ITHACA, N.Y. - The Cornell men's soccer team fell 1-0 to the Yale Bulldogs on Saturday night at Reese Stadium in the Ivy League opener. The Big Red dropped its first game of the season, moving to 5-1-2, while the Bulldogs improved to 3-4-1 overall.

The first-half of the match was played at a defensive pace, with each team managing just one shot-on-goal each. Alex Harris was active in the first-half owning three of the six Big Red shots including the lone attempt that tested Yale net-minder Chris Edwards.

After a first-half with zero corner kicks between both teams, Yale managed to draw six in the second-half with all coming in a span of 15 minutes.

The last of those six corner-kicks would serve as a detriment to the Big Red as it would lead to a penalty-kick for a hand-ball infraction by Lokko.

Yale preseason All-American TJ Presthus made the penalty-kick count when he snuck it past Friedberg in the top-corner of the net to put the Bulldogs ahead 1-0.

"Yale had a spell at the beginning of the second half where we couldn't clear our lines from a couple of corners and that's ultimately where their goal came from", John Smith, Dr. Daniel P. Wood Head Coach of Men's Soccer mentioned.

In critical moments during the Big Red's search for an equalizer, standout Alex Harris was forced to go to the bench following a hard fall. Harris would rejoin the Big Red on the pitch moments later to help make a push for the equalizer.

In the final five minutes of play Cornell gained a few ideal opportunities around the net, but none would be the game-tying tally. Ryan Freidberg dropped his first game in net this season, moving his record to 5-1-2.

"I thought we were the better team and created good chances, we just didn't test the keeper out with the good looks that we had. We will learn from this as we move forward with the season", coach Smith concluded with.

Next Action
The Cornell men's soccer team will return to East Hill on Tuesday, October 1st to face the Binghamton Bearcats. Kickoff is slated for 5:00 p.m. at Berman Field. Game action will be broadcast to ESPN+.