Once again, the women’s soccer team was unable to close out a win against Ivy foe Penn this weekend. The Red (0-10, 0-2 Ivy League) fell to the Quakers (5-4, 2-0), 2-1, at home on Friday. Senior forward Maneesha Chitanvis scored her second goal of the season, keeping the team in the game, but she cited the team’s inability to finish games strong as its biggest struggle lately.
“I think it is just we need to put together 90 minutes of play rather than just 80 or 70,” she said.
“It was a step in the right direction for us but we need to put the full 90 minutes together and hopefully we can go out and do that,” said junior goalkeeper Tori Christ.
The game started out with a scoreless first half with a lot of action occurring in the middle of the field. After the break, the two teams scored three times in the next 26 minutes.
“Attention to detail. The little things – whether it’s staying goal side or following your mark – those are the things we need to focus on,” said sophomore midfielder Kerry Schubert.
Penn’s Kerry Scalora set up Claire Walker for the opening goal and then the game winner in the 61st minute. Cornell tried to battle to take away the victory but just could not get it done. Chitanvis controlled a pass from freshman defender Morgan Zaidel, took it up the left side and finished with a goal. The goal gave the Red a chance with 11:04 left in play but the team could not record another point to tie it up.
“I think there is a very big difference in the way that we played against Penn versus our first game of the season. It’s just stringing everything together and we get better and better each game,” Schubert said.
“I think the one thing we have been focusing on this year is to not do the same thing every game, but to try and do better,” Chitanvis added. “We need to change things that we are not doing correctly and move on from there whether it’s formation or style of play.”
Chitanvis — the leading team scorer of the past two seasons — tied senior Xandra Hompe for the team’s scoring lead. Both have two goals and five assists this season. Also, Christ made her 10th start of the season, taking away seven possible points from Penn in goal.
“We are just trying to get as many people as we can on the board and whoever can get that winning goal is all that matters,” Chitanvis said.
Cornell wraps up its three-game run at home today against visiting Lafayette.
“I think too it’s important to approach it [in the same way] … the Ivy League is a totally different environment. But we need to come [into Lafayette] like it is the same and means the same because we still want to win,” Christ said.
The Red will then head on the road again this weekend for a matchup against Ivy challenger Harvard.
“For us, we are just trying to focus on ourselves and make sure that we get a win based on how we are playing. We are going to not try and worry so much about the other team. We need to do things that we want to get done,” Chitanvis said.
Original Author: Haley Velasco