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ITHACA, N.Y. – Cornell men's soccer battled the elements and a feisty Yale squad to pick up its first Ivy League victory of the season on Saturday afternoon at Berman Field. Senior Conor Goepel provided the heroics for the Big Red in the 82^nd minute, roofing a shot through a mass of bodies and past Bulldog keeper Blake Brown.
 
Senior keeper Zach Zagorski made four saves to post his eighth clean sheet of the season and 13^th of his Big Red career. He currently sits in a tie with Quinn O'Sullivan '95 for third place on the program's all-time list, while he tied Jon Ross '75 – who marked eight clean sheets in both '73 and '74 – for first in single-season shutouts. The 1-0 victory was the Big Red's ninth clean sheet of the season, which set a new record for the most shutouts in a single-season.
 
Cornell (8-4-1, 1-2-0 Ivy League) battled adversity throughout the afternoon against a Yale (1-9-2, 0-3-0 Ivy League) squad that showed a lot more punch than its disappointing record would indicate. Both teams battled through a stiff wind, chilly temperatures and intermittent spurts of rain, which made scoring sequences extremely difficult to manufacture.
 
In the end, it was the Big Red that was able to solve the solution for the game-winner. Senior center back Devin Morgan started the scoring play, sending in his patented long throw-in after the Big Red earned possession deep in the attacking third. His throw landed in the box, pin-balling amongst the mass of players at the right side of the box. Sophomore mid Jack Ferguson was able to get a flick on the ball sending it towards the middle of the box. Goepel swiftly rushed in from the high slot and hammered home a laser into the top of the net past the bewildered net minder Brown.
 
The goal was Goepel's sixth of the season and 4^th game-winner – tying Bill Summers (1981) and Rob Elliot (1995) for third most in a single-season. With the tally he also moved into a tie with Bill Summers '81 for 13^th place in all-time goals (18) and a tie with Adam Skumawitz '00 and Adamo Notarantonio '95 for 15^th in all-time points (42).
 
The Big Red made a concerted effort to get balls to the net on the nasty weather day. The team fired 16 shots – nine on goal – but could not best the Yale keeper until its final shot of the contest. Blake Brown made eight saves to keep the Bulldogs in the contest.
 
Yale showed excellent jump despite having trouble putting together scoring plays this season. The Bulldogs came into the contest ranked 196^th out of 200 Division I teams in scoring offense; however, the visitors fired 15 shots – four on goal – of their own in the tilt.
 
Harrowing moments ensued as the Big Red tried to protect its strenuous one-goal lead. The Bulldogs pressed hard for the equalizer, firing four shots in the final four minutes of the contest. In the 90^th minute Cameron Kirdzik launched a shot that took an awkward deflection that Zagorski tracked back just in time to punch the ball over the crossbar. On the ensuing corner kick, Conner Lachenbruch got a shot on net, but for the second straight game, the ball was cleared off the goal line to preserve the victory.
 
With the win, the Big Red remains very much alive in its quest to top the Ivy League standings. With ties in the Harvard-Brown and Columbia-Princeton contests and Dartmouth's loss to Penn, the Big Red is well within striking distance of the top of the conference.
 
Cornell men's soccer will return to action next weekend as the team heads to Providence, R.I., to take on Brown. Opening kick is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.