ITHACA, N.Y. – A season-best performance by the Cornell men's soccer team led the Big Red to a 6-0 victory over Harvard on Saturday, Oct. 12. Six goals are the most goals scored by a Cornell team since the 2000 season, when the Big Red defeated Army, 6-0, on Oct. 31.
With a win over the Crimson, Cornell (7-3, 1-1 Ivy League) earned its fifth clean sheet of the season, the most by a Cornell team since the 2014 team posted 11 (10-0-1 when holding opponents to zero goals). Harvard (0-7-1, 0-2 Ivy League) is still searching for its first conference victory.
"We knew this kind of result was going to happen for us eventually," said head coach
John Smith. "We deserved a performance like this on the back of all the hard work we've put in during training and the amount of chances we've had, particularly in our home games."
Cornell has seen a significant amount of goal scoring opportunities at home this season, out-shooting its home opponents, 62-11, prior to Saturday's match. A year after finishing the season with a home record of 2-5, the Big Red have yet to allow a goal at home in 2019 and are 4-0 when playing at Berman Field.
In goal, senior
Ryan Shellow improved to 7-2 on the year with a 0.97 goal against average and a .710 save percentage. Shellow made a season-high five saves to preserve his fifth clean sheet of the year.
With rain starting to fall in Ithaca, the Big Red wasted no time getting on the board with junior
Vardhin Manoj finding his second goal in as many Ivy League matches in the 7th minute. Junior
Charles Touche soon thereafter tallied his first goal of the season, finding himself in the right place at the right time to clean up a deflected save off a
Ryan Bayne header in the 18th minute.
Despite the rain and the cold, reigning Ivy League Rookie of the Year
Emeka Eneli began heating up in the second half. Eneli notching two goals and an assist to bring his season point total up to eight (three goals, two assists). Like Touche, senior
John Scearce found the back of the net for his first goal of the year, scoring in the 64th minute. Scearce is the team-leader in shots (26), but tough luck had held him scoreless until Saturday.
First year
Griffin Garrard wrapped up the scoring and continued his strong week with a gorgeous 76th minute goal that bent into the upper right corner. Contributing assists for the Big Red were senior
George Pedlow, junior Tyler Bagely, Eneli and Touche.
Seeing their first minutes of the season were senior
Ryan Hill, and sophomores
Nick Allen and
Charlie Ferguson. All three played well down the stretch as the Big Red looked to maintain the shutout.
"It was a great chance to get some new players some minutes and I've been waiting for that moment," said Smith. "Everybody here really deserves to be on the field. They've put so much work in coming in fit as an entire squad and in training they're really bringing it."
Up Next: Cornell travels to New Haven, Conn. to face Yale at 5 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 18. Yale currently stands atop the Ivy League standings with a 6-0-2 overall record and have won six straight contests. The Bulldogs' opponents have combined for a 17-48-15 record in 2019, with Cornell being the only upcoming opponent with a record above .500.
Yale is led in points by Miguel Yuste (5 goals, 2 assists) and Mark Winhoffer (2 goals, 8 assists) who have each tallied 12 points through eight matches. In total, six different Bulldogs have recorded two or more goals this season. Between the posts for Yale is Elian Haddock who boasts a 0.60 goal against average and a .808 save percentage.
