Tonight the Cornell sprint football team will attempt to end its four-game losing streak when it hosts the Princeton Tigers.
After a disappointing game last week in which the Red lost to Penn 20-0, the team wants to have its first home game of the season start on the right note. But in order for the Red to be victorious tonight, it will have to avoid the mental errors that plagued it in the first game.
“We put together a solid defensive effort and the offense made some good plays and moved the ball well in the first half. But in the second half we had a couple of mental breakdowns and Penn capitalized,” senior linebacker Pat Arangio said.
Arangio, a second-team All-League selection last year, believes that the team can pull through if it plays with a lot of intensity, “If we come out and play to the best of our abilities, I think that we can be successful.”
Following a tough first loss, the Red has no intentions losing another.
“We worked hard all week and stayed very focused. After a loss like that you have to rebound right away and not look back,” senior tri-captain Andrew Goodman said.
Once again the Red’s anchor, its defense, hopes to play at the same level that it did last week. If senior tri-captains Imad Baggar and Jon Krautmann can play with the same intensity they did against Penn, helping the defense to force three interceptions and three fumbles, the Red should be in good shape against the Tigers. Princeton, who had a miserable season last year (1-5), should be hard pressed to produce any offense against the Red’s powerhouse defense.
As long as the team defense plays well, opportunities will be there for the offense to work with. Hopefully the team can stay focused, minimize its errors and come away victorious.
“The key thing for us is to execute and not make mental mistakes, and [if we do that] everything should go well,” Krautmann said.
Cornell’s first-home game is tonight on Schoellkopf Field at 7:30 p.m.
Archived article by Nick Schieffelin