There's no question that it was a must-win game. The women's soccer team had to defeat Cornell this Sunday, in a match that heavily favored the Bears. The Big Red came into the game with a 1-10-1 overall record, with an 0-4-0 mark in Ivy League play. Cornell was also 0-4-0 in away games and had not won a game since its season opener. Meanwhile, Brown (5-5-4, 1-2-1 Ivy) needed the win in order to stay in the race within the Ivy League.
But none of these statistics seemed to matter on the field. The final score was 2-0 in favor of Cornell - which had scored only eight goals in its first 12 games. The Big Red's win derailed any hopes for the season that Brown may have had, as the loss mathematically eliminates the Bears from Ivy League championship contention.
"It's pretty surreal, actually, that that just happened," injured tri-captain Lindsay Cunningham '09 said.
The game began badly for the Bears, as they looked uncomfortable playing a Cornell team that appeared much more effective than indicated by its past performances. A casual spectator would have had a tough time discerning which team had the worse record.
A little over eight minutes into the game, Cornell scored the first goal. A Big Red forward received a cross at the top of the box from right to left, and her shot from 20 yards out went into the far side of the net, beyond the reach of the unsuspecting tri-captain goalkeeper Brenna Hogue '10.
Three-and-a-half minutes later, a similar scenario occurred, leading to another Cornell goal, creating a 2-0 deficit for the Bears early in the first half.
"We didn't match Cornell's intensity," tri-captain Jamie Mize '09 said. "It really does come back to that. Team intensity and individual intensity. And today we didn't have the team intensity."
The Bears' problems continued throughout the rest of the half. Spacing issues and an inability to create the necessary flow to put together drives limited the Bears' opportunities, while Bruno's disjointed play allowed Cornell to pick up its game.
At the 28:30 mark, Sarah Hebert-Seropian '12 was injured on a play by incidental contact, but managed to limp off the field with assistance. The loss of Hebert-Seropian was amplified by the absence of Kate Scott '11 and Cunningham, both of whom did not play due to injury.
Emily Geldwert '09 and Marybeth Lesbirel '12 were put in the game in the 24th minute, bringing increased intensity to the Bears' attack. A shot on goal by Lesbirel came with about 13 minutes remaining in the half. From that point until the end of the half, there was a little more life on Brown's part. But a 7-4 Bruno shot advantage in the last ten minutes failed to produce any goals.
Head Coach Phil Pincince told the team at the half, "You're going to decide what your memory of this game will be."
Taking the field in the second half, the Bears showed a significant increase in energy and vigilance. They took a 19-5 shot advantage in the last 45 minutes of play and were favored in control of possession. But this effort was to no avail, as Cornell's goalkeeper stopped eight shots on goal to keep Brown from scoring.
Likewise, Hogue blocked three more Cornell scoring attempts throughout the second half, to finish with a total of five saves in the game. Hogue also recorded her 100th save for the season on Sunday, bringing her tally to 104.
There are many reasons for the Bears' loss on Sunday and for their overall decline in success throughout the season - players and coaches cited poor focus, injuries and lack of intensity as limitations.
But Pincince said he believed Sunday's failure came down to something else.
"Cornell came ready to play ... I don't think we came out ready to play," he said. "There was a lack of communicating. I don't think we've done a good job of communicating, today and in some other games."
"We're no longer in the race for the Ivy League Championship," he added.
But the season is not over yet. There are still two more games in the Bears' schedule, the final two career collegiate games for the team's seniors. On Saturday, Brown travels to Penn where they will try to play the role of a spoiler against the fourth place Quakers (8-4-3, 2-1-2 Ivy). Meanwhile, the Bears' final game of the season will be played on November 8th at 7 p.m. at Stevenson Field, when they host Yale.
