Box Score ITHACA, N.Y. – The best Cornell men's soccer season in 16 years came to an end Thursday night as Syracuse defeated the Big Red 1-0 at Berman Field in the NCAA Tournament's first round.
 
Despite the cheering of a school-record 1,504 fans, Cornell's offense was unable to get anything going against stifling Orange back line and missed the target on its best chances to strike. Lars Muller's 10th-minute goal was the difference maker for Syracuse, which goes on to play Virginia Commonwealth on Sunday in the NCAA Tournament's second round.
 
“This was a great collegiate game, and I think it was a celebration of soccer for Central New York and the whole New York State,” said Cornell head coach Jaro Zawislan. “I am so proud of our players. I couldn't ask more of our team today.”
 
Thursday marked the end of a phenomenal year that saw Cornell (15-2) win its first Ivy League title since 1995 and its first outright Ivy League title since 1977. The Big Red was playing in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1996 and hosting a game for the first time since 1980.
 
But despite all the history making the night a special one, Syracuse (13-6) did not balk at the Ivy League champs or their imposing record. The Orange, having played a difficult Big East Conference schedule all season, struck early on a pass that found Muller in the middle of the box. The pass, from Tyler Hilliard, was perfect, and Muller evaded a falling defender as he put the ball past Rick Pflasterer.
 
Cornell fought to get a tying goal, but the finishing strike eluded the team. Playing catch-up for 80 minutes, the Big Red took 17 shots to the Orange's 10, but only three Cornell shots were on goal. The first half saw multiple balls come down to the feet of Big Red strikers, but shots went high or wide and did not trouble Syracuse keeper Alex Bono.
 
Stephen Reisert had the most dangerous chance for the Big Red, but even that was from distance and gave Bono enough time to react, dive, and catch the ball off the ground.
 
“We created quite a few opportunities, and those were glorious chances that we had,” Zawislan said. “We just had to be a little bit sharper in the first half.”
 
Daniel Haber, who had 18 goals on the year and was the Ivy League's Player of the Year, took six total shots but only one on net. That shot, a slow one, went easily to Bono and was cleared away.
 
“We had enough chances to put something away,” senior forward Tyler Regan said. “Especially in the first half, we had some sitters in the box that just didn't go in.”
 
Haber's best chance of the night came right as the second half began. Though Syracuse started the half with the kickoff, Haber raced forward and stole the ball from the Orange. With daylight in front of him, he sprinted to the top of the box and blasted a ball just wide of the net.
 
“We're not happy with this result, we felt like we should have had more, but we'll accept it,” Haber said. “We went out fighting.”
 
Jake Rinow had a quality opportunity as the time wound down, but his curling ball from at least 30 yards also went wide right as an off-guard Bono dove to make a play.
 
With less than a minute to go, the Big Red had its most furious attacking run. With the ball in the penalty box, multiple shots were blocked away by the Orange and Cornell was unable to get a clean one on net. With 10 seconds left, the ball rolled out of bounds for a goal kick, and the Orange began celebrating.
 
“The last few seconds of the game kind of illustrated the chances that we had,” Zawislan said. “As much as it is a great disappointment in the outcome of the game that we had today, for our players and our program and the university, we're not going to let this game and this result define our season. This still has been a very successful season for the Cornell soccer program.”
 
Cornell began its year with a 12-0 run and wound up clinching the Ivy League title outright in the final week of play. The year before this current group of seniors – Pflasterer, Regan and Nico Nissl – arrived on campus, the Big Red went 1-15. This year the team flipped that record around completely and set all kinds of school records.
 
“It's definitely something to be very proud of,” Nissl said. “As a senior it's been a privilege to play on this team. You can kind of call us a brotherhood where we know that every single player has got each other's back.”