NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- For the second straight Ivy League game, the Cornell field hockey team built a 2-0 lead, watched it slip away, and answered with a fourth-quarter goal to claim a hard-fought win, this time handing unbeaten and 15th-ranked Yale 3-2 on Saturday afternoon at Johnson Field. The win was Cornell's second in a row over the Bulldogs and upped its record to 3-4 (2-0 Ivy) on the season, while dropping the Bulldogs to 5-1 overall (1-1 Ivy).
The Big Red got early second-quarter goals from junior Uma Käding and sophomore
Chloe West on penalty corners to seize control. Käding opened the scoring in the opening minute of the second quarter, finishing a feed from senior
Julia Ramsey with a hold from
Emma Poplyk, with West making it 2-0 at 25:04 on assists from senior
Rease Coleman and Ramsey. Ramsey upped her career assist total to 38, just two away from the school record of 40 (Taylor Standiford '16). Coleman now has a team-high six assists on the year and 21 for her career to move her to eighth on the school's career list.
Yale answered less than a minute later when Emma Ramsey scored off a feed from Angelina Che to cut the deficit to 2-1 heading into the second half. The Bulldogs, who had allowed just three goals combined in their first five games, tied it at 2-2 late in the fourth when Ramsey struck again at 54:56, this time assisted by Maddie Leathem.
Cornell had the answer as the rain began to fall sideways as junior
Blake Wilks scored the eventual game-winner with 2:31 remaining, converting a feed in front of the cage after Käding put a ball across the goalmouth to put the Big Red back in front, 3-2. Käding was sprung by a long aerial from freshman
Rebecca Block, who set the play in motion.
"I thought we were excellent today in the first half and we were unfortunate not to go into the break of halftime two or three goals up," said head coach Andy Smith. "We dug ourselves into a little hole by conceding an equalizing goal, but we dug ourselves out of it with such grit and determination, and we're very happy with the result."
The Bulldogs held the edge in shots, 15-8, but Cornell made the most of its chances. Junior goalkeeper
Martha Broderick made six saves in goal for the Big Red to claim her 22nd career goal, while Amelie Schwarzkopf stopped four shots before Yale pulled its goalkeeper for an extra attacker in the closing minutes.
Cornell will continue Ivy play when it hosts Brown on Friday, Oct. 2 at 6 p.m. at Marsha Dodson Field.
