Women's Soccer Finishes With Win

The seniors on the 2007 Columbia women’s soccer team are doing something that is unprecedented in the program’s 21-year history—they are graduating with nothing but winning records.

With a 2-1 victory at Cornell on Saturday, the Lions closed out their fourth consecutive year with a record over .500. And in the end, it gives Columbia something to show for a season that started out with much higher expectations.

In other years, when Columbia was all-too-well-acquainted with the bottom of the Ivy League standings, .500 might have been enough for the team trying to earn a little respect. But as defending league champions, finishing the year 8-5-4, 3-3-1 Ivy was not enough to keep the crown in Morningside Heights.

Five seniors donned the Light Blue jersey for the final time, and forwards Gudrun Finnsdottir and Liz DeBerardinis made the most of their last appearances. They combined to put the Lions 1-0 against the Big Red on Saturday. Finnsdottir supplied a good ball across the Cornell goal in the 16th minute. DeBerardinis was on the receiving end and fired her effort to the far post for the first and last goal of her collegiate career.

But as halftime approached, Cornell was able to step up the pressure and made a breakthrough with just under six minutes left in the period. Samantha Wiener needed only one touch to fire Cristina Law’s low cross into the back of the Columbia net and tie the game at 1. It meant that senior goalkeeper Allison Vespa and defender Cathleen Cimino would not end their careers with clean sheets. Yet, the pair can graduate knowing they’ve set a high standard, having held their opponents to 16 goals in 17 games this season—good enough for the third best defensive record in the Ivy League.

The game was not deadlocked for long. Just 37 seconds after the restart, Sophie Reiser’s pass found Ashley Mistele who tucked away a close-range effort to give the lead back to Columbia. It was Reiser’s ninth assist of the season. That, with her four goals, gave her a team-high 17 points for the year, as if to hammer home the point that she will be the Lions’ main playmaker over the next two seasons.

It was a senior, however, Lindsey Knowles, who led the Lions in scoring this year. She finished with five goals, tying with junior Allison Leonard and freshman Chrissy Butler. Leonard and Butler will be the players leading the line next season and, more importantly, will be part of yet another squad that doesn’t know what it’s like to finish under .500.