Following wins against Princeton and Binghamton, the Red (12-3-0, 4-1-0 Ivy) hoped to continue this trend against Dartmouth (5-6-3, 2-3-0 Ivy). And sure enough the Red came out on top with a score of 2-1, making this not only Cornell’s third consecutive win in the past three games, but also the third consecutive win against Dartmouth in the last three years.
It was no easy feat, although the Red successfully fought off the spirited Big Green and it came down to a close one point game.
“I think we performed well and executed our sprint defense and sprint offense strategies just as intended.” said freshman midfielder Sahyd Nevado. “We had put our hard work, sweat and tears into the game and as a result came out victorious.”
In the 29th minute, Dartmouth was on the brink of scoring the first goal of the game. Louis Weisdorf’s freekick slipped the ball behind the defensive line where Dartmouth’s Sam Fenton went up for a header. Although a valiant effort, freshman goalie Ryan Friedberg successfully collided with him to disrupt the redirect. The ball broke loose and floated along the six. Luckily, the panic came to an end when the necessary clearance was made.
Despite this scare for the Red, the entirety of the first half seemed to be a stalemate until the final eight minutes. Senior defender Connor Drought fired a brilliant free kick, making its way into header territory, to the far right of the six where junior defender Henry Hylbert found the perfect opening to score an amazing header.
This goal let the Red move throughout the next plays with some extra confidence leading to the next goal to be from Cornell. In the 55th minute fifth-year forward Emeka Eneli outdribbled three of Dartmouth’s defenders and found the ball a home in goal.
Now 2-0, things started to seem bleak for the Big Green, but as the clock started to run out they got a rush of determination. In the 69th minute Dartmouth scored and two minutes after, a header almost snuck its way into the top of Cornell’s goal if it was not for Friedberg’s one handed save. The Big Green kept the Red active in the defensive zone for the final 20 minutes. As the clock ran out, Cornell held on for the 2-1 win.
The Red hopes to build on this momentum when they head to Connecticut to face Yale on Saturday at 5 pm. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
“We are feeling confident about the next couple of games, Dartmouth was a huge win, especially now with Penn’s loss against Harvard, I think we have a good shot at winning the Ivy conference.” Nevado said.