Cornell men’s soccer played an intense game against the Ivy League-leading Yale Bulldogs, but fell to 1-2 in conference play with a 3-1 loss.
Coming off a win against Harvard, the Red took the pitch at No. 24 Yale with optimism, but was ultimately disappointed, going behind early and failing to overcome the deficit.
Junior forward Charles Touche was once again given a starting nod. However, the usual defense saw some substitutions, as freshman defender Connor Drought sat out and freshman defender Will Citron took his place. As a result, the defense had to operate more like a three-back as Citron isn’t a typical wingback. This limited the involvement of wingbacks in the Red’s attack.
Yale was fast to get on the board as Jeremy Haddock scored on a set piece in the second minute. The Red attempted to equalize as fast as possible, but the Bulldog lead was doubled when Yale’s ace Mark Winoffer scored a header into the top shelf on a free kick. Sophomore defender Tate Keir received a yellow card for the challenge.
The Red brought some momentum back toward the end of the first half and junior forward/midfielder Vardhin Manoj scored with his left foot after a beautiful pass into the box by sophomore wingback Jonah Kegan. This was his third goal of the season, reducing his team’s deficit to one.
The Red tried to equalize multiple times in the second half, but Yale came back to score in the 70th minute. Yale’s top-scorer Miguel Yuste put the goal into the back of the net to put them up 3-1. The Red nearly came back shortly thereafter but had three shots blocked inside the box. The Red couldn’t gather any more momentum until the end of the game, failing to upset the Bulldogs.
The Red actually had more efficiency and quality in the offense, recording a total of 14 shots, eight of them on goal, compared to Yale’s eight and five, respectively. The inability to finish the play and score once again contributed as a factor to the loss. The defense stood strong for most of the game, but the two set pieces were enough for the Bulldogs to emerge with a win.
The Red’s next game will be played against at Albany at 7 p.m. Tuesday. The Great Danes boast a strong offensive line, with striker Austin DaSilva currently ranked sixth in the nation in goals, with 10 tallies in 11 matches. The Red will hope to recover from the Ivy League loss and gain back momentum before a home Ivy game against Brown.