This past week featured several key Ivy League women's soccer match-ups. Several top teams squared off to establish an edge early in the season.
Brown 2, Harvard 0
Bekah Splaine of the Brown Bears nailed in a shot from way out just 43 seconds into the match, scoring what proved to be all that was necessary for victory on the day.
The Bears' goalie tandem of Mary Jo Markle and Sarah Gervais made the real difference in the game, saving 10 shots versus three saves for Brown. The shutout was Brown's fifth of the season and improved the team to 6-0 (1-0, second in the Ivies) on the year.
Harvard dropped to 2-2 (1-1 Ivies).
Pennsylvannia 2, Cornell 1
The Quakers overcame a slow start and rainy weather to gain their first Ivy-League victory of the season over Cornell. Pennsylvannia goalie Vanessa Scotto weathered the team's poor play in the first half and Penn was able to produce some results in the second half.
Jen Valentine got Penn on the board after 53 minutes of play and Heidi Nichols put the Quakers up 2-0 about 20 minutes later. Cornell made a run late in the game, pulling to within one, but Alicia Doolittle sent the Big Red's final opportunity high, and Penn held onto the lead.
Penn, Cornell and Harvard are all now tied at 1-1 for third place in the Ivy League.
Fresno State 1, Cornell 0
Cornell lost its first home game of the season and fell to 1-4 on the year with a loss to Fresno State last Friday. FSU outshot Cornell 15-6 and scored off of a rebound that ricocheted off the top crossbar.
With 15 minutes left to play Alicia Doolittle threatened to tie the game up when she broke free of the defense and fired a shot toward the top right of the goal. To her dismay, FSU goalie Mary-Tyloer Wahl guessed right and made the save.
Yale 4, Army 1
Chandra King scored two goals in a 1:08 stretch in the first half en route to a hat trick. She led the Bulldogs to their first victory in four games.
Yale outshot Army 22-8 and controlled the game from the get go. Yale will shoot for its first Ivy Leauge victory this weekend against Cornell.
