Seasons are coming to a close this week, as some of the Big Green’s fall teams are making a push for the postseason. This weekend, the football team, men’s soccer team and women’s soccer team take on Cornell University in high-stakes games with major Ivy League title implications.
Football at Cornell(12:30 p.m. Saturday)
The football team (5-2, 3-1 Ivy) takes on Cornell (0-7, 0-4 Ivy) in Ithaca this weekend. The Big Green comes in fresh off its first Ivy loss, a 23-12 defeat at the hands of undefeated Harvard University, while the Big Red enters off its best Ivy League game of the year, a 38-27 loss to Princeton University.
Cornell has struggled this season on both sides of the ball, scoring 13.7 points per game and giving up 33.3. The Big Green has scored 26.6 per game while giving up 24.6. The Big Red has only managed 261 yards per game and has surrendered 432 to opponents.
This should bode well for a Big Green offense, which averages 363.7 yards per contest. Dalyn Williams ’16, Kyle Bramble ’16 and Ryan McManus ’15 look to have bounce-back contests after the Dartmouth offense struggled against Harvard.
After a solid second half last weekend, the Dartmouth defense is poised to have a strong showing against a Big Red offense that has struggled, especially in the red zone this year.
PREDICTION:Dartmouth 35-14
Women’s soccer at Cornell(2:30 p.m. Saturday)
The women’s soccer team (8-4-4, 3-0-3 Ivy), which has won five straight, comes into a matchup against Ivy basement dweller Cornell (7-9-0, 1-5-0 Ivy). The team’s recent 2-0 upset of first-place Harvard left the Big Green just one point back heading into the final game of the season. The Crimson plays fourth-place Columbia Saturday. For the Big Green to win at least a share of the Ivy League title, it needs a better result than the Crimson.
The team is built on defense. Through six Ivy games, the team has given up only three goals. Cornell, on the other hand, has been scored on 10 times. The Big Red has scored 21 goals this season, but only four in conference play. That said, Cornell has some dangerous scoring threats in Elizabeth Crowell, Caroline Growney and Kerry Schubert, all of whom have four or more goals this season.
Offensively, the Big Green is led by Lucielle Kozlov ’16, Corey Delaney ’16 and Tasha Wilkins ’15, who all have four or more goals. If these three can get going against a Cornell defense allowing more than a goal per game, the game should go in the visitors’ favor.
PREDICTION: Dartmouth 2-0
Men’s soccer at Cornell(5 p.m. Saturday)
The men’s soccer team (9-4-2, 3-1-1 Ivy) fell into a tie for first place in the Ivy League with Princeton after a 1-1 tie against Harvard last weekend. Cornell (9-5-1, 2-3-0 Ivy) is fresh off a 2-1 loss to the Tigers. With two games to play, the Ivy League title is still fiercely contested. Five teams sit just one win out of first.
Cornell has played 11 one-goal games this season, including all five of its Ancient Eight contests. In league play, the Big Red has only scored three goals while giving up four. The Big Green, on the other hand, has a 9-5 scoring ratio in conference play. Goaltender Zach Zagorski has been stellar in net for Cornell this season, allowing just .53 goals per game. Dartmouth goalie Stefan Cleveland ’16 has been similarly stingy, allowing .95 goals against.
Cornell relies on Conor Goepel to put the ball in the net. Goepel has six goals and 15 points through 15 games. No one else on the roster has more than four points. The Big Green has five players with five or more points, led by Alex Adelabu ’15 and Hugh Danilack ’15.
Expect this to be a low-scoring affair, as both teams will be jockeying for Ivy position.
PREDICTION: Dartmouth 1-0
