Men’s Soccer Falls Short Against UMBC in a Penalty-Filled Contest

No. 25 men’s soccer (2-2, 0-0 Ivy) traveled to Baltimore last weekend to take on perennial America East contender University of Maryland Baltimore County (3-1-1, 0-0 America East). In what was an extremely scrappy game, the Red had trouble breaking down the Retrievers in front of a raucous home crowd. 

Throughout the first half, both teams showed lots of energy but little team cohesion. Each side committed seven fouls, three of which resulted in yellow cards, but only combined for three shots on target in open play. UMBC came out of the half on top, as Wilson Eisner’s foul in the box resulted in a Retriever penalty, which Taylor Calheira slid past sophomore goalkeeper Ryan Friedberg. 

In the second half, the Red began to put some significant pressure on its opposition.

Men’s Soccer Takes Down Canisius

Following a difficult opening weekend, men’s soccer (2-1, 0-0 Ivy) traveled to Buffalo on Saturday to take on Canisius (1-3-1, 0-0 MAAC). With the Golden Griffins having a difficult start to the season, it was a perfect opportunity for the Red to pick up a win heading into a difficult portion of their schedule. From the opening whistle, Cornell piled on the pressure, committing players forward and racking up shots on goal. In the twentieth minute, a rebound fell to freshman striker Alex Harris to slide home from close range to put the Red in front. A few minutes later, Harris tacked on another goal following a headed assist from senior defender Kisa Kiingi.

Men’s Soccer Splits Difficult Opening Weekend

Cornell men’s Soccer (1-1, 0-0 Ivy) kicked off its season last week with back-to-back ranked away matchups against No. 22 Vermont (3-1, 0-0 America East) and No. 13 New Hampshire (2-1-1, 0-0 America East). Following a very successful 2022 season, which concluded with an NCAA tournament third round run, the Red looked to start this season off strong. 

Against Vermont, Cornell faced a unique challenge. The Catamounts played very directly, with goalkeeper Jack Owen constantly looking to play long balls forward towards towering strikers Mujtaba Mirhasan and Max Murray.