The Cornell women’s soccer team squandered a lead late in the game on Sunday against a top-ranking Dartmouth team, eventually falling in overtime 3-2. The game was one of the lady booters’ finest on the season but provided another disappointing result.
Dartmouth stormed out to an early lead in a very back-and-forth game when junior Mary McVeigh scored her first of two goals in the game at 8:09.
The Red would respond in due time, though, when Julie DeMichele tallied her first of two assists on the day at 39:03, feeding Emily Knight on the tail-end of a beautifully constructed goal-to-goal play.
Head coach Berhane Andeberhan credited a move made after the Big Green’s early goal for the success of the Red in strengthening its own attack.
“We moved Lindsay [Rovegno] up from the backfield,” Andeberhan said of the offensive-minded switch, “which allowed us to win more balls at midfield, and led to the next two goals.”
The Red’s second goal came at 55:57 when DeMichele connected with Erica Olson to capture the lead.
“To that point [before the second goal] we were playing well enough that, at times, Dartmouth couldn’t touch us,” said Olson of Cornell’s superior effort in the game’s first hour.
However, having gained the lead, Cornell dropped back into a more defensive set for the remainder of regulation. Dartmouth then came at the Red with all guns blazing, firing 17 shots on goal (to Cornell’s seven) and garnering an amazing 15-1 edge in corner kicks.
“They really came at us,” said freshman keeper Katie Thomas, who registered six saves in another outstanding effort. “The pressure was relentless, and they eventually were able to convert.”
The tying goal for the Green came when Katherine Kannenberg tapped in a batted ball from Katie Price at 78:28.
“It was a flurry of activity that often occurred when they’d really start attacking,” said Thomas of the goal, “and that time it was just out of my reach.”
The overtime was short and not-so-sweet for the Red as Dartmouth quickly tacked on the game-winning goal just a minute and a half into the extra session. The goal came off a cross in the box that McVeigh headed past Thomas. It was her fifth goal on the season.
“We played closer to our potential than we have all season,” said Andeberhan, “but sometimes you can outplay a team, get unlucky and lose.”
With the loss, the Red dropped to 4-7-3 overall (1-4-1 Ivy), while Dartmouth upped its mark to 8-4-1 (4-1-1 Ivy) .
Although disappointed with the game’s final outcome, Andeberhan was looking expectantly towards the future for his young team.
“If we continue to play like we have these last couple games,” he said, “the future seems pretty exciting for this team.”
The Red plays its last game of the 2001 season this Saturday when it hosts Columbia at 4p.m. It will be an emotional game for the outgoing seniors and a glimpse of the future for so many of the team’s up-and-coming stars.
Archived article by Scott Jones