Entering Saturday’s match against Penn (2-8-6, 1-3-3 Ivy League), the Red held out hope of making the Ivy League playoffs. A Cornell victory, as well as a tie between Yale and Harvard, would have put the Red in the fourth seed. Unfortunately, Cornell (3-9-4, 2-5-0 Ivy League) fell to the Quakers in a 1-0 loss, dropping the Red’s final position to seventh and ending its 2024 season.
The scoreless first half featured plenty of chances for the Red, as Cornell took eight shots, including two shots on goal. The Quakers didn’t manage a shot attempt until the second half, as possession equalized between the teams.
“In the second half today, the game opened a lot,” said head coach Rob Ferguson. “We shouldn’t have allowed that as much as we did. [Penn was] very direct from the goalkeeper, and they won too many of the balls.”
Midway through the second half, a cross by Penn’s Mila Maltby into an empty box set Janae Stewart up for the game-winning goal.
“We didn’t transition well enough,” Ferguson said. “We didn’t have people in the box, and they had multiple open players in the box. At that point in the game, it was becoming very stretched, because we knew a tie was no good for us today. We needed to leave people a little bit higher on the field.”
Despite dominating with 22 shots as opposed to Penn’s seven, the Red couldn’t manage to even the score. Included in the team’s seven shots on goal was a rocket by senior forward Laken Gallman in the 69th minute that was cleared over the goalpost by goalkeeper Annabel Austen. An opportunity for junior midfielder/forward Tanum Nelson opened up after a deflected shot from senior midfielder Peyton Nichols within five minutes of final time.
The disappointing result came on senior day, marking the last game for the team’s 10 seniors. The graduating group includes Gallman –– the season’s highest scorer (tied with sophomore forward Sydney Allen) with three goals, forward Ava Laden, defender Lily Ellingson and goalkeeper Erica Fox, who has clocked a whopping 2,348 minutes in goal in her four years with the Red.
“They’ve had a huge impact on the program for four years,” Ferguson said. “I think [the underclassmen] will have the opportunity to come in and impress and show up. It’s a big group to be leaving.”