Harvard Hopes For More Cornell Success

Coming off an impressive victory over Yale, the Harvard women’s soccer team welcomes Cornell (1-7-1, 0-2 Ivy) to Ohiri field tomorrow for its second Ivy League matchup of the season.

“We expect all the Ivy League teams to play their best,” Crimson coach Ray Leone said. “We expect tough games from everyone this season, especially Cornell considering they put up such a good game last year.”

The Big Red rolls into Cambridge, hoping to come out on top for the first time in 15 years. Last season Cornell came close to ending the streak but still came up short in a hard fought 1-0 loss in Ithaca, N.Y.

The Big Red has dropped four straight contests, and after a devastating 6-0 shutout against the University of Pennsylvania last weekend, Cornell is still looking to prove it’s capable of staying competitive. This week’s matchup is the Big Red’s first out-of-state game this season, marking the latest in program history that it has ventured outside of New York to play.

Harvard (4-3-3, 1-1) is riding high coming off a dominating 3-1 win over the league rival Bulldogs last week. After a 2-0 loss at Penn snapped its six-game win streak two weeks ago, the squad jumped right back on the horse, showing its true capabilities against Yale.

“Going into this game we need to have the same game plan we had against Yale,” captain Nicole Rhodes said. “Our defense is consistent; we just hope our offense can have another break out game.”

Cornell’s season has been plagued by inconsistent goalie play, with all three goalkeepers seeing almost equal time. Combined, the three keepers have a 2.33 goals against average and a .728 save percentage.

This, coupled with only seven goals in eight games by its offense, has contributed to the Big Red’s rough start.

Cornell is still waiting for a player to take the starting goalie spot. Sophomore Jodi Palmer has led the way and has the potential to be a formidable force inside the net. Having already climbed into the Big Red’s top-ten all-time list with five career wins, she posted a shutout earlier this season against Buffalo.

The Crimson counters Palmer’s goaltending with junior Lauren Mann, who has posted 44 saves this fall and is sixth on the all-time Harvard list in career saves. She has a 1.17 goals against average this year.

The Crimson has also seen its fair share of hardship this season, showing inconsistencies between first and second half play. Harvard has outscored opponents 7-3 in the first, but has been outscored 8-2 in the second half. This has led to four overtime matches in the first six games of the season.

“We really need to start playing through the entire match like we did last week [against Yale],” Leone said. “We also haven’t scored that many goals either. We need to improve on our attack because until last Sunday we weren’t really lighting it up either.”

“Obviously we still want the advantage pushing forward, but we really need to maintain focus during the second half and stay prepared for the other team’s attack,” Rhodes said.

The Crimson’s defensive effort will focus on midfielder Lena Russomagno, forward Brook Chang, and defender Cristina Law. The trio has scored six out of the seven team goals for Cornell this season.

Despite the Big Red’s rough start, Harvard can’t afford to overlook such an important opponent and league foe.

“Our preparation remains the same for every game,” Rhodes said. “We just need to stick to our game plan on defense and try to prepare for the unexpected.”