The No. 11 men's soccer team battled Yale to a 1-1 double-overtime draw Saturday evening at Stevenson Field, dropping Bruno to second in the Ivy League standings. The hard-fought match was reminiscent of last year's game when the Bears edged the Bulldogs 1-0 in a tight overtime battle.
Forward Ben Maurey '15 scored a goal less than three minutes into the game to get Bruno (12-1-3, 4-0-2 Ivy) off to a terrific start. But Maurey's goal, his team-leading fifth of the year, did not guarantee the lead for long. Yale (4-7-5, 1-2-3) forward Peter Jacobson collected a rebound off the post in the 20th minute and nailed the ball toward the lower left corner, just out of reach of goalkeeper Sam Kernan-Schloss '13.
"I felt the guys really gave maximum effort," said Head Coach Patrick Laughlin. "I was proud of the team for their effort and their commitment to trying to win the game.
Despite the chilly evening, there was a great fan turnout to cheer on the team's seven seniors on Senior Night.
"It's always an emotional game for them celebrating their four years at Brown," Laughlin said. "With all the success this group has had, it was a great night for them. ... I am really happy for them and their families."
Because of the fanfare, "emotions were running high in the first half, and it was a very fast-paced game," said Bobby Belair '13.
Maurey's goal was set up by Dylan Remick '13, who sent a corner kick into the middle of the box. The ball caromed off Alex Markes '15 to Maurey who sent it past 6-foot-5-inch Yale goalie Bobby Thalman to give the Bears an early 1-0 lead.
"We started the game well and got an early goal but let off after that," said co-captain Eric Robertson '13.
With the game knotted at 1-1, both teams fought hard throughout the remainder of the half.
After the break, the Bears took command and came out firing, tallying 14 shots to the Bulldogs' four. Daniel Taylor '15, Belair, Thomas McNamara '12.5 and Remick each had close attempts on goal. The Bears totaled 15 corner kicks but could not capitalize to score the game-winning goal.
"We created so many chances, and sometimes in soccer, the ball just doesn't go into the net," Laughlin said. "I thought their goalkeeper had an outstanding game, and we also had many chances that went off the post."
"On another night, maybe just one of our many shots could have taken a better bounce and gone in," Maurey said.
Bruno continued to press in the overtime periods, outshooting Yale 4-1 and 7-0, respectively. It looked as if the Bears were going to gain the edge in the second overtime when forward Jose Salama '14 slipped past Yale's defense and took a clear shot on net, but it hit the inside of the post and bounced back into play.
"Credit to their goalkeeper for making some great saves, but also credit to our guys up there in attack who never stopped fighting the entire game," Kernan-Schloss said. "I think we were able to play the way we wanted to play ... Coach talked about earning everything we do, and all we earned was a tie."
"Yale played a great game and made it a battle for 110 minutes," Robertson added.
Because the Bears tied and Cornell (14-1, 5-1) won a double-overtime thriller over Dartmouth, Brown is now second to the Big Red in the conference.
"Our mindset is that Yale is over, and that although we don't control our own destiny, we're still going into Dartmouth looking to make a statement win that will give us a possibility to win the league and prepare us for the tournament," said Kevin Gavey '13.
The opportunity for that "statement win" will come Friday at Dartmouth, the team right behind Bruno in third place. This deciding conference game will be televised live on Fox Soccer Channel. Cornell will face Columbia the following night in New York.
"I think everyone is excited for the game ... and it'll be a good test for our last regular season game," Robertson said. "We still have a lot to prove and we're not done yet."
