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Bruno outclasses Big Red in 3-1 comeback victory

Big Red score 11 minutes into game, Carchio ’20 scores on two penalty kicks in second half

On a windy and cold autumn afternoon, the women’s soccer team warmed up the home crowd’s spirits with a 3-1 victory against Cornell. The Bears fell behind early but battled back to tie the game before halftime and take a commanding lead in the second half. With the victory, Bruno moves into sole possession of sixth place in the Ivy League standings.


“Our team has showed a lot of resiliency this season,” said Head Coach Kia McNeill. “We just had to be patient in the final third and wait for the opportunities to come to us.”


From kickoff, the Bears played aggressively and pushed the ball back into Cornell’s zone. In the opening minutes, though the Big Red could not sustain possession in the face of Brown’s tenacious offensive effort, the Bears were unable to generate promising scoring opportunities.


Eight minutes into the game, midfielder Abby Carchio ’20 launched a curling rocket from just outside of the goal box, but the shot landed directly in the arms of Cornell netminder Meghan Kennedy.


The tide quickly shifted for the Bears as the Big Red earned possession and threatened with free kicks. Brown headed the ball out of bounds and gave Cornell a corner kick in the 11th minute. The Big Red capitalized on the opportunity and scored on a header by Evanthia Spyredes off of the corner kick to give Cornell its first goal since its 2-1 loss against Columbia Sept. 22.


Despite the early hole, the Bears began to regain momentum and returned to dominating possession of the ball. In the 19th minute, forward Jennifer Caruso ’19 passed the ball into Cornell’s goal box and came inches away from connecting with forward Claire Myers ’22. Moments later, forward Star White ’21 shrugged off a Big Red defender in the goal box and launched a shot, but Kennedy made an impressive leaping save to preserve Cornell’s lead.


Midfielder Megan Grant ’19 almost earned her first goal of the season for the Bears, but once again, Kennedy stifled Bruno with a lunging save in the top left corner of the net. In the 36th minute, defender Maesyn G’Bye ’22 sent a powerful shot, but Kennedy dove for the save.


Just before halftime, the Bears struck gold on a free kick from Carchio. Carchio launched the ball from outside of the goal box, and it glanced the head of forward Rebecca Rosen ’22 and snuck behind Kennedy to tie the game.


At halftime, the score was knotted at one. The Bears had dominated in all other aspects of the game, outpacing Cornell 12-1 in shots and 7-1 in shots on goal.


To start the second half, the Bears continued to keep their feet on the gas against the Big Red. G’Bye was fouled in the goal box in the 52nd minute, and Carchio took the penalty shot and placed the ball into the bottom right corner of the net to give the Bears a 2-1 lead.


“I knew I had to put those ones away,” Carchio said. “I have a great team behind me. People drew the fouls for me, and I just stepped up.”


As the half wore on, both squads traded possession and Cornell tried to capture momentum, but neither team could find the back of the net. In the 75th minute, Caruso had some space in the goal box, but her shot roamed just wide of the goalposts. 


To ice the game, White was fouled in the 89th minute, and Carchio had another chance at a penalty shot. This time, she masterfully placed the ball in the bottom left corner to give the Bears an insurmountable 3-1 lead.


When the final whistle sounded, Brown’s impressive performance was evident in its stats. Bruno outshot the Big Red 22-4 and led in corner kicks 5-4.


“We have to get back to the drawing board a little bit and go over a couple of things that I think we can clean up in this game,” McNeill said. But this was “certainly a game to build off of. Anytime you score three goals in the Ivy League, that’s good momentum to feed off of, so I’m just really proud of the result.”


The Bears will travel to Philadelphia this weekend to take on first-placed Penn Saturday at 4 p.m.

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