NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Aerial Chavarin scored for Yale just a couple minutes after the Cornell women's soccer team had its best scoring chance of the afternoon, helping the Bulldogs secure a 1-0 Ivy League victory on Saturday afternoon at Reese Stadium.
 
Cornell (4-7-1, 0-4 Ivy League) essentially did what it needed to do against Yale (10-3, 3-1) up until the hosts broke through to take the lead. While the Big Red was being outshot by a sizable margin, the team played fantastic one-on-one defense and largely frustrated the Bulldogs – who also had the misfortune of striking the woodwork with a few shots. Yale started to press forward, particularly from its flank defense, which kept the pressure on Cornell's back line. But in the process, that also left Yale susceptible to quick counterattacks after mistakes in the middle third.
 
To wit, the Big Red had a golden opportunity with 26 minutes to play when a ball came back toward midfield and touch a hard touch off a Bulldogs central defender. Freshman Emily St. John quickly got to the ball first and touched it ahead, giving Cornell a clean two-on-one chance from the center line in. St. John slotted a pass into the middle at the feet of senior Kennedy Yearby about 25 yards from goal. A defender pursued the play from behind, which pressured Yearby into taking a shot from 15 yards that bounced wide of the left post.
 
A little less than four minutes later, Yale finally broke through on its next shot. The Bulldogs forced the ball up the middle into a scrum, where Lydia Shaw emerged and slid a pass to Chavarin charging up a seam between two defenders. As she shrugged off the pursuit, Chavarin guided a shot just inside the far post for her seventh goal of the season.
 
Cornell's last gasp came after freshman Ashley Durik was fouled about 25 yards from goal with about 15 seconds remaining. As sophomore Evanthia Spyredes lined up the shot, the Big Red requested the referee march off the 10-yard cushion between the ball and Yale's defense – but the clock never stopped. That forced Spyredes to hurry her shot, which was corralled by Alyssa Fagel for her only save of the game.
 
The Big Red returns home for its next game, when it will host a Senior Day matchup against Brown at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Berman Field in Ithaca, New York.