By wpengine
After a week and a half without playing a game, the field hockey will hope this its fortunes will change for the better when it returns home Sunday to host Brown (7-5, 2-2 Ivy League). Cornell (3-9, 1-4 Ivy League) is looking for its second league win of the season. Cornell is currently in the midst of a slump, having lost eight of its last nine matches. Part of this has to do with the difficult schedule the squad has faced. The Red has played several nationally ranked teams over the course of the year. Over its last four games, Cornell has gone 1-3 with all its losses coming against nationally ranked opponents, including league rivals Harvard and Princeton. The team has also had to adjust to new offensive and defensive schemes implemented by interim head coach Phillip Sykes. Only recently does it seem that the team has adapted to these new systems and integrated them successfully in its play. The Red has also suffered from inconsistency in many of its matches, playing well during one part of the game while falling apart at other times. Generally the Red’s inability to be consistent has resulted in losses. “We just aren’t capitalizing on our chances at all,” said senior goalie Kailtin Tierney last week after a loss to the Caviliers. The squad has worked on addressing these problems during practice this past week. “One of the advantages [of having so much time off between games] is that it gives you time to fix problems,” said senior tri-captain Kimmy Gardner. “We have had a consistent hard practice all week. I see things being better.” All these problems were evident in the last two games Cornell played. Two weeks ago, the Red was outplayed by a nationally-ranked Harvard squad to the tune of a 6-0 Crimson victory. Harvard’s offense dominated the Red’s defense throughout the contest while Cornell’s attack was a nonpresence, only managing two shots in the entire contest. Cornell was unable last week to solve Virginia’s goalie Logan Carr, whose brilliant play shut out the Red 4-0. Cornell was competitive for most of the game, only trailing by a goal until late in the second half. Tierney made a season-high 12 stops while classmates Gardner and Carissa Mirasol each had three shots. With four games remaining in the season — two of which are at home — the Red hopes that the pieces will fall into place so that it can close the season on a positive note. Brown is coming off a strong performance last weekend, defeating Fairfield, 3-1, before falling to defending Ivy champion Princeton, 2-0. Senior Laurel Pierpont, who had a goal and an assist last weekend, leads the Bears with 10 points on the season. Behind her, fellow senior Lizzie Buza is second on the team with nine points. Senior Molly Carleton and sophomore Brooke Townsend are tied for third on the team with eight points giving the Bears many weapons on offense that will challenge Tierney on gameday. Junior goalie Katie Noe has been solid in net for Brown, making 10 saves last week against Princeton and averaging 1.90 goals against for the year. She has been particularly effective against Cornell, as last year she shut down the Red’s offense, registering 14 stops to give the Bears a 2-1 victory. Sophomore Kristen Vincent (three defensive saves) and senior Meaghan Harwood (two defensive saves) have been leaders in the Bears backfield. Cornell’s offense, led by junior Gina Testa (eight points), and senior tri-captain Karleigh Burns (seven points), will need to get back on track Sunday after being shut out in its last two games. “I think it we are pretty evenly matched with Brown. We can defeat them. It should be a good contest,” said Gardner. Archived article by Chris Callanan
By wpengine
Tomorrow morning at 11 a.m., the women’s soccer team kicks Homecoming Weekend into high gear with a match against Brown University on the pitch at Berman Field. The Red (7-3-2, 1-2-1 Ivy) will look to shake off last weekend’s tough overtime loss at Yale and pickup a key Ivy League victory. “It’s going to be very exciting to play on Homecoming,” said senior tri-captain Lindsay Rovegno. “A lot of alumni are coming up and we’re expecting even more fans than usual.” The added electricity of the weekend’s festivities will only serve to benefit the team as it takes on Brown, a notoriously physical squad. Most of the Bears are over 5-8, which gives them a strong aerial game. Look for Brown to try to disrupt Cornell’s possession game with long lofted passes and big hits. “A lot of the teams we play try to overpower us, because that’s how you beat a team that’s tactically more advanced,” said Rovegno. “We just need to play our game and ignore their physicality.” “Last year, we domintated them but had trouble finishing,” said sophomore forward Shannon Fraser. “I’m sure they’ve improved, but so have we. It should be a really good game. They beat Harvard last week, so they’re obviously capable of beating good teams.” Rather than completely revamp its plan of attack to combat the matchup problems that Brown presents, the Red will do what they have done all year — make only slight adjustments and continue to bang away with their possession system of soccer, a tactic that has allowed Cornell to control the flow of play throughout the season. “Brown is big, strong, and tall, so we’re going to try to play the ball on the ground more,” said senior defender Karne Hukee. “We’ve been working on building our attack out of the back and letting our goalkeeper distribute the ball immediately to a defender. This keeps the ball low and takes away their height advantage in the air.” Using the defense to bring the ball into the offensive half of the field will also benefit the Cornell attack. “It allows us to have more numbers going forward,” said Rovegno. “Sometimes, we’re a little more defensive-minded, and this will help us offensively.” Aside from their size and strength, Brown brings a rare quirk to the game; they employ a flip-thrower. Unlike a normal throw-in, where the player merely throws the ball over her head, a flip-thrower actually does a front aerial somersault as she runs towards the sideline. Consequently, a flip-throw can travel nearly half the length of the field and can be used as an offensive weapon. “It worked well for them against Harvard last week, but it’s the same play every time they do it,” said Hukee. “If we see it once, we can read it. We’re not worried.” Not worrying and not over-focusing or looking past teams has served the Red well this season. Even with tomorrow’s game marking the start of the final stretch of Ivy play, the few weeks when the league title will be decided, Cornell is keeping a level head and taking each match as it comes. “We keep the pressure to a minimum. Each player knows their job and we take it all game by game,” said Hukee. “That mentality had helped us a lot this year,” added Fraser. “There’s no reason we can’t win.”Archived article by Per Ostman