The women’s soccer team became a powerhouse last night, as the girls rallied together to create a decisive 2-0 shutout against Colgate, marking the Red’s first victory of the season. Both of last night’s goals were scored by freshman, proving the new bloods talent early in the season.

“I was really excited. We got a shutout, played strong and kept are cool overall. We took some shots and played a good 90 minutes game, so hopefully we can use this to continue forward,” said sophomore goalkeeper Kelly Murphy.

From the onset of the game, the Red (1-3-1) began putting pressure on the Raiders (1-4-2) and with less than 10 minutes into the game, freshman midfielder Hannan Labadie scored her first career goal with an assist to sophomore forward Brook Chang.

“Everything came together. The forwards, midfielders, defense, we played as one cohesive unit and that is a huge step for us,” said sophomore defender Sidra Bonner.

Juke: The women’s soccer team defeated Colgate to pick up their first win of the season. The Red will face George Mason and William & Mary this weekend.

For the remainder of the first half, Cornell’s defense worked determinedly to sustain a shut out before heading into intermission. Coming into the second half, with fresh legs, the Red continued to apply pressure as it pushed forward and kept possession for a remainder of the game.

Less than ten minutes into the second half, freshman forward Maneesha Chitanvis tallied another goal for the Red, locking the score at 2-0, when sophomore defender Sam Wright positioned a perfect pass to Chitanvis. Cornell was able to keep the ball offensively and deflected any scoring opportunities for the Raiders.

“It absolutely gave us confidence. One of the things we were struggling with was confidence. We hadn’t scored a goal in the run of play,” said Head Coach Danielle LaRoche. “All of our goals had been scored from corner kicks and the girls were getting antsy wanting to score goals.”

With both team having an even matchup, Cornell knew Colgate’s three defenders would be perfectly aligned with the Red’s offensive lineup. In addition, at the beginning of the week, the Red worked diligently in maintaining its confidence throughout the game and ensuring to finish the ball.

“We’ve been working on different pieces of the game. We worked on defense, last week was midfield, and this week was forwards and finishing,” said LaRoche. “Today is the first day I feel like it all came together from the back line to the forward and they did it effectively. We finished and were able to score and win as a result. My impression is that we have finally gelled.”

Knowing that anything is possible, Cornell heads on the road this weekend to face off against regionally ranked teams - William & Mary and George Mason. On Friday night, the Red takes on the Tribe (4-2) who are coming off of a 3-0 victory against Coastal Carolina. Surprisingly, neither of these teams has played each other since 1988, when the Tribes beat the Red won in a grueling 5-0 victory.

“They’re going to be really tough games, but I think that the intensity from this game will carry over into the weekend, and we will play really hard and hopefully come out with some wins,” Labadie said.

The Red will definitely have to utilize its strong defensive unit, with seven of William & Mary’s team having tallied at least one point this season. Erin Liberatore leads the team with six points from three goals, and goalie Grace Barnard posts a 1.16 goals-against average and a .788 save percentage.

“We will slow them down. They are a fast athletic team with quick passes, we want to make their play predictable and slow them down and try to get in behind their backs because they have a couple of weak links, so we will try to exploit that a little bit,” LaRoche said.

On Sunday afternoon, the Red continues play as it squares off against George Mason, another ranked team in the NSCAA Mid-Atlantic region. The Patriots (5-1) are also coming from annihilation, after defeating Coastal Carolina 8-1 last weekend. The squad boasts an impressive group of attackers, having scored 25 goals in six games.

Cornell leads the all-time series 2-1, with George Mason winning the last matchup, in 1998. Luckily for the Red, LaRoche used to be an assistant coach for George Mason, so she has a great deal of knowledge about the team and its play tactics, information that the Red hopes to exploit.

“George Mason is a very athletic team who plays very direct and doesn’t like to possess it,” LaRoche said. “They kind of like to run and gun, so again we will slow them down a bit.”

The Red hope to utilize its newly found talent and momentum as it progresses forward in hopes of crushing this weekend’s games and coming away with two road victories.

“Our strategy is to make sure we start off strong from the first blow of the whistle. I definitely think we are capable of coming out this weekend with two wins but they are two great teams so we will try and get good experience,” said Bonner. “In addition, the win gives the team a lot of confidence, which is something that we needed for a young team … now that we have some confidence, I think we will do really well this weekend.”