Box Score
ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell field hockey team nearly completed a rally from a two-goal deficit late in the second half, but ultimately fell to Yale by a 3-2 margin on Saturday afternoon at Marsha Dodson Field. The Big Red fell to 5-3 on the year and 2-1 in Ivy League play, while Yale improved to 6-3 and 2-1 in league play.
Genevieve Collins and
Hannah Balleza scored goals for the Big Red, with
Mallory Bannon and
Mattie Prodanovic collecting assists.
Alex Botte recorded five saves in taking the loss for the Big Red.
For Yale, Georgia Holland picked up a pair of goals while Erin Carter had one. Erica Borgo and Dinah Landshut both had an assist in the victory for Yale. Katie Bolling had five saves for the Bulldogs.
Yale got on the board at the 6:54 mark of the first half when Holland went one-on-one with Botte, carrying the ball around the Big Red netminder and slotted the ball into the Cornell goal. The Big Red evened the score eight and a half minutes later when when, after a Cornell penalty corner, the ball was loose in front of the Yale goal. Bannon got a stick on the ball and sent it to Collins, who knocked the ball into the Yale cage.
Yale took a 2-1 lead in the second half when Holland scored her second marker of the game, putting back a rebound off a shot that was saved by Botte. The Bulldogs made the score 3-1 when Erin Carter scored on a direct shot off a penalty corner.
Cornell cut into the deficit with 7:04 to play when, after a penalty corner, Prodanovic hit a shot that went up into the air and was deflected up by Balleza. The ball then caromed up and over the shoulder of Bolling and into the goal. The referees conferred to determine if the goal should stand and, after a discussion of several minutes, ruled the goal valid.
The Big Red nearly tied the score when Catie de Stio's shot was batted out of mid-air by a Yale defender with five minutes to play, and had a chance with a penalty corner as time expired, but Prodanovic's shot was blocked by the Yale defense and cleared out of danger.
The Big Red returns to action on Sunday when it plays host to St. Francis in a 1 p.m. contest at Marsha Dodson Field.
