WOMEN’S SOCCER: Women’s soccer to face Cornell in fourth Ivy game
After falling to Dartmouth last weekend, the Elis continue Ivy League competition against Big Red this Saturday at Reese Stadium.
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After their 2–1 loss to Dartmouth last Saturday, the Bulldogs are preparing to face their next Ivy League opponent, Cornell, in their seventh home game of the season this Saturday at 1 p.m.
The Bulldogs (1–11–0, 0–3–0 Ivy) will meet the Big Red (3–7–2, 1–2–0 Ivy) at Reese Stadium for both teams’ fourth Ivy matchup of the year. In its most recent game, the Yale women’s soccer team had a strong defense, enduring an onslaught from the Dartmouth offense to keep the game tied 1–1 until the last three minutes of play.
“Cornell is a well-coached team who is inspired by their growth over the last two years,” head coach Sarah Martinez said. “They opened up Ivy League play with a win over Columbia which gives them confidence in all of their games.”
Since 2008, Yale has led the rivalry with eight wins to Cornell’s three and a single tie shared between the teams. The Bulldogs won their most recent match by managing a 1–0 shutout in October of 2019 at Reese. That season, Cornell finished last in the Ivy League, with zero wins and seven losses, while Yale came in third, with four wins, two losses and one tie.
In 2019, Yale forward Aerial Chavarin ’20 scored off an assist from forward Lydia Shaw ’22 in the 67th minute of play, allowing Yale to claim its 10th victory of that season.
“The Cornell game was a great testament of our team mentality and work ethic,” Shaw told the News following the 2019 matchup. “Even though we outshot Cornell the entire game, we didn’t give up when things weren’t going our way. We persevered and got the result we came for — our third Ivy League win and 10th win of the season.”
In Cornell’s most recent game against No. 8 Harvard, the Big Red kept the Crimson from scoring in the first period, yet after a few half-time adjustments, Harvard was able to come back to beat them 4–0. The Crimson was able to break through with a goal in the first 58 seconds of the second half.
Before the season began, Cornell was voted eighth and last in the Ivy League women’s soccer preseason poll, while Yale was voted fourth. Cornell and Yale have both played the University at Albany, Colgate and Harvard. Cornell won against Colgate 2–1, tied Albany 2–2 and lost to Harvard 4–0, while Yale lost 2–0 to Colgate, 4–3 to Albany and 2–0 to Harvard.
Cornell has won three games this season — against Canisius College, Columbia and Colgate — while losing to Niagara, Villanova, Iona, Binghamton, Stony Brook, Penn and Harvard and tying with Albany and Syracuse.
Yale will need to watch out for Big Red forward Ava Laden, who leads the team charts with 14 points, five of which are goals. Cornell has also had three different players starting in the net over the course of the season, including goalkeepers Miranda Lannone, Erica Fox and Nicole Shulman.
“It had been a few years since they won an Ivy League game so for us, we are ready to host a confident, well-coached group,” Martinez said. “With that being said, if we play like we did on Saturday and continue to get better every time we take the field, I believe our goals will start to fall.”
Despite the two team’s difficulties in their seasons thus far and the Big Red win against Columbia on Sept. 25, the Bulldogs are looking to potentially bring in their first Ivy win of the season.
The Yale women soccer team’s next match will be against Penn at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 23 in Philadelphia.
