The women’s soccer team will look to earn its second Ivy League win on Saturday night, when the Red hits the road to face Princeton.
Cornell (7-5-1, 1-3-1 Ivy) is coming off a 1-1 tie against Brown last Sunday. Junior Mira MacLennan scored the Red’s only goal of the afternoon, yet Cornell looked solid for most of the game.
“Right now, we are in the best state of mind,” said head coach Berhane Andeberhan. “We can’t ask much more from the [team]. We’re playing as close to our potential as [we have all year].”
Princeton (5-6-2, 2-2-0 Ivy) is coming off a 2-1 win over Harvard last Saturday. The Tigers opened their season with a number of difficult non-conference loses, but Princeton has won four of its last six games, including a victory over Ivy-rival Dartmouth.
“We have a challenge, but its a good challenge. We expect a tough game,” Andeberhan said.
The Tigers are led on offense by senior Emily Behncke, who has recorded nine goals and two assists this year, and sophomore Diana Matheson, who has added four goals and four assists. Princeton has used three different goalkeepers this year. Senior Emily Vogelzang has been in the net during the Tigers’ last two games, and has recorded a 0.90 goals against average and a .810 saves percentage this year. Sophomore Maren Dale has played the most time in goal for Princeton this season, and has posted a 1.45 GAA.
The Red will look to counter with its well-balanced offensive attack. Nine different players have scored goals for Cornell this year, although the Red is led by senior co-captains Kara Ishikawa (7 goals, 3 assists) and Shannon Fraser (4 G, 2 A).
“We’re working on our attack,” Andeberhan said. “The goals can come from anywhere, instead of putting all the burden on our forwards.”
Cornell has also played three different goalkeepers this year. Freshman Taylor Hendren was in net against Brown, recording eight saves, including several key stops late in the contest.
“Taylor really kept us in the game,” Andeberhan said.
The head coach also noted that the team can still improve on its shot-taking.
“There are always things we can fix,” he said. “Hopefully, we can improve on our finishing. We create a lot of excellent chances, but we also miss on a lot of our [opportunities].”
Princeton has a very talented midfield, however, Andeberhan is confident that his squad can fare well against the Tigers.
“We’ve been playing well at midfield,” he said. “We have just got to stand up to the challenge.” The team will also hope its defense continues to play well, as the backfield has recently demonstrated some solid team play.
“They have been playing really well together, and that blending only really happened in the last few games,” Andeberhan said.
Archived article by Ted Nyman
Sun Staff Writer