With a 4-1 win over Cornell Sunday, the women's soccer team kept pace with Dartmouth and Columbia in the race for the Ivy League title. Four different Bears scored as the team extended its unbeaten streak to five games (4-0-1).
The win improved Brown's conference record to 3-1-1 (9-3-3 overall) and dropped Cornell to 1-4-0 in the conference (2-11-1 overall). Coupled with Dartmouth's loss to Columbia, the victory kept Brown in third place in the Ancient Eight, just three points behind the Lions.
Against the Big Red, Head Coach Phil Pincince's squad dominated play from the start. Pincince told his team prior to the game that it would need to come out strong in order to pull out a win.
"We didn't want Cornell to get in the mix," he said. "We knew that if we took it to them and got behind (the defense) we could create some dangerous chances."
With homecoming weekend winding down, Brown had one of its largest crowds of the season. Over 560 fans attended Sunday's contest against Cornell, with one spectator holding a sign that appropriately read, "Moos Valuable Player," referring to forward and co-captain Kathryn Moos '07, who had scored in four straight games.
Sure enough, about 10 minutes into the contest, Moos ripped a shot off the gloves of Big Red goalkeeper Taylor Hendren. The ball ricocheted into the 6-yard box, just a few feet from the goal line. But a Cornell defender blocked midfielder Melissa Kim '10 from taking a shot.
Then about 20 minutes in, Moos fed a pass through the arc on top of the 18-yard box. Kim received the ball in traffic and exploded through the arc with one touch and fired a shot. But Hendren came up with the save on a diving stop at point-blank range.
"We didn't capitalize, but at least we did come out and do the right things," Pincince said. "We were in (Cornell's) half for most of the first half."
With just over three minutes remaining before halftime, Mansfield broke into the middle of the box. A Big Red defender dragged her down onto the ball for the penalty. Mansfield rose from the field gingerly holding her side, but stayed in the game.
Moos stepped to the line for the penalty kick and fired the ball into the right side of the net. Hendren guessed correctly and dove in that direction, but the ball bounced off her gloves, off the post and into the net.
"I usually try to put it in the same spot," Moos said of her third straight game with a goal off of a penalty kick. The score at 42:59 put Brown up 1-0 and was number 14 on the season for Moos, who has scored in five straight games, tallying nine goals in that span.
Even though Brown had the lead, the team had yet to capitalize on one of its offensive sequences.
"I thought we tidied up some things at halftime," Pincince said. "Give credit to Cornell; their center back (Leslie Campbell) was very, very effective, winning all air balls ... and any battles in front of her. So we needed to displace her."
Almost immediately at the start of the second half, Mansfield worked a give-and-go with back Anne Friedland '08 along the right sideline. Friedland's return pass went along the baseline, and Mansfield was able to cross the ball toward the net just before it could trickle out of bounds. Lindsay Cunningham '09 worked her way behind the defense and headed home what would prove to be the game-winner just 49 seconds into the second stanza.
"That changed everything in the second half," Pincince said. "If it's 1-0, it could be 1-1 with one fluke et cetera. It gave us a chance to settle down."
While the team may have settled down, Mansfield got riled up. In the 53rd minute, she was forcefully upended just outside the right side of the box. Mansfield briefly exchanged words with her opponent and then the two groups of players parted ways - leaving Mansfield alone at the top right corner of the 18-yard box. "I don't think they saw me there," she said.
Off the ensuing free-kick, center-back Kerrilynn Carney '08 alertly fed a quick pass to Mansfield, who launched a rocket - which she admitted had some extra juice behind it - into the left side of the net. Mansfield's fifth goal of the year at 53:01 made the score 3-0.
But Cornell struck back quickly. Just over a minute-and-a-half later, Eva Dixon made the score 3-1 with a low shot to the far right post past diving goalkeeper Brenna Hogue '10.
"One of our backs slipped ... in the attacking third," Pincince said. "I thought we responded well. We didn't panic. We just continued to move forward. It was nice to play some players who have not gotten into the game for much time."
At 77:47, Brown was awarded a free kick from about 25 yards out. Kim curved a shot around a four-player wall into the top right corner to ice the game, 4-1. After the play, though, Kim looked embarrassed.
"I was kind of surprised," she said. "It was the type of thing that only happens ... the first time you do it. I have never taken a free kick before for this team. I'm going to try to start working on them now."
Needless to say, the Bears were pleased with the outcome.
"After this weekend, we should be very excited because we're right in the mix again with everything happening that we were looking to see happen," Pincince said, referring to Dartmouth's loss to Columbia. "We need to continue to take it one-game-at-a-time and then let's see how this plays out."
The Bears will travel to Philadelphia next Sunday for a 1 p.m. game against the University of Pennsylvania.
