ITHACA, N.Y. – Armed with a mix of rejuvenated returning players and a new wave determined to be at the forefront of changing the program's course, the Cornell women's soccer team enters 2019 with an abundance of excitement.
The start of the new season is the final phase of putting a disappointing 1-13-1 campaign in the rearview mirror. And even though the Big Red lost just three players to graduation, this year's team figures to bear little resemblance to last year's edition. And that's by design.
"We've addressed the things we really lacked – legitimately dangerous players on the attack and more team speed everywhere," said
Dwight Hornibrook, who enters his third season as head coach. "We're going with the concept of 'attack first; ask questions later.'"
That's a complete 180-degree turn. The 2018 Ivy League season saw Cornell attempt to address its dearth of depth and scoring punch by absorbing several proverbial body blows with the hopes of counterattacking for 1-0 or 2-1 victories. Unfortunately, that measured approach still didn't yield positive results – even if two of the losses came in overtime.
The passive approach is now a thing of the past. Even in terms of defending, the coaching staff has challenged a more aggressive approach. For example, if Cornell turns the ball over to the opposition, there's an expectation that it should not only win the ball back, it should do so within five seconds.
In other words, the Big Red isn't just trying to negate a weakness – it has every intention of making last year's weakness into this year's strength. And the 28 student-athletes and four coaches know the only way it will work is with a complete buy-in from everyone involved.
"Competition for playing time is at an all-time high," Hornibrook said. "You earn your chance in practice, and then you keep your job based on how you perform in games. There's an edge to it, and that's what you want. The culture of high-performance teams have one thing in common, and it's accountability."
Here is a look at all of the different facets of the 2019 Cornell women's soccer team:
FORWARDS
While the Big Red often deployed a formation with three players up front last year, it enters this season primed for a two-pronged attack headed by senior
Kennedy Yearby and sophomore
Jadyn Matthews – both of whom spent plenty of time in defending or holding midfield roles in 2018.
Yearby is the Big Red's leading active scorer with 11 points on four goals and three assists over her first three seasons on East Hill, so she is no stranger to an attacking role. But in the interest of matching up against the opposition's most potent attackers last year, Yearby was moved around the field. Increased depth in other areas figure to lead her back to the front line.
Joining her is Matthews, who helped Jamaica's national team qualify for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup. While she typically played in the defensive midfield between stints in international competition, she has proven herself quite capable offensively, too. Plus, she possesses some of the offensive characteristics the Big Red has lacked of late.
"She's been noticeably better this year," Hornibrook said. "She scored twice in our scrimmage against St. Francis Brooklyn. She wants to get better, and she has that attitude of 'give me the ball', and hits it with a lot of power."
Other likely contributors from the forward positions include sophomore
Victoria Bubrick and freshman
Liza Mariner, who scored 155 goals across four seasons in high school and was twice named the New Mexico State Player of the Year.
"She's quick, and she has a good left foot," Hornibrook added. "She will bring a better attacking presence into the game."
Juniors
Julianna Shrekgast and
Nicole Long, and sophomore
Evanthia Spyredes will add depth up front and/or in the midfield.
MIDFIELDERS
While the measure of a team's offensive merit can often fall on the shoulders of forwards, a more potent Big Red attack this year will have to come from all areas of the field – especially the midfield. A mix of experience and some underclassmen with dynamic playmaking abilities lend to optimism from this year's Big Red.
Senior
Juliana Comer returns for her fourth year of starters' minutes, and junior
Shelby Wray continues to improve upon being the Big Red's hammer in the defensive midfield. Increased depth on the back line could move junior
Maddie Hoitink into a similar role this year.
On the attack, sophomore
Aidan Julia Reineman is expected to build on the flashes of brilliance demonstrated during her collegiate debut.
"She's stronger and more confident with the ball, and she can really shoot," Hornibrook said.
Freshman
Ashley Durik – a United Soccer Coaches High School All-America selection and Kentucky's state player of the year in 2018 – is another creative playmaker that adds a different wrinkle to the Big Red's attack.
"She's showing us a lot of quality already," Hornibrook said. "She's small, but she can turn and she can run at you. She has great soccer IQ and sees the little passes, and she definitely adds value to our attack."
