Rams take Ripon down to the wire in 22-14 Homecoming loss
Cornell’s 111th Homecoming was a battle the Rams never led, but were certainly never out of before falling one possession short in a 22-14 Midwest Conference football loss to Ripon Saturday at Van Metre Field at Ash Park.
The Rams (2-3 overall, 2-2 MWC) fought back from an early 9-0 hole and 16-7 halftime deficit, slicing the margin to 16-14 on a 2-yard touchdown pass by Mason Dew to Silas Heimos with 12:03 remaining.
Ripon answered Cornell’s impressive 17-play, 75-yard scoring march with a pair of field goals in the final four minutes that provided enough cushion in the end.
Ripon’s Ben Crock connected on a 41-yard field goal, and Cornell’s ensuing drive stalled on downs at its own 34-yard line. Crock added a 30-yard field goal with 50 seconds left that increased the lead to 22-14.
Senior Rommel Pinner gave the Rams a chance late with a 53-yard kickoff return to Ripon’s 47. But the Red Hawks delivered a key sack on second down and forced an incompletion on 4th-and-10 that ended the game.
Cornell’s defense, which entered the contest with an MWC-best seven interceptions, added three more to its season tally on Saturday. Senior safety Conner Lewis picked off Ripon quarterback Aidan Keyes twice, including a pivotal interception at the Cornell 7 on the Red Hawks’ first possession.
Lewis finished his dynamic day with a game-high nine tackles (one for lost yardage), a forced fumble, a pass breakup and the two picks. Joshua Martin also had an interception and return of 26 yards for the Rams.
Dew finished 19-of-40 passing for 189 yards in a strong second collegiate start at quarterback. He hit nine different Cornell receivers, led by Pinner’s 56 yards on three receptions. Heimos, a senior, had four grabs for 35 yards, highlighted by his first TD as a Ram.
Junior BooBoo Browning led Cornell’s rushing attack with 45 yards on 11 carries. He put Cornell on the scoreboard with a 10-yard TD run midway through the second quarter that pulled the Rams within 9-7.
Ripon caught an early break off an errant Cornell punt snap that went into the end zone for a safety. That put the Red Hawks ahead 2-0 and had the Rams chasing points the rest of the way.
The Red Hawks outgained Cornell in total yards, 329-263. The Red Hawks relied on a ground game that generated 214 yards, averaging 5.2 per carry.
Cornell concludes lengthy road swing with 3-0 win over Scots
Cornell’s volleyball team brought out the brooms once again for a 25-19, 25-20, 25-16 Midwest Conference sweep over Monmouth Friday evening at Glennie Gymnasium.
Triggered by 11 ace serves and a strong .239 hitting night, the Rams (10-7, 3-0 MWC) extended their season-best win streak to six matches and claimed their 17th consecutive series victory over Monmouth (5-11, 0-1 MWC).
Cornell improved to 4-1 on the road this season. Friday concluded an extended 11-match stretch away from its own Small Athletic and Wellness Center.
Sophomore Ally Olmstead connected on 10 kills to lead the attack. Mia Tubbs chipped in nine kills and a block.
Reigning MWC Defensive Performer of the Week Selia Stein blasted seven kills on .545 hitting with three blocks. Junior Nia Howard led the Rams at the service line with six aces to boost her MWC-leading season tally to 46.
Howard and Grace Tverberg dished out 17 and 13 assists respectively. Hannah Cantwell paced the Rams with 11 digs. Sully Downey added two aces.
Cornell men tie, pick up win on week
Cornell men’s soccer team traveled to Jacksonville, Ill. on Saturday to face an Illinois College team that had defeated the Rams the last three years. In a defensive battle that was scoreless over the last 58-minutes, the Rams were able to end the streak with a 1-1 tie at England Stadium.
Illinois College (6-3-4 overall, 1-2-2 MWC) found the back of the net first, when Tyler Lunning scored 8:54 into the game.
Junior Fox Wight tied up the game for Cornell (4-7-1 overall, 2-1-1 MWC) when he netted his first goal of the year at the 31:13 mark of the first half. Wight goal was assisted by Jake Elmore.
Jack Massey played a complete game in the net for Cornell, picking up two saves on 13 shots from Blueboy’s.
The Rams took 11 shots in the game, six on goal. Wight had four shots (two on goal), Erwann Hiernaux took two shots and Aidan Butler took one shot. Kyriacos Photiou, Justice Toledo, Mason Parsley and Jake Elmore each had a shot on goal for Cornell.
Earlier in the week, the men’s soccer team took a 2-1 win over Grinnell.
With just over two minutes left in the game junior Mason Parsley fired a shot from the top of the goal box. The ball careened off the back of Toledo’s head into the bottom right corner of the goal, to seal the victory. Toledo was credited with the game winning goal and Parsley picked up the assist.
Cornell women pick up two losses on Homecoming week
Cornell got caught by a flurry of Illinois College goals early in Saturday’s 5-0 Midwest Conference women’s soccer loss at England Stadium.
The second-place Lady Blues netted three goals in the opening 20 minutes and added two more scores before intermission to take control.
The young Rams (2-11 overall, 0-4 MWC) played tough during a scoreless second half, when goalkeeper Sabrina Ibanez registered seven of her nine saves on the day. The Cornell senior raised her season saves total to 113.
First-year Macky Larkin paced Cornell’s attack with two shots, both on goal. Mia Belitz and Andrea Niola each added one shot on goal.
Illinois College fired 27 total shots in the match and held a 10-4 advantage in corner kick chances.
Earlier in the week, the Cornell women lost to Grinnell 3-0.
Cornell’s defense faced 24 total shots from the Pioneers, 17 coming in the second half. Sabrina Ibanez finished with 11 saves, marking the seventh time she’s reached double digits this fall.