, Scales is still optimistic.
“As frustrating as this streak has been, the spirit amongst the guys is good,” he stated. “They’ll be ready to go on Wednesday.”
Hoban stated, “There is nothing much more we can do than to just keep going. There is nothing really to fix at this point. It’s kind of a luck thing. We just need to keep plugging away.”
Wednesday the team returns to Berman Field to take on Syracuse at 7 p.m.
Archived article by Kristen Haunss