ITHACA, N.Y. – Kennedy Yearby set up one second-half goal, then scored another with 75 seconds left in regulation to help the women's soccer team scrap out a 2-2 tie with Albany on Tuesday night at Berman Field.
 
Meghan Kennedy made 10 saves in goal, and the hard-fought draw breaks a five-game losing streak for Cornell (1-5-1) in its last tune-up before the start of Ivy League play. The Big Red staved off Albany (6-4-1) in a scoreless first half despite the visitors holding an 8-1 advantage in shots.
 
The Big Red pounced quickly after the intermission. After playing most of the first half on the back line, Yearby was shifted back to forward and immediately made an impact. She powered her way around the edge on the right side in the 49th minute, then slid a cross to the top of the 6-yard box. Jessica Ritchie had a defender draped on her, so she alertly backheeled a pass to Shelby Wray charging uncontested at the far post. Wray's strong finish was her first goal of the season, the second of the sophomore's collegiate career, and it gave Cornell just its second lead of the year.
 
While the team's first goal in four games rejuvenated the Big Red, the jubilation was short-lived. Albany countered less than five minutes later, when Caroline Kopp boomed a shot from the corner of the penalty area that took a deflection off a defender and into the upper 90 inside the far post. The Great Danes then pulled ahead on Mariah Williams' team-leading eighth goal of the season in the 61st minute.
 
Brandishing most of the night's scoring chances, Albany threatened to blow the game open once it took the lead. That's when Kennedy was at her best, perhaps no moreso than when she sprawled to her right to deflect away a net-seeking blast from Meghan Malone in the 67th minute.
 
Desperate to find an equalizer, Cornell pushed central defender Kaili Gregory forward late in the second half. Working up the left side, Yearby earned a corner kick that was served in by Ritchie. An Albany defender failed to clear it cleanly, and the ball skipped across to the far side. The left-footed Gregory kept the play alive by the using her right foot to loop the ball back across the goal mouth for Yearby to run on to. Her header was deflected by Albany goalkeeper Andrea Leitner and turned away by a defender near the far post, but the officials deemed the ball had crossed the line for Yearby's first goal of the season.
 
The teams labored through two overtime periods, with the Big Red enduring a pair of fouls that created free kicks for the Great Danes within 20 yards. Both attempts sailed just high of the crossbar.
 
With the two goals, Cornell has already matched its goal total from 2017 before the midway point of the season. The Big Red returns to action at 6 p.m. Saturday, when it heads to New York to take on last year's Ivy League runner-up, Columbia.