The story is starting to get familiar, but the Bulldogs are hoping to change the plot this weekend.

After once again losing in the final two minutes in their last game, the men’s soccer team (5-7-2, 1-3 Ivy) looks to bounce back this weekend against struggling Ivy League foe Columbia at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday at Reese Stadium.

In a contest that was hauntingly similar to their 2-1 loss to Boston College two weeks ago, the Bulldogs fell to Penn at Reese Stadium last Saturday on a last-second goal. Last time, the Elis responded positively from the heartbreak, defeating struggling Cornell 3-0 in Ithaca, N.Y.

Despite the disappointment of the Penn contest, the Bulldogs are taking the positives from their strong second half performance against the Quakers. According to defender and midfielder Jordan Raybould ’10, the team hopes the tough mentality will carry over to their upcoming contest.

“We’re looking forward [from the Penn game],” Raybould said. “We want to continue the competitive drive to put opponents under a lot of pressure and force them to play good soccer to beat us.”

Both the Lions (3-10-1, 1-3) and the Bulldogs sit in second-to-last place in the Ivy League standings with 1-3 Ivy records, but the teams’ out-of-conference records and goal differentials gives Yale the obvious pre-game advantage. While Columbia has conceded 12 more goals than it has scored, the Bulldogs have a surprising plus-one goal margin despite their losing record. The Bulldogs even have a .500 out of conference record of 4-4-2, whereas the Lions have floundered away from the Ivy, going 2-7-1.

Recent history is also on Yale’s side — they have defeated the Lions each of the last three times the teams faced each other. Raybould, Kevin Pope ’10, Andy Shorten ’11 and Aden Farina-Henry ’11 all scored in the Bulldog’s 4-1 away victory last season.