Members of the Cornell Big Red men's soccer team pose for a photo after they defeated the Columbia Lions 1-0 in New York City Nov. 10, clinching the Ivy League title. Photo by Mike McLaughlin.
Men's soccer season breaks attendance records, rekindles fans' devotion
It was Nov. 15 and 1,500 fans were standing in the freezing cold to watch men's soccer.
Cornell junior forward Daniel Haber during the Nov. 15 NCAA Tournament game against Syracuse at Cornell. Photo by Patrick Shanahan.
The temperature was in the low 30s and would slip down into the upper 20s before the game was complete. The weather didn't deter the crowd for a second, and the throng filling up even the overflow seating was, in fact, the largest group Berman Field had ever seen.
For an NCAA Tournament game on a Thursday night against local rival Syracuse, the rowdiest Big Red fans were out in force. In fact, for the second time in one season, the Big Red had broken its attendance record. A wild 1,121 came to Berman Field in October for a game against Yale, snapping the previous mark by nearly 200. Those fans watched a 3-0 win over the Bulldogs, and this crowd, larger by more than 300, was hoping for more of the same.
For a team that had been breaking records and shattering expectations all season, another giant turnout came as no surprise.
"I think it was a celebration of soccer for central New York and the whole [of] New York state," Cornell head coach Jaro Zawislan said after the game.
Members of the Cornell Big Red men's soccer team celebrate after they defeated the Columbia Lions 1-0 in New York City Nov. 10, clinching the Ivy League title. Photo by Mike McLaughlin.
The celebration had been going for most of the 2012 season.
Things got off to a great start when the Big Red won its first 12 contests. Cornell junior forward Daniel Haber, who had nine goals in 2011, had eclipsed that total by his sixth game in 2012. For a while, he led the country in total goals, goals per game, points and points per game. Cornell went a perfect 9-0-0 in its nonconference games for the first time since 1983. The Big Red scored five goals in a game -- knocking off Binghamton 5-0 -- for the first time since 2001.
A loss to Brown on the road put a damper on the team's Ivy League title hopes for a few weeks. But after that defeat, the Big Red kept right on rolling. The team got by Princeton 1-0 on a goal from Haber, defeated Dartmouth 2-1 in overtime thanks to a thrilling goal by senior Tyler Regan, and clinched the Ivy League title when it went to Columbia and defeated the Lions 1-0 Nov. 10.
"It's definitely something to be very proud of," said midfielder Nico Nissl, one of three seniors on the team. "As a senior it's been a privilege to play on this team. You can kind of call us a brotherhood where we know that every single player has got each other's back."
Sophomore Peter Chodas during the Nov. 15 NCAA Tournament game against Syracuse at Cornell. Photo by Patrick Shanahan.
Perhaps this team's biggest accomplishment was making Big Red fans care about men's soccer again. The team's Ivy League title was its first outright league championship since 1977, and four players were named First-Team All-Ivy -- senior goalie Rick Pflasterer, junior defender Patrick Slogic, Regan and Haber, who was named the league's Player of the Year.
(Update: Haber is a semifinalist for the Hermann Trophy, college soccer's highest individual honor. Read more at cornellbigred.com and vote for Haber here!)
Winning the title also meant that Cornell would be hosting an NCAA Tournament game against the nearby Syracuse Orange, which brought the fans out in even bigger numbers.
The 1,504 fans cheering through the cold proved not to be enough, though. The Big Red's season came to an end thanks to a Syracuse goal in the 10th minute and staunch defense by the visiting Orange, with a final score of 1-0. Still, the 2012 campaign for men's soccer was one to remember.
"Clearly soccer has been just a fantastic experience," Regan said. "It runs me into the ground, I'm always sore, but I love it. … Whenever you're having 6 a.m. lifts, you're sometimes thinking, 'Everyone else is sleeping right now. I wish I was just a normal person.' But when it gets down to it, I couldn't live without it."
Evan Drexler is multimedia coordinator with Cornell Athletic Communications.