by Timothy Weisberg | Oct 14, 2011 | Slope Media-Fall 2011
Cornell running back Grant Gellatly carries the ball in a game against Yale at the Yale Bowl on Sept. 24. The Big Red fell to the Bulldogs 37-17. (Photo by Jeremy Hartigan)
Published on Sept. 27, 2011
Cornell head football coach Kent Austin looked to pull a rabbit out of a hat Saturday afternoon against Yale.
Questionable, gutsy, wrong, Austin elected to attempt an onside kick trailing 17-10 midway through the third quarter, and appeared to have everyone fooled, except the one Bulldog defender who stayed alert, recovering the ball and swinging momentum the other way.
“At the end of the day, I love that call,” sophomore Big Red quarterback Jeff Mathews said in a phone interview. “He wants to get the ball in the offense’s hands and has that confidence in us to go down and score.”
And confidence is exactly what the typically conservative coach had. However, the Bulldogs (2-0, 1-0 Ivy League) ended up scoring on the short field to take a 23-10 lead.
Although the Big Red (1-1, 0-1) bounced back on the next drive to cut the lead to 23-17, the gutsy call was a microcosm for a day that was not meant to be in a 37-17 loss that was nationally televised on VERSUS.
Big Red cornerback Rashad Campbell returned the opening kick off 102 yards for a score, only to have the play negated by a holding penalty. Two plays later, Mathews threw behind his intended receiver, and the pass was tipped and intercepted by the Bulldogs’ Nick Okano.
A costly penalty to start, an untimely turnover soon after, a call with momentum on their side gone wrong, the Big Red were inevitably dealt their fate: a tough loss in New Haven, Conn.
Mathews not only liked Austin electing to gain the ball right back on the onside kick, but also preached the importance of winning the field possession battle.
“When you’re down, it gives you another possession,” he said. “That [Yale] player just made a good play on it.”
And the long road of a season does not get any easier when the Big Red host Wagner tomorrow afternoon.
The Seahawks were the same team that spoiled Kent Austin’s debut as the Big Red head coach, blowing out the Big Red 41-7 in their 2010 season opener.
But for Mathews, the loss to Wagner to start the 2010 season is simply water under a bridge.
“That [loss to Wagner] was so long ago to be honest–our first game of the year, our first game under Coach Austin,” he said. “I feel that we have come so far since then that it’s hard to look back on that game and believe that was our [same] team.”
The Seahawks are 1-3 and come in as the losers of three straight, but that will not stop the Big Red from making the game mean any more or any less to them.
“We don’t want to make this one game an indicator of our season,” said Mathews.
“There’s a long year [ahead of us] and we’re going to have lots of ups and downs, and hopefully it’s going up from now on.”
by Timothy Weisberg | Oct 14, 2011 | Slope Media-Fall 2011
Photo Courtesy of Cornell Athletic Communications
Published on Sept. 23, 2011
If this were a game of straws, the Cornell sprint football team got the short end of the stick. Whether it was from missed opportunities or wrapping up gifts in the form of second chances, it may have only been inevitable that the Big Red would falter against Post 25-20 in a sloppy, wet Friday night at Schoellkopf Field.
The Eagles’ (2-0) Rashad Hendricks scored on a seven-yard scamper, his third rushing touchdown in the game, with 36 seconds left in regulation to put the dagger on a would’ve, could’ve, should’ve night for the Big Red (1-1).
According to senior wide receiver Abe Mellinger, who had two touchdown receptions on the night, the Big Red gave the game to the Eagles.
“You could say that Post won the game, but I would say that we beat ourselves,” Mellinger said. “We were given the opportunities. We didn’t capitalize.”
The first missed opportunity came in the first quarter when a high snap on a punt sailed over the punter’s head, giving the Big Red the ball at the Eagles’ 16-yard line. But the Big Red were unable to capitalize, as a holding call set them back, and kicker John Rodriguez missed a 45-yard field goal attempt.
Typically a team with the advantage in the kicking game, Rodriguez missed two field goals, both from 45 yards. But according to Big Red co-head coach Bart Guccia, the staff already had the confidence in Rodriguez to make field goals from 40-plus yards.
“He’s got the range to make those…he just missed them,” Guccia said. “They were long enough.”
And despite three missed extra points and a missed field goal, the Eagles were able to capitalize on opportunities late in the game.
“They should have never been in that position,” said Guccia. “They made the most of their opportunity at the end. You got to give them credit.”
Post trailed 13-12 in the fourth quarter, but Eagles quarterback Erich Broadrick connected with Tony Simpson for an 18-yard strike to take a 19-13 lead with 9:40 remaining. The same drive was kept alive when Broadrick avoided a sack on a third down and completed a pass down field.
“We had (Erich Broadrick) sacked and we missed him,” said Guccia. “He makes a big completion and they score on that drive.”
And one play and 17 seconds later, the Big Red countered with a 55-yard touchdown reception from Mellinger to retake the lead, 20-19.
But it was a three-and-out and a short field that gave the Eagles one last shot to win the game, and another key third down conversion in the red zone that kept another drive alive, and one too many chances for the Eagles.
The Big Red hope to bounce back from a tough loss to the Eagles when they host Princeton next Friday for a 7 p.m. kickoff at Schoellkopf Field.
According to Guccia, the team must move on from the loss if they want to still salvage a season that is far from over.
