ITHACA, N.Y. – Despite a strong performance from freshman goalkeeper Ryan Shellow and a clutch game-tying goal from Jonathan Cullom, the men's soccer team fell to Saint Francis, 2-1, in overtime on Friday night at Berman Field in the opening game of the CU Inaria Classic.

After going down, 1-0, in the eighth minute, Cornell (0-4-2) fought back to force overtime when Jonathan Cullom tied the game on a free kick with less than five minutes to go in regulation.

Extra time didn't seem to be in Cornell's future when George Pedlow fired a shot that clanked off the left post, but Cornell kept pushing for a goal. When a foul was called 25 yards out from goal, Cullom calmly curled the ball around the wall and into the net for the equalizer.

"I'm really proud of the group because they proved today how resilient they are," said head coach John Smith. "We didn't just battle back, we actually created some good opportunities."

Saint Francis (5-2-0) got on the board first when Jonathan Otting sent a cross into the box from the right flank that found Mario Mastrangelo's head. Mastrangelo was able to direct the ball to the far post. Neither team generated much offense for the remaining minutes of the first half.

When the second half began, freshman goalkeeper Ryan Shellow did his part in keeping the deficit at one, making two key saves just five minutes into the half. He timed his jump on a cross into the box in the 48th minute to punch the ball away from a Saint Francis head and then pounce on the loose ball.. Then, just three minutes later, Shellow made a diving save to his right after a Red Flash forward broke into the box and fired a shot from 15 yards out.

Shellow faced 17 shots, 11 of which were on goal, and finished with nine saves.

"He's done fantastic. All you can ask of a keeper is 'Can you stop shots? In those moments in games where you have to make saves, can you make them?' and he did on five or six occasions. He came up huge," said Smith.

Shellow kept the Big Red within striking distance yet again in the 69th minute with a save and follow-up. Matrangelo took an angled shot from the edge of the six-yard box and Shellow made the initial save and then hustled to get back in position to force the Red Flash to put the ensuing rebound shot out of bounds.

The Big Red dominated the flow of play in the extra time but the Red Flash scored the winning goal just 13 seconds into the second overtime period, when Pedro Neto capitalized on a rebound inside the six-yard box.

 "We'll learn from this. These are all opportunities to grow," said Smith.

Cornell finished the game with eight shots (five on goal) to Saint Francis' 17 shots (11). Marcus Rojas finished with four saves for the Red Flash.

Cornell will have Saturday off before returning to Berman Field on Sunday at 1 p.m. to play New Hampshire in the final game of the CU Inaria Classic.