ITHACA, N.Y. — The all-time series between the UC Santa Barbara Men's Soccer team and Cornell has seen more than its fair share of late drama, all of it favoring the team in red, and Friday night's match was no exception. The 21
st-ranked Gauchos got a long-range equalizer from
Steinar Bjornsson after an hour-plus of valiant defending, only to concede a decisive goal in the final 10 minutes and fall to 20
th-ranked Cornell, 2-1.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Gauchos spent the majority of the first half defending, with goalkeeper
Owen Beninga and the back three of
Calle Mollerberg,
Viggo Gustavsson and
Drew Kamienski facing nine shots over the first 45 minutes. Beninga saved two of them and had to make a number of other interventions on crosses, including swatting away a 43
rd-minute free kick that threatened his goal. The defense in front of him was active too, making five first-half blocks. In the 11
th minute, Mollerberg almost unknowingly prevented a shot from making it to the gaping goalmouth, the Swede standing in the right place at the right time.
Having had 15 minutes to regroup and re-strategize after going into halftime scoreless, the teams got another 30 minutes as a lighting issue delayed the start of the second half. For the first two minutes, it looked like the power outage had actually re-charged the Gauchos, but then Cornell scored with its first chance of the half, an attempt that was something of a hybrid between cross and shot that snuck into the back of the net.
However, and as it could be expected at this point, Santa Barbara again played its best soccer in response to conceding first. They got their first shot in the 53
rd minute, with
Zac Siebenlist playing new right back
Colby Renton through on goal and the Canadian cutting a pass across the penalty area for an on-rushing
Kalle Rahbek, whose shot was agonizingly close, just on the wrong side of the crossbar. The halftime substitute Renton continued to be involved in all things good for the Gauchos in the 57
th minute, this time popping up on the left wing and playing an inch-perfect cross to Siebenlist, whose header took a dive from the Cornell goalkeeper to stop.
Another substitute,
Tobi Gerber, went even closer to an equalizer in the 67
th minute. Santa Barbara worked an intricate set-piece routine from a free kick that ended with Gerber getting a shot from the top of the penalty area, only to hit it off the crossbar. Two minutes later, the Gauchos finally got their breakthrough. Bjornsson brought down a long pass in traffic at the top of the penalty area and dribbled for a second, trying to find space before watching the ball drift to his strike partner,
Donovan Sessoms. That change in possession allowed Bjornsson to settle into the space he was looking for, and when Sessoms returned him the ball, the Icelander drilled a 25-yard missile just inside the near post.
But like in Santa Barbara's two ranked matchups last week, the Gauchos had to defend the parity they had earned in the final stages of the match. This time, the defense just could not quite hold. Cornell scored with 3:02 remaining, not enough time for any heroics.
UP NEXT
Santa Barbara remains on the East Coast for one more match on Monday, visiting Rutgers at 4 p.m. Pacific Time.
