CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -The Cornell men's soccer team played to a draw in its Ivy League opener at Harvard. The Big Red moves to 3-2-1, and the Crimson 1-2-4.

Four minutes into the contest, Willem Ebbinge registered the first tally for Harvard at Jordan Field, putting the Crimson ahead 1-0. The Big Red responded just six minutes later on a goal by senior forward Matthew Goncalves that was assisted by freshman forward Alex Harris. The shot count in the first half leaned 6-1 in favor of Cornell.

The second half showed to be a defensive battle, with neither team finding the back of the net. Ryan Friedberg tallied a pair of saves on the game for the Big Red. Crimson goalie Lucian Wood registered four stops in the net. 

"Today was a tough Ivy League battle. I have no complaints about Harvard opening the scoring -- they began the game more on the front foot than we did. Our response was very good though, and we deserved to tie things up a few minutes later," said John Smith, the Dr. Daniel P. Wood Head Coach of Cornell Men's Soccer.

"I thought we did a great job of attacking with pace and movement, carving really good chances to score. The final pass, shot, or touch eluded us today," Smith said.

Cornell will shift focus to the next match, next Saturday against Brown.

"We look forward to playing in front of our fantastic fans again next Saturday," Smith added.

Next Up
The Cornell men's soccer team will return home to take on Ivy League foe Brown, during homecoming weekend in East Hill. Cornell and Brown will kick off at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday Sept. 30 at Berman Field. Game action will be broadcast to ESPN+.