After more than a week-long break, the men’s soccer team (4-3-1, 0-1 Ivy) returned to action on Saturday afternoon for their Ivy League opener against Cornell (6-2, 2-0 Ivy). Following a hard-fought 90 minutes, the Bears were eclipsed by the Big Red, losing 2-1.
Brown was originally scheduled to begin conference play on Sept. 26 at Columbia (3-2-2, 0-1 Ivy League), but that match was postponed due to the Nor’easter. So on a sunny Saturday afternoon at Stevenson-Pincince Field, Bruno had their first Ivy matchup of the season.
Bruno wasted little time creating its first opportunity. In the third minute, forward Lorenzo Amaral ’27 received a long pass from inside Brown’s own penalty area and quickly dished the ball to forward Carlo Brown ’27, who created a one-two attack by immediately passing back to Amaral.
Amaral quickly sent a through ball ahead to midfielder James Snaith ’28, who carried the ball into the penalty area and attempted to dribble around Cornell goalkeeper Filip Versterre, but tumbled over the goalie’s outstretched hands. After a lengthy VAR review of the contact, Versterre received a yellow card, and Brown received a penalty kick.
Midfielder and defender Mathias Hille ’27 stepped up to the spot. Versterre attempted to distract him before the kick, jawing at the Brown midfielder, but the Cornell goalkeeper’s antics proved unsuccessful. Hille performed a slight stutter step on his run-up before calmly slotting the ball into the bottom-right corner as Versterre dove toward the opposite corner.
“I was excited to get the opportunity to take my team to a lead and score a goal,” Hille wrote in an email to The Herald. “I took the opportunity with full confidence.”
The goal, Hille’s first of the season, gave Bruno a 1-0 advantage in the fourth minute. But after the penalty, offensive opportunities were scarce for both teams throughout a gritty first half.
One of Brown’s most promising chances to extend its lead came 38 minutes in. On the Bears’s first corner of the afternoon, Hille sent the ball curling toward the net, forcing Versterre off his line. But the Cornell goalie met the challenge and punched the ball out of danger.
After halftime, Cornell turned up the pressure.
Four minutes in, the Big Red nearly found an equalizer off a corner kick. A powerful Cornell attempt appeared headed for the back of the net, but Snaith cleared the ball off the goal line.
Cornell continued their offensive streak with another corner, but Brown turned the set piece into a counterattack. Amaral raced down the sideline with two defenders trailing him before firing toward Cornell’s goal, but Versterre dove to his left to make the save.
The Bears threatened again in the 58th minute. Forward Donovan Mark ’30 won the ball from a Cornell defender with a strong shoulder-to-shoulder challenge before finding Carlo Brown, whose attempt was denied by Versterre’s outstretched leg.
To counter the counter, Cornell turned the defensive stand into an offensive chance — and finally broke through. The Big Red carried the ball down the sideline before sending a cross into the middle of the penalty area, where Cornell’s Ashton Wray directed a low bullet of a shot into the net and leveled the contest at 1-1.
Brown called for a VAR review for a potential offside, but the goal stood.
“Looking at chances it was a very even game,” Hille wrote, but the team lost momentum in the second half and struggled to keep possession in the final third.
Both sides continued searching for a go-ahead goal. Ultimately, Cornell outstripped Bruno in the 76th minute.
From the corner, the Big Red drilled a cross into traffic in front of the net. Cornell forward Adam Schaban connected with the delivery and sent the ball into the bottom right corner, giving Cornell a 2-1 advantage.
“Cornell capitalized on their chances while we didn’t, and that’s what made the difference,” Hille wrote.
Suddenly trailing after leading for much of the afternoon, Bruno pushed forward with urgency in search of an equalizer.
With less than two minutes to go, Snaith kicked a long cross toward the Big Red penalty area that looked to be on its way into the net, but Versterre reacted rapidly to make his fourth and final save of the afternoon.
Only ten seconds later, Brown got one final opportunity to score. But with nearly the entire Cornell team packed behind the ball, the Bears were unable to convert, and the Big Red held on to hand Bruno a 2-1 defeat.
“We can take positives from the first half performance and learn from what happened in the second half,” Head Coach Chase Wileman wrote in an email to The Herald. “As long as we stick together and stick to our process, results will come.”
The Bears will look to create a favorable result in their rescheduled match against Columbia this Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. in New York.
Harry Guo is a senior staff writer and on the vertical video and design teams. He is from Andover, Massachusetts, and plans on concentrating in Business Economics and International and Public Affairs. In his free time, he enjoys writing poetry and playing poker.
