An early scoring run allowed No. 17 Dartmouth to pull away from the No. 23 Red and ultimately come up with a 19-10 win as Cornell honored its seven seniors on Saturday.
“It was a super tough [game],” said junior captain Sarah Phillips. “We went into it knowing it was a super important game, especially on Senior Day. We wanted to come out super hard for our seniors and win it for them. I think that adds to how tough the loss is.”
Despite the lopsided final score, Cornell (6-6, 2-3 Ivy) outmatched Dartmouth (8-3, 4-1) statistically in every category — taking 37 shots to the Green’s 32, causing seven turnovers to Dartmouth’s three, winning 17 of the game’s 31 draw controls and fielding 14 ground balls to the Green’s 11.
Senior Joey Coffy submitted another strong performance for the Red, tallying two goals and an assist, fielding three ground balls and causing a season-high four turnovers. She also won 10 draw controls, breaking the school record.
Sophomore attacker Caroline Allen was also a critical part of the Cornell offense, adding a hat trick of her own, and freshman Grace Paletta found the back of the net twice. Phillips also contributed three assists, while senior captains Taylor Reed and Ida Farinholt and junior Tomasina Leska each notched a goal of their own.
The Red will look to rebound from the loss in which Dartmouth’s hot start was too much to overcome despite Cornell controlling most statistical metrics.
“There are a lot of things we can learn from [the loss],” Reed said. “Hopefully next game we can play the full 60 minutes and we’re able to show what we have.”
Cornell has two more opportunities to fight for a coveted spot in the Ivy Tournament as it takes on Princeton on April 21 and Harvard on April 28. The Red is in a three-way tie for fourth place in the conference with Yale and Columbia. Princeton is in third at 3-1 and Harvard, Cornell’s final league opponent of the season, is tied for last place at 1-4.
“It’s sad [to play our last game at Schoellkopf],” Farinholt said. “But we have three more games this season, so we’re really looking forward to continuing to play and hopefully winning the last couple games to get into the Ivy Tournament and end well.”
The Red hits the road on Tuesday to face Binghamton in its last nonconference matchup of the regular season.