Continuing their dominance on the road, men’s soccer (7-1, 1-0 Ivy) defeated Harvard (4-4-1, 0-1 Ivy) in a close game last Saturday, with the Red prevailing, 3-2.
Coming off a shutout and low-scoring game against Marist, the Red faced off against Harvard on home turf. With a positive win record and momentum from the win against the Red Foxes, Cornell looked to start its conference record with a win.
The game started off slow until freshman goalkeeper Ryan Firedberg was forced to make a huge jumping save ten minutes into the game. After the Red got five shots within the first half-hour, fifth-year forward Emeka Eneli finally broke through in the 34th minute scoring off a beautiful pass by senior midfielder Brandon Morales.
The lead however did not carry into halftime. With less than two minutes before the first whistle blew, Harvard’s Sam Bjarnason scored a header off a free kick tying the game at one-a-piece.
While the first half was quiet, the teams were ready to fight during the second half. Morales continued making his mark in the game by stealing the ball and scoring a screamer during the 70th minute, keeping the Red in the lead by one. Less than ten minutes later, Morales passed the ball to freshman midfielder and forward Ben Goulding. The ball hit the Crimson goalie’s side before finding the back of the net, giving Cornell a two-goal cushion. This was Goulding’s first career goal and Morales’ second assist of the night.
The Red was able to fend off the pressure but allowed Harvard’s Alessandro Arlotti to score a goal before the final whistle was blown.
Cornell looks to keep up the momentum as it will head up north to face nationally-ranked Syracuse (8-1-1, 3-1-0 ACC) on Tuesday at 7 p.m. The Red will finish the week in Providence where it hopes to keep its positive win percentage in the Ivy League when it faces Brown at 4 p.m on Saturday. The Syracuse game will be broadcast on the ACC network while the game against Brown will be broadcast on ESPN.