Men’s Soccer Shuts Out Hartwick at Berman

All the Red needed was 17 minutes of play to effectively finish off the Hartwick Hawks last night. In less than beautiful weather, it’s a shame that sudden death scoring was not implemented, as the 1-0 score at the 17 minute mark held up throughout the game.
Though the contest was out of conference and had no effect on Cornell’s Ivy League record, it nonetheless improved the Red’s overall record to 5-8-1. With the loss, Hartwick falls to 5-5-6 in their last contest of the season before the playoffs.
Sophomore Matt Bouraee scored the only goal of the game and recorded his seventh goal of the season. Freshman Scott Caldwell sent the ball across the field to senior Aaron Vieira.
“A.V. [Vieira] got the ball on the left side just outside the penalty mark and took a shot,” Bouraee said. “His shot deflected off of a Hartwick defender and the loose ball came to the top of the 18. I just placed it with my left foot across and into the right side netting.”
Hartwick and Cornell both recorded 4 shots in the first half.
“The early goal was definitely key,” said senior Brian Kuritzky . “I actually thought we played much better in some of the games that we tied or even lost, but this game we finally came out on top.”
Freshman Scott Brody made his first season — and career — start for Cornell, and finished it off with a shutout victory. He debuted with 3 second half saves. Hartwick outshot Cornell in the second half 8-4 and had a number of corner kick opportunities.
“This was his first start and his first shutout, and I’m sure he’s pleased with the outcome,” Bouraee said. “Everyone was so motivated, screaming, and determined to clear the ball and keep the lead. There was definitely a lot of defense in the second half, but we still had some good counterattacks by Brian and Dana.”
Despite the frigid and unforgiving November weather, the Red managed to keep up its strong defensive efforts and continue to move the ball up the field. The players, besides shaking off the numbness, are excited to break the recent winless streak that has plagued them since the Vermont game at the end of September.
The goal-scoring duo of Kuritzky and Bouraee were both more than satisfied with the win.
“The bottom line is that a win is a win,” Kuritzky said. “We just got the job done.”
“It’s nice to be appraised for our efforts,” Bouraee said. “The past couple weeks we suffered a lot of losses but this win really boosted our morale. Hopefully we can win the next two games and finish our season with a .500 record.”