Crimson Snaps Losing Streak With Win Over Cornell

After three-straight competitive games against top-20 opponents, the Harvard field hockey team felt it had something to prove when it returned to Ivy League play at Cornell (8-3, 2-2 Ivy League) on Saturday. The Crimson (5-7, 2-2) was coming off three-consecutive non-conference losses to Michigan (6-9), No. 10 Massachusetts (9-4), and Boston University (9-8)—but managed to keep each game within a two goal deficit. Harvard finally turned it around, escaping with a 1-0 victory to even its Ancient Eight record.

“During our last three games, we were playing some great and competitive teams, and we definitely felt we had a great week of practice after keeping it close against Boston University,” co-captain Elizabeth Goodman-Bacon said. “It’s good to win an Ivy game, and it’s great to generate that momentum heading into this week.”

The win evens Harvard’s Ivy League record at 2-2 and pulls it into a three-way tie with the Big Red and Dartmouth for third place in the Ivy League standings.

The lone goal of the game occurred off a penalty corner early in the second half. Sophomore Carly Dickson sent a pass at the right post that Goodman-Bacon was able to tap in for her second goal of the season five minutes into the second half. Freshman goalie Cynthia Tassopoulos secured the Crimson victory by posting eight saves to earn the first shutout of her young career.

“Cynthia played fantastic today, she really kept us in the game,” sophomore Carly Dickson said. “We really went in with the right mindset, and we were great defensively to get the win.”

Despite Cornell holding a 15-10 shot advantage and a 9-4 advantage in penalty corners, Dickson’s corner to Goodman-Bacon was all Tassopoulos, and the Harvard defense needed to even its Ivy League ledger.

“I thought we played great overall,” co-captain Kristin Bannon said. “I thought we did a great job beating them to the ball, and I was really impressed with the way everyone played.”

Harvard had a great chance to stretch the lead to 2-0 later in the second half when Goodman-Bacon finagled the ball past the Big Red goalie, but a Cornell defender swooped in to make a fantastic defensive save. The loss snapped the Big Red’s five-game home winning streak and was only Cornell’s second loss at Dodson Field, the Big Red’s field hockey field since last season.

After opening the season with a strong 3-0 start, the Crimson dropped seven out of eight as conference play and stiffer competition presented itself. With Harvard’s next contest against Ivy League-leading Princeton (11-2, 4-0), a decisive victory couldn’t have come at a better moment.

“I thought we played really well today simply executing our game plan and making sure we did all the things we practiced this past week,” Goodman-Bacon said. “It was really important to play our game, and I was thrilled with the way that we came out against Cornell today. We had a great week of practice, and it was really good to pick up this conference win to propel us to another great week of practice.”

But the Crimson will have its work cut out for it against the nationally fourth-ranked Tigers, as Princeton has won 13-straight Ivy League games and 31-of-32 overall.

“We have a lot of positive energy right now, and we are really ready to just carry this momentum through next week and hopefully sustain it through the rest of Ivy play,” Bannon said.

On the flip side, Harvard opened the season with its best start since 2005, and despite recent setbacks, it doesn’t want to forget the early momentum it generated just yet.

“The past couple games have been tough, but we showed ourselves that we can compete with some really tough teams,” Dickson said. “We definitely built a lot of confidence over the past couple games, and we know now that when we get to playing teams at our level we can really dominate.”