ITHACA, N.Y. — Junior forward Sydney Malaga and senior forward Ava Laden each scored second-half goals to avenge an early deficit, but a late goal by Binghamton ultimately led the Cornell women's soccer team to a 2-2 draw against its Central New York rival at Berman Field on Wednesday night.

The tie extended Cornell's home unbeaten streak to nine matches, tying the program record initially established over the 1985 and 1986 seasons (8-0-1). Wednesday's non-losing result also extended the Big Red's unbeaten streak to seven matches (4-0-3) dating back to last year.

Laden's goal was her second of the season, while Malaga recorded her first tally on the campaign. Sophomore goalkeeper Natalie Medugno made all three of her saves in the first half for the Big Red (2-0-3), who is off to its best five-match start since 2019 (4-1-0).

Lexi Vogoda had a three-point night for Binghamton (1-4-3), factoring on both Bearcats goals. Paige Luke recorded the game-tying marker for the visitors, who also had a seven-save performance from goalkeeper Kaitlyn Williams.

Binghamton opened the scoring early in the contest as a handball within the Big Red's penalty area resulted in a Bearcats penalty kick. Vogoda attempted the try, sending a left-footed shot into the bottom left corner of the goal to give the visitors the early advantage.

The first 45 minutes favored the Bearcats as it out-shot the Big Red by a 9-4 margin while doubling up Cornell in shots on goal, 4-2.

"Offensively, we were terrible in the first half throughout," said Cornell women's soccer head coach Rob Ferguson. "From our standards perspective, it was nowhere near good enough."

Coming out of halftime, Cornell flipped the script by dominating the Bearcats with continuous offensive pressure for the remaining 45 minutes of the match. The Big Red logged 12 shot attempts in the half compared to Binghamton's five while posting a 7-1 ledger in shots on target.

"We said a lot of things at halftime," Ferguson said, " but the final thing was I don't care as much about the outcome in this game after that first half than I care about the response that we see now and how willing we are to take a message, to go and act upon it and do the right things. It couldn't have got any better. It was as close to perfect as you'll see from an attitude and mindset standpoint."

Malaga leveled the match at 1-all in the 55th minute when she headed in a set piece from senior Reagan Pauwels from the right flank. The lofted free kick from the left-footed midfielder went right to Malaga on the far post and headed the ball into the bottom right corner of the goal.

Laden gave Cornell the lead 10 minutes later, utilizing a deflection off a Binghamton defender to her benefit. Senior defender Kendall Patten initiated the scoring chance off a free kick from the Big Red's attacking midfield. Upon the ricochet off the Bearcats defender, Laden two-touched the ball with her left foot leading to a lofted shot over Willliams' head.

Binghamton did not go down without a fight, as the Bearcats brought the contest back level in the 79th minute. Olivia McKnight played a cross from the left flank to the middle of the penalty area, where Luke headed the ball over Medugno. Vegoda was credited with a secondary assist on the goal.

Following Luke's game-tying goal, Cornell had four shot attempts to give the Big Red the lead again, but all were blocked or missed the goal. Pauwels had the best opportunity to score in the 83rd minute when her left-footed shot from the left side of the 18-yard box rang off the left post and out.

MATCH NOTES
• Wednesday was the 16th all-time meeting in women's soccer between Binghamton and Cornell. The Big Red is now 6-5-5 all-time over the Bearcats and has played to draws in three of the last four meetings with its Central New York rival (0-1-3).

• The non-losing result ensured Cornell remained unbeaten, marking the seventh time in program history that it has not lost any of its first five matches to begin a season (1986, 1991, 1992, 2004, 2005, 2015).

• Cornell's seven-match unbeaten streak is also the seventh occurrence in which the Big Red has not lost a contest over a stretch of seven-plus matches, joining the programs from 1985-86, 1987-88, 1989-90, 1991, 2004-05, and 2014-15.

• Thanks to Wednesday's result, Cornell is unbeaten over its last eight non-conference contests (3-0-5).

• The first Binghamton goal marked the first goal conceded by Cornell in the first half this season. It was the first goal allowed in the opening half of a match since Oct. 29, 2022, against Princeton in a 2-1 victory for the Big Red.

UP NEXT
Cornell will return to action on Sunday when it travels to suburban Philadelphia to face Villanova in its final non-conference matchup before Ivy League play commences. First touch between the Big Red and Wildcats from the Higgins Soccer Complex is slated for 2 p.m. Game action will be broadcast live on FloSports.tv.