In what was an otherwise clear evening, Cornell rained down on Columbia’s Senior Day celebrations on Nov. 8, bringing a tight 1-0 victory from the city back to central New York.
Despite already having clinched an Ivy League Tournament spot, Cornell (12-2-2, 5-1-1 Ivy) remained relentless in its takedown of Columbia (3-8-4, 1-5-1 Ivy), who was far from contention for a spot in the post-season tournament.
The Red was looking to bounce back from a frustrating goalless draw against Harvard the past weekend, where it failed to score despite being a man up. The Lions, on the other hand, were coming off of a loss to fellow Ivy League rivals Brown, and had hoped to end a disappointing season on a high note.
Within the first 10 minutes, senior midfielder Westin Carnevale had a golden chance, creating a one-on-one opportunity against the keeper after poor play from the Columbia center backs. Fortunately for the Columbia faithful, he dragged the shot past the keeper but wide of the net to keep the tie goalless.
The match didn’t lack any excitement, with both sides firing shots and generating dangerous corner kicks early on. Cornell’s high line continuously forced scrappy clearances from the Lions’ defenders and into the path of the waiting Red midfielders.
In the 30th minute, it was the two freshman star forwards Sergio Zapata and Blake Donahue who linked up to give Cornell the lone goal of the game. A scuffed shot from Zapata off a defender’s thigh landed in front of Donahue, who volleyed home a shot into the top-right corner. The goal marked Zapata’s fourth assist and Donahue’s fifth goal, with the emerging stars having eight and ten goal contributions on the season, respectively.
Heading into the break, the Red had a narrow advantage on the scoreboard and on the stats sheet, outshooting Columbia 6-4 and having six corners to Columbia’s three. Despite that, the Red knew that its lead was far too thin to take its foot off the gas.
Cornell stayed strong in the second half, limiting Columbia to five shots while also piling on pressure of its own. As the match came to a close, the Red was more than happy to finish the season on a win, even if it was a tight affair throughout the contest.
Senior goalkeeper Ryan Friedberg and his backline once again kept a clean sheet, bringing the team’s tally to nine in 16 games. The Red has only given up a mere nine goals all season, and any success in the postseason will rely heavily on its defense.
The emergence of the two freshmen has been a revelation this season, and Cornell hopes that their talents will be enough to push the team to its first Ivy Championship in 13 years. Zapata and Donahue have come up in the biggest moments thus far; Donahue has been responsible for three game-winners and Zapata most importantly produced two key goals in the comeback win against Yale.
The second-seeded Red will head to Princeton to face off against the third-seed University of Pennsylvania on Nov. 13 at 3 p.m. in the Ivy League tournament semi-finals. Last time out against the Quakers, the Red found itself victorious in a 2-1 away victory, and the team will be looking to punch its ticket to the championship game, where it’ll face off against either Princeton or Harvard.
The Red will also be looking to make amends for last year’s defeat, losing in the Ivy semi-finals to Princeton in heartbreaking fashion. Live coverage of the semi-final game will be available on ESPN+.
