KENT, Ohio — Cornell women's soccer freshman goalkeeper
Sofia Kerrigan made three saves, and the Big Red survived two shots off the woodwork to earn a scoreless draw against Kent State at a sun-soaked Zoeller Field at Dix Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Although both sides finished with 14 shot attempts and four corner kicks, Cornell (2-2-2) held an 8-3 advantage in shots on goal. Leah Shaffer stopped all eight Cornell shots for Kent State (1-3-2) on its Senior Day.
"Another exciting 0-0 for the neutrals to watch; it could have been 3-3 on another day," said Cornell women's head coach
Rob Ferguson. "Proud of the team for going on the road for the second time in four days and coming away with a clean sheet and a result. There was a lot of grit on display in the second half, after what wasn't a great first half overall. I don't think the game got away from us in the first half, but we didn't take control of it and be the dominant front-footed team, which was disappointing."
Kent State controlled the opening stretch, registering the first four shot attempts, highlighted by Kerrigan needing to make a save on Samantha Miller just 98 seconds in. Junior midfielder
Ella Koschineg produced Cornell's first shot attempt in the 24th minute, with Shaffer recording her first save. The Big Red posted the next three shot attempts over the next 17-plus minutes, including two shots in a five-second span inside the penalty area by senior forward
Alanna Colbert and Shaffer making a leaping save on senior midfielder and co-captain
Emily Gibbons in the 42nd minute.
The Golden Flashes recorded the final three shot attempts over the final three-plus minutes of the opening half, beginning with Kent State breaking the other way after a corner kick following Gibbons' shot on goal, as Ava Lukyan's attempt went wide. With less than a minute remaining, Isabelle Leofanti had her shot graze the crossbar after picking up a loose ball inside the 18-yard box.
"We listened to some truths at halftime, all based around mentality and mindset, and the team responded very well and came out fighting," Ferguson said. "We won first balls, anticipated second balls and showed a level of bravery and intensity that had been lacking in the first half. This improvement led to our attacking intent and quality really improving, and we created enough chances to go ahead."
Cornell generated 10 second-half shots and placed six on goal, with senior forward
Brooke Brown putting three on target. After the Big Red logged seven of the eight shot attempts between the 56th and 76th minutes, Kent State pushed back and the final 15 minutes turned tense. The Golden Flashes' lone attempt over that span was the closest Kent State would come to taking the lead, as Allison Collins' 71st-minute shot hit the elbow where the crossbar and left post meet. Kent State also came dangerously close to breaking through twice in quick succession as Kiyomi McCausland lifted a point-blank attempt inside the goal area over the crossbar in the 83rd minute and Ava Todd sent a one-touch try over the bar off an in-swinging corner in the 84th minute.
"Cam [
Camryn Savig], Jane [Offit] and Keza [
Sofia Kerrigan] were rocks and ultimately stood firm to see us get that second clean sheet in four days," Ferguson said. "I thought AJ [
Ava Jung] did a good job going in early and replacing Ivy — she won some good challenges and showed exactly the right mindset from a player who has been waiting for her chance."
The result gave Cornell consecutive scoreless draws for the first time since September 2017 and back-to-back clean sheets for the first time since 2023. Kerrigan has three clean sheets in her last four matches and carries a season-best scoreless streak of 203 minutes, 40 seconds into Cornell's road match against Army on Thursday, Sept. 10. Match action from Malek Stadium at Clinton Field is scheduled for 6 p.m. and will be streamed live on ESPN+.
