ITHACA, N.Y. – Senior's Tyler Bagley and Emeka Eneli each scored two goals on Saturday night as the Cornell men's soccer team tallied a 5-1 victory over Marist at Berman Field. It's Bagley's third brace of the season as he increased his season point total to 18 on eight goals and two assists.
 
A win brings Cornell to 5-1-1 for the season, marking the best start to a season under head coach John Smith since his arrival on East Hill in 2016. It's a monumental win for Smith, whose career record at Cornell improves to 34-34-7 following the win. Tasked with bringing the program back from its darkest depths, Smith has done so with season records of 11-6 and 10-5-2 in 2018 and 2019 respectively.

"This program is vastly different today from what it was when we arrived five-and-a-half years ago, not just from player personnel, but from an infrastructure standpoint as well," Smith said. "In every way it's different. You're seeing reflections of that now in our performances and in the attitude and culture of this team. It was tough to start the time off here with a 1-14-2 record, but I look back at that and I'll be upset next year when we won't have any returning players that remember those times. I think that's what has kept us level-headed."
 
In contrast to its match against Syracuse on Tuesday, the Big Red made the most of its opportunities in front of goal against Marist. Cornell out-shot the Red Foxes 22-13 overall and led 11-7 in shots on goal. Junior goalkeeper Brady McSwain made six saves, stopping a number of strong chances from Marist late in the match.
 
Despite the lopsided score, it was actually Marist that put Cornell in a 1-0 hole early on. A rebounded shot in the third minute of action woke the Big Red up. After a Red Fox corner kick, a shot in the box by Henrique Cruz was stopped by a diving McSwain, but the ball ricocheted back into the box where it found the right foot of Stefan Copetti. With McSwain unable to recover, Copetti scored on a ball shot into the top of the net.

"We did well getting back into the game after that point, it wasn't a great performance by us in the first half," Smith said. "We came out with a little bit more intensity in the second half and created some great opportunities. On a different day I thought we could have scored one or two more."
 
Cornell responded by giving Marist some of its own medicine in the 22nd minute. A volley by Eneli was deflected by goalkeeper Sam Ilin, but Bagley was there to clean it up. Eneli would score one of his own before the first half ended, finding the back of the net in the 35th minute on a low ball that eked past Ilin.
 
Marist battled hard for an equalizer for the first 25 minutes of the second half, forcing McSwain to be at his best and make four saves over a 10-minute stretch. Just when Marist thought it had an opportunity to tie things up, Bagley scored his second goal of the match off a cross from sophomore Wilson Eisner. Bagley ran unmarked through the box and found the upper 90.
 
Things continued to unravel for the Red Foxes into the late stages of the game when Eneli tapped in his second goal of the game in the 80th minute. Senior Charles Touche gained some confidence late, finding his first goal of the season on a breakaway in the 88th minute.
 
Up Next: Cornell gets its Ivy League season started next weekend when it travels to Philadelphia to meet Penn at 5 p.m. Penn is currently 3-2-1 and plays Monmouth prior to meeting the Big Red.
 
Starting XI:
GK: Brady McSwain
D: Kisa Kiingi
D: Tate Keir
D: Henry Hylbert
D: Jonah Kagen
M: Harry Fuller
M: Wilson Eisner
M: Lalo Serrano
M: Tyler Bagley
F: Emeka Eneli
F: Matthew Goncalves