ITHACA, N.Y. — For a second consecutive season, senior forward
Maddie Leroy scored against Buffalo as the Cornell women's soccer team played to a 1-1 draw before a great crowd at Berman Field on Thursday evening in the Big Red's home opener.
Jasmine Guerber potted the lone goal of the match for the Bulls (2-0-1), who entered the contest ranked No. 25 in the most recent TopDrawerSoccer poll. Buffalo goalkeeper Lexie Thompson, the reigning Mid-American Conference (MAC) Defensive Player of the Week, made five saves in goal.
Junior goalkeeper
Natalie Medugno stopped three shots while making her second consecutive start in goal for the Big Red (0-0-2). Fellow junior
Tanum Nelson assisted Leroy's goal to record her first point of the season.
"There's a disappointing feeling right now in the result because we were ahead for one time and conceded a late goal from a set piece. Those things will always be disappointing," Cornell women's soccer head coach
Rob Ferguson said. "But there's a lot from the game that I'm happy with, and there's a lot for the players to be proud of."
The draw extended Cornell's non-conference unbeaten streak to 13 matches (5-0-8), matching the previous program record that was set across the 2001-03 (8-0-5) and 2014-16 (10-0-3) seasons.
Buffalo controlled the opening 10 minutes of the contest before Cornell took over the game's momentum over the final 35 minutes of the half.
"They were very aggressive [in the first 10 minutes]," Ferguson said. "They pressed us very well, and we expected them to. We made an adjustment to go with a double six and that really changed it. That allowed us to get the extra body we needed in the defensive third to connect those two or three passes and get us out of that part of the field."
Leroy scored in the 34th minute to give Cornell a 1-0 lead, depositing her right-footed shot from the right side of the penalty area into the bottom left corner of the goal. Nelson set up the marker with a perfectly placed pass, glancing off the heel of a Bulls defender and directly to Leroy's right foot.
Cornell's back line held Buffalo without a shot on goal for the first 55 minutes, a credit to the play by seniors
Lily Ellingson and
Cecily Pokigo, junior
Gaby Gonzalez, and sophomore
Kayla Ristianto. Two of the Bulls' five first-half shots were blocked by Cornell defenders.
"They were excellent," Ferguson said of his back line. "We needed to see improvements in not just the back line but how the team defended. That was the key to it. The back line was excellent and very switched on. Our biggest issue against Colgate was that we were standoffish in the back. We didn't arrive with forwards; we let them check off and have time on the ball. There was none of that tonight, especially in the first half. We fixed what wasn't right in the last game."
Medugno preserved the Big Red's one-goal lead with a save in the 73rd minute, punching an Eva Blatz away from the goal.
Five minutes later, in the 78th minute, Guerber took advantage of a loose ball following a corner kick to draw the contest level.
Buffalo had two shot attempts in the final minute, one of which was blocked and the other that went wide right of goal.
MATCH NOTES
• Thursday marked the 11th all-time meeting between Cornell and Buffalo. The series favors Buffalo slightly, 4-3-4, as the last two meetings have resulted in ties.
• Cornell's draw increased its non-conference unbeaten streak to 13 matches (5-0-8), matching the program record that was previously accomplished across the 2001-03 (8-0-5) and 2014-16 (10-0-3) seasons.
LONGEST NON-CONFERENCE UNBEATEN STREAKS
Cornell Program History
• 13 matches (2001-03) — 8-0-5 (.808)
• 13 matches (2014-16) — 10-0-3 (.885)
• 13 matches (2022-Present) — 5-0-8 (.692)
• 9 matches (1985-86) — 7-0-2 (.889)
• Cornell has tied its first two matches in a season for the first time in program history. The previous record for the fewest matches for the Big Red to reach its first two draws in a season was in 2004 and 2023 when it opened both years with 2-0-2 marks.
FEWEST MATCHES TO TWO TIES
Cornell Program History
• 2 matches (2024) — 0-0-2
• 4 matches (2003) — 2-0-2
• 4 matches (2023) — 2-0-2
• 5 matches (2001) — 2-1-2
• 5 matches (2004) — 3-0-2
• 5 matches (2015) — 3-0-2
• 5 matches (2021) — 1-2-2
• The tie
marked the sixth time in the last seven meetings and the ninth instance across the 11 all-time contests that a contest has been decided by one goal or less.
NEXT UP
Cornell will continue its three-match homestand Sunday when it welcomes Central New York rival Syracuse to Berman Field. First touch is scheduled for 1 p.m. Game action will be broadcast on ESPN+.
The Orange will enter Sunday's contest riding a three-match win streak after defeating Northwestern, 1-0, on Thursday afternoon at SU Soccer Stadium. Syracuse's 4-0-1 mark is its best five-match start to a season since 1997 when it went 5-0-0.
