BROOKLYN, N.Y. -- Two goals in the matter of a minute and 42 seconds helped fire up the Cornell men's soccer team's offense on Sunday. The Big Red defeated St. Francis Brooklyn 4-2 at the Brooklyn Bridge Pier.
 
Cornell advanced to 2-0-0 on the season, while the Terriers dropped to 1-3-0.
 
"Teams with less character would have come here today -- playing a second game in less than 48 hours – and crumbled going one down in this kind of an environment," Cornell head coach John Smith said. "We were persistent, and we showed grit and determination. It was our mentality that allowed us to show some pieces of good soccer and score four very good goals."
 
The Big Red fell behind early on as the Terriers capitalized on a penalty kick off the foot of Marco Torriani 13:40 into the contest.
 
Cornell saw several opportunities go unrewarded in the first 39 minutes of the contest. St. Francis Brooklyn goalkeeper Nick Casado made three impressive denials in net to preserve the Terriers' lead.
 
The Big Red finally got on the board with six minutes remaining in the first half.
 
Charles Touche made a brilliant defensive play on a clearance attempt from a Terriers back line defender using his body to keep the ball down. Simultaneously, Emeka Eneli made a run towards the net. Touche made the short pass to Eneli who only needed one touch to even the score.
 
Eneli now has two goals on the season. He scored his first collegiate goal in his debut against Binghamton on Friday with one second remaining in the first half.
 
Less than two minutes later, George Pedlow struck his first tally of the season with the assist credited to senior captain Ryan Bayne. 
 
Tommy Hansan sent a free kick towards the goal, where the Big Red had loaded the box. The ball bounced around like a pinball before Bayne buried a point-blank shot to give the Big Red its first lead of the game with 4:18 remaining in the first half.
 
The Big Red entered the half with a 2-1 lead.
 
It did not take long for the Cornell to get going in the second half. In fact, 20 seconds was all it took.
 
After making a run and beating out two Terriers defenders, Touche fielded a lengthy pass from midfield in at the top of the box. The sophomore from Albuquerque, New Mexico, directed the ball to his right and past Casado in net to give the Big Red the 3-1 lead.
 
John Scearce scored his first goal as a member of the Big Red on a penalty kick in the 63rd minute of the game.
 
After surrendering the first goal of the game on the penalty kick, Ryan Shellow was nearly perfect. He finished the game with five saves. Shellow, however, did surrender a late tally to Terriers in the final minute of the contest.
 
The Big Red returns to the pitch on Friday when it travels to Easton, Pennsylvania, to take on Lafayette at 7 p.m.