BALTIMORE, Md. - The Cornell men's soccer team fell 2-1 to UMBC on Saturday night from Retriever Soccer Park, in a match that featured three penalty kicks, five yellow cards, and a red card. The Retrievers improve to 4-1-1, while the Big Red dropped to 2-2.

A tightly called first-half of play saw 14 fouls and three yellow cards, including one in the box that resulted in a penalty kick. Taylor Calheira of the Retrievers picked a spot in the bottom left corner of the net that snuck past Big Red goalie Ryan Friedberg for the opening score of the contest.

The Big Red opened the second-half on a mission, getting two shots in the first minute, but the Retriever defense met the bill registering a block and a save on successive Cornell attempts. Six minutes into the half, Matthew Goncalves was taken down in the box, leading to a penalty call. Freshman forward Alex Harris knotted the game up with a successful penalty shot. Moments later, the third penalty of the game was called. Calheira was the culprit of the tally again, moving the Retrievers back ahead, 2-1.

Both teams would go scoreless for the remainder of the game. Despite Cornell winning the 18-6 shot discrepancy in favor of Cornell, UMBC would earn the victory behind Calheira's two goals and Emigdio Lopez's seven saves in the net.

"Tonight was a tough result to take. Hats off to UMBC for coming away with a win. We will take this one on the chin and move forward into another exciting game on Tuesday against Syracuse." said John Smith, the Dr. Daniel P. Wood Head Coach of Cornell Men's Soccer.

Next Up
Cornell will host the defending national champion, No. seven-ranked Syracuse Orange in the home opener on Tuesday, Sept. 19. Kickoff is slated for 7:00 p.m. from Berman Field.