Freshmen
Emily St. John and
Sara DeGraw are both threats from the left side. Other newcomers that could see time in the defensive midfield are
Kendall Patten and
Isabella DeLew. Junior
Carly Swetz continues to rehabilitate an injury while senior
Karli Berry – who serves as a tri-captain alongside senior goalkeeper
Chrissy Mayer and junior defender
Naomi Jaffe – is expected to miss the entire season.
BACKS
The Big Red's primary back line returns in its entirety, but the emergence of freshman
Sydney Waiters allows the team to push Hoitink up to a holding midfield role. Waiters will join senior
Abby Adams – a second-team All-Ivy League selection last year and team minutes leader in each of the last two seasons – in a central role, giving Cornell both power and speed.
Senior
Kaili Gregory will likely see her role shift to the flank, which should allow to get up field more often and take advantage of quality left-footed service and a dangerous shot. Junior
Naomi Jaffe returns to the right side.
"I really like the athleticism of our back four," Hornibrook said. "We're not going to lose many foot races or physical battles back there."
While the team historically likes to leave its back line intact throughout the full 90 minutes, increased depth at those positions may offer a new wrinkle. Sophomore
Mofoluke Obiri emerged as one of the team's best one-on-one defenders last year. Junior
Emily Addis will look to increase her playing time either on defense or in the midfield, and freshman
Annika DeStefano could earn time in a central role.
GOALKEEPERS
The absence of All-Ivy League goalkeeper
Meghan Kennedy '19 (who is rostered as a graduate transfer at Wake Forest this year) will give the Big Red a new look in goal. Senior
Chrissy Mayer has the most experience of returning goalkeepers with a 0.61 goals against average over seven appearances (four starts), and sophomore
Miranda Iannone earned two appearances and her first collegiate start last year.
Added to the mix this season is freshman
Nicole Shulman, who is capable of making immediate contributions – though she is slated to miss five games this year while competing with one of Israel's national teams. She's already played eight games with the U17 and U19 squads in UEFA Women's Championship qualifiers.
"We have three very good goalkeepers," Hornibrook said. "It's both really good and a really difficult situation."
NEW COACHES
Not all of this year's newcomers are freshmen – so, too, are three of the team's four coaches.
Rob Ferguson and Kelsey Ferguson have come on board as assistant coaches, after having helped build WNY Flash Academy into a development leader in its region. Hornibrook said having more experienced assistants has not only allowed him to take a step back from some of the minutiae of practices, it also comes with an influx of fresh ideas.
Vanessa Romero has also joined the team as a volunteer assistant coach after twice earning all-region honors while competing at SUNY Cortland.
"Add nine new players to those three, and now we have 12 new people – and they're all really hungry to make a difference," Hornibrook said. "There's a whole lot of new energy."
SCHEDULE
The Big Red will tune up for the perennially demanding Ivy League schedule with six non-league games against opponents that had varied levels of success in 2018. Starting up with the program's first-ever meeting against Iona (3-13-2 in 2018) on Friday night, Cornell then shifts its attention to a more familiar Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference opponent, Siena (11-8-3 in 2018), on Labor Day.
Bucknell (7-11-1 in 2018) returns to the schedule for the first time since 2011 when it hosts the Big Red on Friday, Sept. 6. Cornell then returns to Berman two days later for a matinee against St. Bonaventure (2-13-4 in 2018).
A full week of rest leads into a road match on Sept. 15 against Albany, which won the America East title last season with a 14-7-2 record. Binghamton (7-9-2 in 2018) comes to Ithaca three days later for a midweek clash at Berman Field before Cornell travels to New York for a showdown with the Big East's St. John's on Saturday, Sept. 21.
The Ivy League slate begins at 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 28, when Columbia visits Berman Field after rallying to defeat Cornell in overtime last year. The Big Red turns its attention to defending league champion Penn on Oct. 5, then returns home for a match against Harvard on Oct. 12. The non-league schedule concludes Tuesday, Oct. 15 against regional rival Colgate, which was 11-4-3 last season as one of the Patriot League's top teams.
Cornell then plays three of its final four games on the road, starting with a Oct. 19 clash at Yale. The last home game and Senior Day is Oct. 26 against Brown before the regular season wraps up on the road against Princeton on Nov. 2 and Dartmouth on Nov. 9.
