With first place in the Ivy League up for grabs, the men’s soccer team fell 2-0 to a tough No.14 Brown squad Saturday night at Berman Field. The Red (5-5-1, 2-1-1 Ivy) suffered its first conference loss of the season, while the Bears (8-3-1, 4-0-0) took a leg up on the Ivy race.
Both teams came out strong from the start, but it was Brown that found the back of the net. In the 27th minute, Matt Goldman received the ball on the left side of the box from Bryan Joyce. Goldman crossed it into the middle, where Adom Crew sent a shot past junior goalie David Mahoney towards the near post.
“Brown has three athletic frontrunners that we knew were going to be good, and I thought that they were dangerous. I thought we did a pretty good job on them,” said head coach Bryan Scales.
Junior Steve Reuter set up a good scoring chance in the 34th minute, as he sent a high shot from the right side of the box. Brown keeper Chris Gomez leaped to make the save, and the rebound came to the left of the goal, but the subsequent shot was blocked by a defender.
With time winding down in the first half, senior tri-captain Ian Pilarski nearly netted the equalizer. Reuter sent the ball from midfield to a streaking Pilarski on the right side. Pilarksi beat his defender and sent a shot that sailed just high over the left side of the goal.
“The first half for us was a good half, and although Brown scored a goal, I felt that we had some good chances, we were moving the ball well,” remarked Scales.
In the 69th minute, the Bears netted their second goal on a Cornell defensive miscue. Junior Sean Mendy played the ball back to Mahoney, who misplayed it. Seth Quidachay-Swan raced in and tapped a shot lightly into the open net.
“I think David would have probably done differently the second time around,” said Scales. “Once they scored that second goal, I think our heads went down, and that was a little disappointing.”
The game turned ugly as the second half came to a close. After a foul was called, a small fight nearly broke out at midfield in the 83rd minute. Several Brown and Cornell players starting pushing each other, but no one was booked for a card. In all, 35 fouls were called on the night.
Each team had 10 shots, with Gomez stopping two for Brown and Mahoney making three saves for the Red.
“It’s a big game for David because he came from Brown. David’s the reason where we are right now, and he’s been very good for us, and tonight I thought he was also good,” said Scales.
The Red can ill-afford to dwell too much on the loss, as it must regroup for an important regional matchup tomorrow night versus Oneonta. As of last Monday, Oneonta and Cornell were ranked No. 3 and 4 respectively in the NSCAA Regional Rankings for New York.
“We’re going to work on getting our heads back up, and getting ready for our final five games. Every game now is a must win, and we still have a chance at things in the league, although it’s out of our hands. But we’re going to go after it,” said Scales.
Tomorrow’s contest begins at 7 p.m. at Berman Field. The Red looks to stay alive in the Ivy race when it visits Princeton on Friday.
Archived article by Jonathan Auerbach