Coming off a tough loss against No. 17 Penn (10-4, 6-0 Ivy) on Saturday, April 18, Cornell (7-7, 3-3 Ivy) geared up to face Yale (9-5, 3-3) in a high scoring matchup.
“A large emphasis for the team going into Yale was playing a full 60 minutes, accepting that there are ebbs and flows and other teams will get momentum, but responding well to it,” said junior midfielder Caitlin Slaminko.
Cornell started the game strong, with senior attacker Amanda Cramer scoring off an assist from sophomore attacker Josie Vogel. The Red scored two additional goals after its first, gaining a three point lead with seven minutes left in the quarter.
“We were moving the ball really quickly and used the best look instead of the first look,” Vogel said. “We were winning draws and everything was just clicking in the first quarter.”
The Bulldogs were able to find the back of the net and get a point on the board with five minutes left. The Red responded to Yale’s goal by scoring two additional goals before the quarter ran out, giving Cornell a 5-1 lead.
Cornell opened the second quarter with a goal scored by Cramer with an assist from junior attacker Maggie Pons.
After this, Yale found some speed and capitalized off a free position shot followed by another goal just 15 seconds after its first of the quarter. The Bulldogs scored again a few minutes later.
Before the final whistle sounded, the Red found the net once more with a shot made by Pons. Cornell went into the locker room with a lead of 7-4.
The Red opened the second half with an offensive push, winning the draw and senior attacker Katie Castiello scoring in the first 45 seconds of play.
The Bulldogs did not back down in the third quarter, despite trailing at the half. Yale scored four goals within four minutes, quickly tying a game Cornell had control over for the entire first half.
“The momentum shifted to Yale and they had a couple long offensive sets that ended with goals,” Vogel said. “They were able to win some draws and score off of those.”
The Red responded to Yale’s offensive surge with a goal of its own.
Soon after, Yale was penalized with a yellow card. Slaminko took advantage of being a man up and scored another goal. Cornell ended the third quarter up, 10-8.
The game was close and both teams had an intense fourth quarter, with Cornell scoring on the opening draw.
The Bulldogs was able to tie up the score with three minutes remaining in the final quarter after scoring three additional goals. Cornell took a timeout to regroup.
“Everyone understood that we had to move the ball to pull them in zone,” Slaminko said. “In the times we did have possession, we knew that we had to take care of the ball and convert.”
With just two minutes left, sophomore midfielder Kylie Gelabert scored off an assist from Castiello, gaining the lead back for the Red. Cornell found the net once more before the clock ran out, winning the game, 14-12.
The Red will play its last regular season game on Saturday, April 29 at 3 p.m. at Schoellkopf Field.