Box Score (PDF)CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The women's soccer team dropped a 2-0 decision Saturday against defending Ivy League champion Harvard at Soldiers Field Soccer Stadium.
Harvard (7-3-2, 2-0-1 Ivy League) took the lead in the 31st minute. Emily Mosbacher served a deep cross from the left side that sailed beyond the goal mouth. Meg Casscells gathered the ball and laid it back for Dani Stoller, whose first-touch strike from 15 yards slid inside the post to the right of goalkeeper
Kelsey Tierney.
Cornell (6-5, 1-2) found some traction early in the second half. The Big Red had a promising-looking break with
Caroline Growney laying the ball into the path of
Dempsey Banks up the left side, but Growney was ruled to have been offsides before the pass.
The Crimson then took control with its second goal in the 53rd minute, when Casscells cashed in a header from 6 yards on a Mosbacher cross from the left side.
The Big Red couldn't generate much offensively. Midfielders
Claire MacManus and
Katerina Weikert worked a give-and-go late in the first half, with MacManus' spinning shot forcing an awkward snag from Cheta Emba. Growney then worked through a double team on the left side and entered the box, ripping a shot from 15 yards right at Emba with 31:47 left in the game.
Tierney and Cornell's defense – especially sophomore
Aimee Tavzel – effectively neutralized Margaret Purce. The reigning Ivy League Player of the Year rocketed a shot off the crossbar early in the first half, then Tierney picked the rebound off Erika Garcia's head to quash the threat. Tierney then left her feet to make quality saves on Purce from 15 yards with 3:37 left in the first half, 15:40 left in the second half, and 4:23 left in the second half. Tierney finished the day with a season-high eight saves.
The Big Red returns to non-league play at 6 p.m. Monday, ending a three-game stretch of consecutive road games at St. Bonaventure.
