Skip to Content, Navigation, or Footer.

Men's soccer shutout in first conference road game against Lions

Bears unable to match Columbia’s high-powered offense in 3-0 loss to defending Ivy co-champs


Coming off of a victory against Boston University Tuesday, the Bears took to the road for their Ivy League opener against the Columbia Lions. Bruno (5-2-1, 0-1 Ivy) was unable to capitalize on scoring opportunities and was dealt a 3-0 loss.


The Lions (5-0-2, 1-0), who are defending Ivy League co-champions and currently ranked 23rd in the country, were hot coming into conference play after three straight victories.


“We created enough chances to win the game,” said Toby Howell ’19. “But we were overall second best to them in and around the box.”


The Bears started fast, trying to exploit their height advantage against the Lions with high throw-ins toward the 18-yard box. But Columbia struck first on a counterattack in the sixth minute after a throw-in. The Bears were unable to clear the ball out of their 18-yard box, allowing Dylan Mott to take advantage of Bruno’s defensive breakdown to create a one-on-one with the goalkeeper and score his first goal of the season.


Following the goal, the Bears could not get into an offensive rhythm and failed to consistently get the ball out of their defensive zone. Mott threatened again with a header, but this time it was easily handled by Joey Cipicchio ’18.


Columbia looked primed to add a second goal in the middle of the first half, as Cipicchio came out of his box to defend, leaving the net wide open. Fortunately for the Bears, their strong defense was able to shut down the scoring opportunity.


The Lions continued to dominate possession of the ball and create shot opportunities throughout the first half. Disaster struck for the Bears in the 35th minute when Columbia forward Arthur Bosua was fouled in the 18-yard box on a corner, leading to a Lions penalty kick. Alex Bangerl took the penalty and placed it perfectly in the top right corner to put the Lions up a pair of goals late in the first half.


The one-sidedness was clear in the stats, as the Lions outshot the Bears 10-2 and led 5-3 in corner kicks. As the second half began, both teams traded shots, but none were close to a scoring opportunity.


Conor Gregory ’20 nearly put the Bears on the board in the 57th minute with a rocket off of a throw-in by Quinn English ’18 that just barely missed the net.


The Bears had a much more determined attack in the second half, but the Lions kept Bruno without a shot on goal for most of the period with timely blocks.


Bruno’s strong second half was not enough; after a Bears defensive turnover in the 79th minute, the Lions scored again. The goal from Bosua, off a pass from Beto Carillo, doomed any possibility of a Brown comeback.


“We’re frustrated, but we know what we need to work on now, so we’re not leaving completely empty-handed,” Howell said. “We knew going into this game that our season wasn’t going to be won or lost in the next 90 minutes.”


The Bears will look to rebound when they return home for their second Ivy League match against the Princeton Tigers at 7 p.m. Saturday at Stevenson-Pincince Field.

ADVERTISEMENT


Popular


Powered by SNworks Solutions by The State News
All Content © 2024 The Brown Daily Herald, Inc.