Men’s soccer continues to be a close race in the Ivy League, with only one team winning both of its league games last week. Cornell, though atop the league, is not too far ahead of its competition. Harvard, Yale, and Penn all continued their losing form while Brown and Dartmouth showed they can challenge Cornell for the conference crown.

BROWN
Brown (8-1-2, 1-0-1 Ivy) came away with a tie from its Oct. 6 game with Princeton. The Bears took an early lead in the 38th minute with a goal from freshman defender Tim Whalen, but were not able to hold the advantage and gave away a tying goal in the 73rd minute. The Bears have now tied two games in a row, but still sit at 19th in the country and are currently tied with Princeton for second place in the Ivy League.

CORNELL
Cornell (11-0-0, 2-0-0 Ivy), now 16th in the country, extended its win streak to 11 games this week with two convincing 3-1 wins against Harvard on Oct. 6 and Colgate on Oct. 9. The Big Red struggled against Harvard in the first half, getting outshot 8-2, but Cornell recovered to dominate the second half and score two goals to break the 1-1 halftime deadlock. Junior forward Daniel Haber, an early candidate to be the Ivy Player of the Year, notched his 15th goal of the year this past week against Colgate on Tuesday, and the Cornell offense as a whole has been prolific all season.

DARTMOUTH
Dartmouth (5-5-0, 1-1-0 Ivy) had a solid weekend, defeating Vermont on Wednesday and Yale on Saturday. The Big Green dominated the first half against Vermont, with sophomore forward Alex Adelabu scoring a goal in the 21st minute. Vermont was much more competitive in the second half and managed to score in the 65th minute, but Dartmouth scored two late goals to earn the 3-1 victory. The Big Green struggled offensively in its game against Yale, only recording four shots on goal, but the team still came away with a 1-0 win in the hard-fought battle. Dartmouth dominated play in the first half, but it wasn’t until the 42nd minute that it broke the deadlock. Sten Stray-Gundersen scored the only goal off of a cross from Brad Jacobson.

HARVARD
Harvard (1-6-3, 0-1-1 Ivy) continued its disappointing season in a 3-1 loss at home against Cornell. Harvard’s defense has been weak this season, and has given up an average of almost two goals per game. Saturday proved to be no different, as three different Big Red players put their names on the score sheet. Harvard may have had the ball for much of the first half, but Cornell’s lethal counterattack was efficient. Harvard drew even early in the second half with a goal, but the Big Red pulled away with goals in the 63rd and 76th minutes.

PENN
Penn (2-9, 0-2 Ivy) lost its third consecutive game this past week to Columbia, losing 1-0 in the home match. The sides were fairly equal with both teams managing 12 shots in the goal, but the Lions managed to score the only goal in the 38th minute off a rebound. The Quakers have struggled in close games recently, as their last three losses have all been by one goal.

PRINCETON
Princeton (5-4-1, 1-0-1 Ivy) had a tough two-game week. The Tigers started the campaign against Brown at home, where they fought to a well-earned 1-1 draw on Oct. 6. Princeton battled No. 24 Creighton at home on Oct. 9 and turned in an impressive performance, although the Tigers ultimately lost 3-2 in overtime. Princeton was forced to play overtime for the third consecutive game, and the extra period proved to be its downfall. The defense had turned in a decent display against an opponent as formidable as Creighton, but in the 96th minute, Creighton scored a goal off an impressive through ball.

YALE
Yale’s (3-5-3, 0-1-1 Ivy) winless streak has extended to three games as the Bulldogs lost 1-0 to Dartmouth. They struggled in the first half and gave up a goal in the 42nd minute. While Yale had a much better second half and managed to outshoot Dartmouth 8-4, it could not manage to tie the game.
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