Box Score Box Score
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. -- The Cornell men's soccer team opened up Ivy League play with a 2-2 tie at Penn on Saturday night in Philadelphia.
Chase Aaronson and
Kyle Parsons scored goals for the Big Red, which improved to 4-3-2 on the season. Penn moved to 3-3-3 on the year with the draw.
After going 0-7 in the Ivy League last season and being shut out in five of the seven conference games, the Big Red put an end to both of those numbers in the league opener against the Quakers. Cornell scored twice, putting up half the total goals scored in league games from last year and recording a tie at the reigning league champions and an NCAA tournament participant from a year ago.
The spirited game saw both teams finish the match with 10 men, as both sides had a player sent off in the contest. The match saw 11 cards issued, three of them red, including one issued to Cornell head coach
Jaro Zawislan.
Cornell drew first blood on the scoreboard in the match as Aaronson scored his second goal of the year just three minutes after halftime, with
Matt Bouraee and
Ben Kenyon collecting assists on the play. Penn would respond 10 minutes later as a foul in the penalty area gave the Quakers a penalty kick, converted by Christian Barriero to knot the score at one.
The card-waving festivities, which saw two yellow cards in the first half and two to that point in the second, really got going in the 72nd minute when Penn's Lee Rubenstein was issued a straight red card for a foul against the Big Red, giving Cornell a man advantage. It took Cornell just three minutes to capitalize as
Kyle Parsons scored his second goal of the year on a diving header off a cross from
Scott Caldwell. Still, Penn was quick to respond, drawing even five minutes later when Tobi Olopade sprung Alex Takakuwa on a breakaway, with Takakuwa placing his shot past Cornell goalkeeper
Scott Brody.
Yellow cards to Kenyon and Parsons were issued in the final 10 minutes of regulation as the Big Red tried to force the game-winner with the man advantage. The first overtime period was uneventful, with Brody making one save to keep the game knotted at two. In the second overtime period,
Brett Sumpio was issued his second yellow card of the match just three minutes in, giving both teams 10 men on the field, and Zawislan was shown the red card a minute later. The Big Red kept pressing for the game-winner, forcing a pair of saves from Penn goalkeeper Ben Berg in the final six minutes.
Brody picked up a pair of saves for the Big Red, while Berg made three saves in goal for the Quakers. Cornell was out-shot by Penn, 16-9, with both teams taking seven corner kicks.
Cornell will make its Ivy League home opener on Saturday, Oct. 10, taking on nationally ranked Harvard in a 7 p.m. contest at Berman Field.