In the midst of a three-game losing run after starting the season with four consecutive wins, Cornell women’s soccer is set to host Harvard this Saturday.
The streaky Red (4-4-1, 0-2 Ivy) began 2019 with nine new players.
“The group of freshmen definitely helped us off to the best start we have had since 2005,” said head coach Dwight Hornibrook.
The nine freshmen have been an integral part of the Red’s success this season.
“There are really positive things happening. Freshman forward Ashley Durick is a dangerous player who scored a game-winning goal in the first game of the season, and freshman forward Liza Mariner is another freshman whose speed is hard to handle,” Hornibrook said. “There are also many freshmen who have come off the bench and been very instrumental in giving us the start we had.”
Over the past two decades, the team’s tilts with the Crimson have all resulted in losses or ties. Cornell has not beaten Harvard since the early 1990s, giving the fresh-faced Red the opportunity for a monumental victory.
Coming to Ithaca hot off a five-game winning streak, Harvard (8-2, 2-0) is going to bring the competition. The Crimson’s last two matches were against Yale and Penn — two other strong Ivy opponents.
“We have the capacity this year to attack with more speed and more skill. We have shown that we have to do a better job defending — especially later in games,” Hornibrook said. “We need to play to our strengths and also be sharp in defending the best players on the opposing team.”
The game is set to take place at 1 p.m. this Saturday at Cornell’s Berman Field.