Cornell Blanks Crimson Booters

ITHACA, N.Y.--Led by a pair of second half Brett Gober goals, the Cornell men's soccer team blanked Harvard, 2-0, before a chilly crowd of 369 at Schoellkopf Field.

The Big Red, ranked fourth in New York State, topped New England's fifth-ranked squad on the slick abnd bouncy Astrotruf of its home field.

The Crimson booters, who played to a scoreless tie against Boston College earlier this week, have not scored a goal in over 240 minutes.

"That's not the reason we lost," Harvard goalie Matt Ginsburg said, "but personally, I hate the turf."

The first half was marked by relentless up and down play. Neither side could gain an advantage, and the contest was scoreless at halftime.

"I think Cornell would tell you we played the better game," Ginsburg said. "We dominated."

After more than an hour of scoreless play, Gober took a beautiful John Swift pass at the left point and rocketed the ball off the back of the diving Ginsburg and into the twine.

Harvard (1-4-1 overall, 0-2 Ivy) responded with a number of hard rushes in the ensuing minutes, led by Nick Hotchkin and Captain Lane Kenworthy.

But all of the attempts failed to get past the hands of Big Red goaltender Hugh O'Gorman, who stopped six Crimson shots on the evening.

And those shots that O'Gorman didn't grab or deflect sailed just over the Big Red crossbar.

When the Harvard comeback attempt slackened, however, Gober took advantage, heading in a Swift indirect kick in the final minute to seal the victory for Cormell (6-2-0, 3-0-0 Ivy).

Despite Hotchkin's and Kenworthy's best efforts, Harvard couldn't convert on a number of key opportunities in the contest, and the sluggish Crimson offense couldn't match the Big Red's, which peppered Ginsburg with 11 shots.

Harvard returns home to play Boston University next Wednesday, and then hosts Dartmouth a week from today.

THE NOTEBOOK: Harvard had five corner kicks, Cornell four... The Big Red committed 12 fouls, to only nine by the Crimson...Kenworthy wore white tennis shoes during the contest. Appearantly, the Harvard captain didn't own a pair of turf shoes, and, as regular cleats would have been useless on the phony turf, had to where the sneakers. The conditions at Schoellkopf Field were described by one observer as "sub-Arctic."