Scots Soccer Defeated by Cornell

This past Saturday, the Scots opened their Midwest Conference season against Cornell College at Peacock Memorial field. Putting up a tough fight throughout the game, the Scots were determined to keep the playing field level but could not hold off the Rams attack leaving the end score at 2-1 with their first conference loss. Opening the game, the Rams had an early chance to score when given a penalty kick 12:50 into the game; however, junior goalkeeper Marcos Garibay held off the attack to keep the game scoreless. Over the course of the game, Garibay made seven saves to hold off the Rams; however, Cornell kept fighting and was awarded another penalty kick at 26:24 in the first half and gave Cornell the lead with a score of 1-0. Going into the second half, the game was still at 1-0 with a Cornell lead. Sophomore Ivan Sanchez was then taken down in the box, and with 6:30 into the second half, senior Nico Esparon took the penalty kick for the Scots and brought the score to 1-1. This was Esparon’s first game back after an ankle injury kept him out of play for the past three games, and this goal brought his overall career goals to a total of six. Both teams kept pushing to take the lead in the game, but it took over thirty minutes for a score to be made. The Rams made a corner kick with 12:59 left in play which deflected off of a Monmouth player into the net to bring the Rams to the lead again with a score of 2-1. The Scots had only one corner kick to Cornell’s four. The Scots also had five shots on goal, a season high for the team, and six of the Scots players logged ninety minutes for the game. Although the Scots had a few more late chances in the game with the ball, they could not make contact with the net, leaving the score at 2-1 with a Cornell win. The Scots take the field again next Saturday at Peacock Memorial field to face off in their second conference game of the season versus Lake Forest College.

Brooke McCormick - Sports Editor