With the women of Cornell’s soccer program now five games into its season, all of the focus has shifted to the start of Ivy League play.
Although Cornell (2-3) began the season with a shaky start, the Red was able to further even out its record to two wins and three losses after holding down a shutout game against the University of Maine last week.
Sophomore defender Kaili Gregory secured the lead with a goal from a penalty kick in the first half, and the Red’s defense ensured that the opposition would not be able to make a comeback. The Black Bears were only able to get one shot on goal with a total of seven total shots, whereas Cornell’s offense delivered 22 attempted shots, 9 of which were on goal.
Kaylee Fitzgerald, a senior defender and co-captain for the team, explained the change in the team’s gameplay leading up to the win against Maine.
“It took us a little longer than we’d hoped to kind of get settled and figure out our shape defensively, but our game this past Sunday — we got the shutout, which is really big for us,” she said. “I think just kind of making sure that we stay focused on defense is our biggest concern.”
The Ivy League is comprised of eight total competitors, including Cornell and Columbia, all of which are vying to win the Ivy League Championships at the end of the season. With the Red only having seven games to prove their worth for Ivy Championships, every game counts.
“We obviously take those games very seriously, especially ones before we start Ivy play, but … those games are all leading up to Ivy play,” said senior defender and co-captain Whitney Farber. “The past five or six games have been really tuning things out, figuring out what’s the best way to proceed and what’s our plan of attack going to be, but once Ivies start, games are very different and there’s a whole new intensity that comes into play in these games.”
The Red plans on riding the momentum from its last victory for the start of Ivy League season against Columbia on Friday.