By Brandon Thomas
Cornell Athletic Communications
 
ITHACA, N.Y. — Sophomore Ava Laden and freshman Peyton Nichols scored first-half goals for the Cornell women's soccer team on Sunday afternoon, but UAlbany scratched out a 2-2 draw at Berman Field after an equalizer in the 71st minute.

Cornell controlled most of the game against UAlbany (0-2-1), possessing the ball 59% of the 110 minutes and generating 10 corner kicks. The two goals served as an impressive bounce back from conceding the game's first goal. But once armed with the lead, the Big Red couldn't widen the gap and ultimately had to settle for a tie.

"We were excellent in the first half, but that's really where we lost the (win) — because we didn't capitalize on what we did," said head coach Rob Ferguson, who saw his team move to 1-0-1 on the young season. "We created chances, but we didn't score more."
 
Despite all of the positive play from the home side in the opening half, it was the visitors that struck first in just the ninth minute. A Great Danes throw-in along the right touch line put Olivia Piriano into the corner, but she was able to spin away from a double-team defense and serve a cross along the ground. Sophia Eifler was first to the spot at the top of the 6-yard box, and she curled a shot inside the far post.
 
"That was good information for us, because how we responded from that was good," Ferguson said of his squad's first deficit on the season. "I thought we responded in a mature way, unlike when we score goals. When we conceded, we just got on with it and kept doing stuff, then we're up 2-1 some 20 minutes later."
 
Just as she did in her first collegiate game on Friday against Canisius, Nichols got the Big Red on the board. As a pair of defenders collapsed on her running at the end of the middle third, Nichols slotted a pass up the flank to Laden. A defender started to close off Laden's angle near the corner flag, so she cut a pass back toward the top of the box. By that time, Nichols outran a pair of defenders to create enough space to take one touch, then slide a shot along the turf and inside the far post in the 17th minute.
 
Ten minutes later, Laden gave Cornell the lead with her first collegiate goal. Receiving a pass from the wing by fifth year Naomi Jaffe, Laden eschewed the initial touch to let the ball slide by the nearest defender. That allowed Laden to run with the ball into space, where she entered the 18-yard box on the right side and scored in nearly identical fashion to Nichols, though from a little further out.
 
At that point, it appeared the Big Red might be off and running with the game. Cornell had seven of the game's first 10 shots, and it continued to threaten until the half. About three minutes after the go-ahead goal, senior Victoria Bubrick beat a defender wide into the box, then senior Aidan Julia Reineman's deft one-touch teed up Nichols for a blast from 10 yards, only to see a defender positioned next to the goalkeeper made the stop.
 
Then just before the break, freshman Alex Brotherton made a similar move on the opposite side to set up a shot from freshman Caroline Kirby, only to see it go wide.
 
But the tide shifted in the second half – not so much in terms of possession, but in terms of how much ground UAlbany would give. Despite trailing by a goal, the visitors remained in a relatively passive approach when Cornell worked its way up the field. By essentially gumming up the middle, the Great Danes were able to spring counterattacks that created much-needed space for its speedy twin forwards, Jasmine and Jada Colbert.
 
"In the second half, they tightened up the space in the midfield," Ferguson said. "They eliminated our (defensive midfielders) from doing what they did so well in the first half, and we didn't solve it on the field. We kept trying to do the same thing."
 
Trying to expand on its lead with about 20 minutes remaining in regulation, a pair of Big Red players came together in a bit of confusion, leading to a turnover that was quickly turned into an attack. In a clean two-on-two break with her sister on the right, Jasmine Colbert took on her defender and buried a lunging shot from 20 yards into the upper corner of the far-side netting.
 
"The game-tying goal was frustrating because of the way it unfolded," Ferguson said. "Whenever they were breaking like that, we felt the threat was in behind. So if we stepped too high, they would just throw it behind and we'd be exposed. So we were dropping – and we clearly dropped too far."
 
By scoring twice for the second time in 48 hours, Cornell tallied multiple goals in each of its season's first two games for the first time since 2005.
 
The Big Red returns to action at 5 p.m. Thursday, when it hosts Niagara at Berman Field to close out a three-game home stand.

Assistant director of athletic communications Brandon Thomas is entering his 11th season as his office's primary contact for the team. He can be reached at brandon@cornell.edu.