Despite an aggressive first half and a strong showing defensively, the Red came up short against Brown this past weekend in Providence, after the Bears’ freshman midfielder Amanda Lane scored off a corner kick in the 85th minute of play. The goal boosted Brown to a 1-0 victory over Cornell without sufficient time remaining for the Red to make a successful counter attack.
Cornell will host Princeton at Berman Field this Saturday, for its penultimate League competition of the season — the team’s final game will be against Dartmouth on Nov. 5, which will also be senior day for the Red—marking the last time its seven seniors will suit up to play on Berman Field.
Both Cornell and Princeton have been eliminated from contention for the Ivy League title this season. The Tigers, defending Ivy League champions, lost the opportunity to earn their second consecutive title after conceding three back-to-back games to Brown, Columbia and Harvard. Columbia currently tops the Ivy League rankings, followed by Harvard, Brown and Penn, while Princeton, Yale and Cornell are all tied for 5th.
Although the league title is out of reach for the Red, the team continues to look ahead with a competitive mindset and aims to build on the developments it has accumulated throughout the season. The Red’s close loss in the last minutes of play against Brown led to a new team focus on consistency throughout the entire 90 minutes of competition.
“At Brown I think we started the game really strong, but lost a good amount of our momentum in the second half. I think as a whole the team understood that we let up in the second half,” said sophomore defender Grace Keller.
Keller delivered one of the Red’s six shots, but the team had zero shots on goal. Brown, comparatively, had 11 shots overall and six shots on goal, one of which made the net and led the Bears to victory. Cornell’s defensive line has been its backbone throughout the season, while the team has struggled to increase its accuracy and aggression offensively.
“We had a good first half and played evenly with Brown and were aggressive in our attitude and we need to carry that forward to Princeton, but we did not play as forcefully in the second half and we need to recognize that and change our mentality into a more attack-minded approach,” said head coach Patrick Farmer. “Also, we need to focus on being faster into the attack and more pointed in our possession to get into the penalty area.”
To lead this “attack-minded” effort, Farmer said he hopes junior forward Paige DeLoach will “provide some dynamic play and leadership from the front of the team.” He is also looking to senior defender Kailey Joyce to “be the main organizer and communicator at the back to deal with two excellent forwards from Princeton.”
These two high-caliber Princeton forwards are senior Tyler Lussi and sophomore Mimi Asom. In 2015, when the Tigers won the Ivy League Title, Asom was Ivy League Rookie of the Year and Lussi was Ivy League Offensive Player of the Year. The duo will present a challenge even for the Red’s strong, consistent defensive line. They will also put pressure on the Red’s offense to match their level of aggression up front.
The Red host Princeton this Saturday at 2:30 p.m. on Berman Field.