The women’s soccer team lost a tough league match-up on Saturday to first place Harvard in Cambridge, Mass. 4-0. The rainy conditions made for a very scrappy affair in which the Crimson was able to tally two goals per half.
Harvard struck early as freshman Maile Tavepholjalern notched her first career goal off assists from Katie Westfall and Joey Yenne at 17:09.
Harvard then broke the game wide open as sophomore Alisha Moran beat Cornell sophomore goalie Katie Thomas just four minutes later. Sara Sedgwick and Caitlin Butler were credited with assists on the score.
Westfall continued her fine day along with breaking Cornell’s spirit out of halftime when she put in Harvard’s third goal just five minutes into the second half.
Katie Hodel finished the Crimson’s onslaught at 78:18, cementing the final numbers at 4-0.
Cornell could only muster four shots on the day to Harvard’s 11 and didn’t have a single corner kick while the Crimson had seven chances from the corner.
Thomas did her best — racking up four saves — but was unable to stop the seemingly constant stream of Harvard opportunities.
The loss drops the Red to 6-3-1 overall, but more importantly reduces its League mark to 1-3. The Crimson held its first-place Ivy position (2-0-1) along with improving its overall record to 5-4-1 with the victory.
Cornell will have an immediate chance to right its recent woes, as it heads to West Point tonight for a 7 p.m. showdown with the Black Knights of Army.
Army is currently riding a 10 game winning streak that has it firmly implanted at the top of the Patriot League. The Black Knights are 10-1-2 overall and 3-0-1 in league play.
Cornell’s opponent is in the midst of a three game mini-homestand which has treated the Black Knights well.
However, the prospects for Patriot League teams facing Ivy League squads have not been bright of late as the former is currently 0-8-1 against the latter in 2002.
Leading Army’s attempt to break that streak is a trio of freshmen phenoms that is similar to Cornell’s 2002 rookie trinity. Leigh Kosco is the reigning Army Athletic Association’s Athlete of the Week, coming off an impressive offensive performance against defending Patriot League champion Bucknell on Saturday. Kosco is tied for first on her team with seven goals and is second in scoring with 17 points (7 goals, 3 assists).
Kosco is complemented by classmate Delaney Brown, who is tied with Kosco for the team lead in goals. The two have been the Black Knights’ most potent one-two punch all year, allowing Army to get off to its best start since 1993.
The final piece of the freshmen triangle for Army is goalkeeper Morgan Bennett. Bennett has recently been ranked as the No. 3 keeper in the nation and has played a huge role in Army’s nine shutouts this season. Six of those shutouts were solo efforts for Bennett.
The Black Knights will pose a needed challenge to a Red team that is looking to regain its early season success heading into more Ivy League action. After tonight’s contest, Cornell next entertains Dartmouth at 11 a.m. on Saturday.
Archived article by Scott Jones