Women’s soccer aims for second consecutive Ivy League win

The Columbia women’s soccer team hosts an Ivy League opponent for the first time this season when it faces Brown on Saturday afternoon. The Lions (4-4-1, 1-0-0 Ivy) won their first Ivy matchup of the year in a shutout over Cornell, but they lost to nonconference foe Colgate on Sunday.
“I don’t know if I would use the word ‘complacency,’ but I think our concentration levels have to be consistently excellent,” head coach Kevin McCarthy said. “That’s an area where we’ve worked on improving.”

Columbia plays at a high tempo and always looks to attack, but the Lions only scored one goal against Cornell and did not find the back of the net at Colgate. Columbia has displayed flashes of brilliance on the offensive end—it tallied at least three goals in three of its four wins—but its inability to consistently score multiple goals has hurt its record. The Lions must regain their command on the attack in order to remain in contention for the league championship.

Sophomore forward Ashlin Yahr leads Columbia with five goals this year, while senior midfielder Sophie Reiser has found the back of the net four times. In addition, junior forward Kelly Hostetler and sophomore forward Marissa Schultz—both of whom had not scored prior to this season—have each contributed two tallies. Yahr scored at Cornell, but Reiser has not netted a goal since the Lions’ 3-1 win over Iona on Sept. 15. As the reigning Ivy Player of the Year, Reiser must make her presence felt on the offensive end of the pitch.

Recovering its ability to overwhelm opposing defenses will allow Columbia to bounce back from early-game setbacks. The Lions could not regroup after Colgate scored in the second minute last weekend and they lost to the Raiders by a 1-0 score.

“Even if we’re playing two games in a weekend, every game that we play needs to have the same type of intense mentality,” Reiser said. “We’re absolutely going to have that every game from now on.”

Last year, the Lions needed an overtime period to beat the Bears in Providence. Columbia took a 1-0 lead in the 19th minute, but Brown answered late in the second. Nevertheless, the Lions did not let the game slip completely away from them. Columbia scored in the 95th minute to leave with a 2-1 victory.
Brown (2-5-0, 0-1-0 Ivy) most recently dropped a 3-1 decision against Dartmouth. Junior midfielder Sylvia Stone scored her first goal of the year in the 22nd minute. Overall, six players have scored one goal apiece for the Bears.

Columbia sits atop the conference standings along with Yale, Dartmouth, and Harvard, while Brown is in a four-way tie for fifth place.
Kick-off on Saturday is set for 4 p.m. at Columbia Soccer Stadium.