VESTAL, N.Y. — Freshman forward
Sofía Menéndez scored in the 87th minute and freshman goalkeeper
Sofia Kerrigan made two saves as the Cornell women's soccer team defeated Binghamton 1-0 on Sunday afternoon at Bearcats Sports Complex. The late breakthrough ended the Big Red's scoreless streak at 434 minutes, 42 seconds and gave Cornell its first victory over the Bearcats since 2016.
The match remained scoreless through the first half, with Cornell (3-3-2) holding a 4-3 advantage in shot attempts over Binghamton (4-2-2) and neither team registering a shot on goal.
Kerrigan made the match's first save in the 51st minute, stopping a shot attempt by Lizzie Holstein. Cornell began putting more pressure on Binghamton goalkeeper Rebecca Kessler when senior forward
Brooke Brown registered the Big Red's first shot on goal in the 58th minute. Sophomore midfielder
Andrea Wilson tested Kessler in the 76th minute and senior forward
Alanna Colbert followed 32 seconds later with an attempt that required a team save. Kerrigan answered at the other end in the 83rd minute, turning away Jahkaya Davis' shot to preserve the shutout.
"[Kerrigan] didn't have too much to do in terms of saves today, but she came up huge in the one moment she needed to, with a top-class save with the game delicately poised at 0-0," Cornell women's soccer head coach
Rob Ferguson said. "The back four were terrific today — they executed the plan going into the game throughout the first half and adjusted to a more aggressive second-half plan with no hesitation. Koschy [
Ella Koschineg] stepped in at center back alongside Jane [Offit] and looked completely at home, while Amanda [Polyniak], Kayla [Ristianto] and Raya [Leikin] continued to be impactful on both sides of the ball."
After freshman forward
Dylan Steinberg had her first shot attempt of the match go wide in the 86th minute, she followed up with a shot that hit the right post, leading Menéndez to pounce on the rebound for the winning goal with 3:38 remaining. The play delivered the first career points for both players, and stands as the sixth-latest regulation game-winning goal in Cornell history — the program's latest since Brenna Mockler scored with 11 seconds remaining in a 5-4 victory over UAlbany on Sept. 15, 2013.
"The story of the day has to be Sofia and Dylan," Ferguson said. "Sofia got her first minutes on Thursday and absolutely earned the start today, and she went from strength to strength, causing Binghamton problems with her movement, speed and quality on the ball. Then our threat went to the next level when Dylan brought her energy and attacking mindset onto the field. She was causing them problems and her mindset is what it's always been since I've seen her play soccer — looking to threaten and put opponents on the back foot. She scared them, and when they backed off her, she took advantage, beat the keeper, and when it rebounded off the post, Sofia was there to slot the rebound home."
Kerrigan's clean sheet, her fourth of the season, moved her alone into fourth place among freshman goalkeepers in program history. It is the most shutouts by a Big Red freshman goalkeeper since Kate Alexander recorded six in 1992.
The victory snapped Cornell's seven-match winless streak in the series, while Binghamton has now lost consecutive matches for the first time since September 2024.
"Delighted with a deserved road win and to wrap up a tough four games on the road with a strong performance, which has really epitomized this run of games," Ferguson said. "The team was terrific, as they were on Thursday, and today we got what our play deserved."
Cornell will return to the pitch following a 13-day break from action when it opens Ivy League play at home against Yale on Saturday, Sept. 26. Kickoff between the Big Red and Bulldogs is scheduled for 1 p.m., with match action streamed live on ESPN+. The 13-day break is Cornell's longest between matches in the same season since a 14-day break between the 2002 regular-season finale against Princeton (Nov. 2, 2002) and the opening game of the 2002 ECAC Tournament against Providence (Nov. 16, 2002).
"Now we head into a mini break to rest up, get healthy and work on who we are on both sides of the ball ahead of the Ivy League season," Ferguson said.