“The game’s over,” he said. “We can’t look backwards. We have to…go forward, try to improve on the mistakes we made in this game and then go out and play Princeton to the best of our abilities.”
by Timothy Weisberg | Oct 14, 2011 | Slope Media-Fall 2011
Cornell head coach Kent Austin speaks with players before a practice at Schoellkopf Field. Austin enters his second year as head coach, hoping to improve on last season’s 2-8 campaign. (Photo by Dave Burbank)
Published on Sept. 6, 2011
It may be preaching to the choir when emphasizing the importance of establishing a culture of winning in any collegiate program, but the sense of urgency for change is evident for the Cornell football team.
They enter their second year under head coach Kent Austin, and after a 2-8 and seventh place Ivy League finish in his first season, Austin is in the grueling process of turning the program around.
Although inheriting a team that has not had a winning season since 2005, or finished higher than second in the Ivy League since 2000, Austin’s philosophy towards establishing a new culture has not changed.
“The expectations are always the same,” Austin said. “They’re pretty high…I think in this profession you have to believe you can go out and win every game. It doesn’t mean that you always will. But our goals are pretty simple as a team and that’s just to be champions.”
Despite boasting 33 players that had never played a down of collegiate football in 2010, the Big Red found a hidden gem: quarterback Jeff Mathews. Mathews became the first player to start as a true freshman in the program’s history, and did not disappoint, a unanimous pick for the Ivy League Rookie of the Year Award.
The Big Red also return two of their top receivers from last season: Luke Tasker, who grabbed 39 receptions for 448 yards, and senior Shane Savage, who led the team in receptions (46) and yards (550). Mathews also has a third target with tight end Ryan Houska.
According to Mathews, it will be important to complement the offense with production from players like Tasker, Houska and Savage.
“We got to have more completions this year and definitely push the ball down field,” he said. “We want to have more explosive plays, and I feel like this off-season we worked on deeper routes…”
On the defensive side, the Big Red lost Emani Fenton to graduation, but senior Rashad Campbell, who started all 10 games at the other corner position and was fourth on the team in tackles (58), returns.
28 freshman join the squad, and the team is still very young, with only 23 seniors on the roster. And establishing winning ways in Ithaca remains a daunting task.
But Mathews and the rest of the team are aware of the expectations brought forth upon them, especially when asked if he knew that Cornell has never won an outright Ivy League title.
“We’re very aware of that in our locker room,” he said. “That we have never won an outright Ivy League championship. And that’s one of our goals. Always. Since Coach Austin’s been here, we expect to be a very good team year in and year out.”
Picked to finish seventh in the Ivy League, not much is expected from the Big Red, but within the program, expectations are always at a peak high, even if that peak overlooks a valley of critics.
The Big Red open the regular season at home against Bucknell this Saturday at 6 p.m.
For Austin, it starts with the ability to consistently play at a high level to establish a cultural identity within a program.
“It’s one thing to reestablish a culture of high expectations and a belief in the ability to win, but you need some good things on the field to happen to solidify that,” he said.
“To come in behind it and for that to really entrench into and to take hold of…I think that once that happens, which it will, then you are going to see the whole water level of excellence rise in this football program.”
by Timothy Weisberg | Oct 14, 2011 | Slope Media-Fall 2011
Photo by Jeremy Hartigan
Published on Sept. 4, 2011
The second-ever meeting between the Cornell Big Red and the Maryland Terrapins ended in the same result as the first: a loss for the Big Red.
The Terrapins (4-0-1) came into the game ranked No. 3 in the nation, and showed why in a 4-0 victory over the Big Red (0-2).
Despite the Terrapins high ranking and four consecutive shut outs to start the season, Big Red head coach Danielle LaRoche believed her team had the ability to play with a top-five team.
“Maryland showed us that we can play against some of the top women in the country and play well against them,” LaRoche said.
And the Big Red did compete. For as long as they could. The Terrapins capitalized in the 11th minute of the first half with a goal from Jayann Gabrio to pull ahead 1-0 early.
However, the Big Red stayed in the game when Kelly Murphy made a great save on a shot inside the box from the Terrapins’ Hayley Brock, preventing the Terrapins from breaking the game open.
According to LaRoche, the Big Red wanted to emphasize defense against a team that scored nine goals against Loyola (Md.) earlier in the season.
“Our game plan all along was to come out really conservative in terms of attack,” she said. “We decided that we were going to defend first for at least the first half and (part) of the second half. And that’s what we did, and we did it very well.”
But in the 70th minute, the pressure in the box on the Big Red defenders proved to be too much, as Terrapins’ midfielder Domenica Hodak fired a kick past the outstretched hands of Murphy to give the Terrapins a 2-0 lead.
Cory Ryan added an insurance goal in the 82nd minute, weaving between two Big Red defenders in the box before hitting a strike into the net to give the Terrapins a 3-0 lead, and ultimately the win.
The Big Red hopes to pick up its first win of the season when they host Patriot League foe Colgate this Wednesday at 7 p.m.
Despite the tough loss to a premier team, LaRoche believes the underlying message remains the same: her team gained confidence that they could compete with the elite in Division I women’s soccer.
“I think the thing (the loss to Maryland) has given us, although it is not the result we wanted, it has given us the confidence to know that Cornell University women’s soccer is at a place in our program where we can compete with one of the best teams in the country,” said LaRoche.
