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ITHACA, N.Y. – Men's soccer continued its mastery of winning versus non-conference opponents at Berman Field, defeating Siena 1-0 in its opening game of the CU Inaria Classic on Friday. Conor Goepel bested Siena keeper Josh Weiss on a penalty kick in the 84^th minute to propel the Big Red to the close victory.
 
Senior keeper Zach Zagorski (W, 3-2-1) made two stops to mark his fourth clean sheet of the season and ninth of his Big Red career. He now sits fifth by himself on the program's all-time shutouts list.
 
The winning play was set up on an excellent run by forward Sebastian Scales. Freshman Eric Nuss connected a pass to Scales just outside the attacking third and the sophomore made an excellent individual run, before making a deft touch to get behind the Siena defender. The Saints player had no choice, but to concede the penalty, giving Goepel the chance to win it from the spot.
 
Goepel has been Cornell's go-to player in the key moments throughout his career. He calmly stepped to the spot and slipped a low-ball perfectly inside the right post. Siena keeper Josh Weiss (L, 5-2-0) guessed right, but could not get a hand to the perfectly placed shot. The goal was Goepel's third of the season and ninth career game-winner, moving him all-alone into 2^nd place on the program's all-time list for the statistic.
 
Cornell (3-2-1) knew it faced a difficult test in Siena (5-2-0) on Friday. The Saints were the fifth team in the currently receiving votes category of the most recent NSCAA Poll. In fact, Siena was off to its best start in the program's 41 year history, and had already scored victories over then-ranked 23^rd Boston University and fellow receiving votes team Portland.
 
As has been the Big Red's calling card throughout the early portion of this season, the team completely shut down the Saints attack. Cornell held the Saints to just two shots in the opening 45-minutes. The visitors rebounded, launching 12 shot attempts in the second half; however, many of those attempts came late after conceding the goal and were from ambitious distances. After a small hiccup in the Syracuse game earlier this week, the defense rebounded in a big way, insulating Zagorski's net to the tune of only two shots allowed on goal.
 
The Big Red came out strong in this contest, showing little hangover from the difficult loss to the Orange earlier in the week. Sophomore Dylan Palacio had an excellent chance just a minute into the contest, working free from a defender with a cut-back move and driving a hard low liner into the goalie from 10 yards out. Cornell got another couple of good opportunities near the end of the opening half off the foot of who else, but Goepel. First he sent a devilish cross into the box looking for senior Atticus DeProspo, but the delivery was just behind the streaking midfielder. On the following sequence, Goepel again got the ball in the high slot of the box, but could not work himself free to fire an attempt at net.
 
Both teams had some quality opportunities after the break, as the midfield began to open up. In the 53^rd minute, the Saints earned a corner and nearly cashed in. Uros Antic delivered a solid ball to the far side post, where Danilo Markovic got his head to the ball, driving it off the woodwork. Zagorski navigated the ensuing scrum at the net front to gobble up the rebound.
 
In the 71^st minute senior Peter Chodas delivered a solid ball off a free kick to freshman Jonathan Cullom, who got a strong head to the ball, but Weiss was in perfect position to make the save. Fourteen minutes later, Goepel cashed in to send the 324 Big Red faithful in attendance into an uproar.
 
With the victory, the Big Red moved to 6-0-0 all-time in CU Inaria Classic games. The win puts Cornell in excellent shape to win its fourth consecutive title in the event.
 
Men's soccer returns to action on Sunday, as it welcomes a Fairleigh Dickinson to Berman Field for the second leg of the CU Inaria Classic. Opening kick is scheduled for 3:00 p.m.