After such a strong start to the football team’s season — winning its first three games and upsetting preseason Ivy-favorite Yale — it is easy to be disappointed with the squad’s 4-5 (2-4 Ivy) record going into its final contest.

“You are just trying to teach them to live in the present,” said head coach Jim Knowles ’87. “It can be a lesson that will last a lifetime. Things don’t always go the way you planned, but you still have opportunities in front of you.”

Tomorrow, the Red will have the opportunity to send its large class of 33 seniors off with a win at Schoellkopf Field — a place where this graduating class has posted a 15-5 record over its four years on the Hill.

The women’s soccer team pushed Saturday night’s game against Dartmouth into overtime. The Green delivered the last goal, however, leaving the Red with a 3-2 loss in its last game of the season.

“[Head coach Danielle LaRoche] said before the game that we wanted to end the season how we want to start next season,” said freshman forward Brook Chang.

The Green (8-6-2, 2-4-1 Ivy) arrived on Berman Field ready to end its season on a positive note, while the Red (2-12-1, 1-6) was fired up to gain a win for Cornell’s lone senior, captain Whitney Stich.

Maybe it was the emotion of Senior Night — a Berman Field send-off for the 10 seniors of the men’s soccer team — or maybe it was the adrenaline the athletes got from facing a top team like Dartmouth. Whatever the reason, the Red upped the intensity in its last home game of the season, intensity not reflected in the loss’s final score of 5-2.

“Dartmouth is a very good team and they deserved to win,” said head coach Bryan Scales, “but I also give our guys credit for showing up tonight and competing like crazy. They got it back to 3-2, [we were] starting to get some bodies forward to try to equalize and ended up giving up the fourth goal.”

“I can’t be disappointed with the effort,” Scales added. “The guys put everything they could into that game.”