An early departure from campus on Friday meant many of the guys were lucky enough to miss some afternoon classes (excused absences, of course). We hit the road at around 12pm, with some chicken fingers from the V-Dub and tons of snacks provided by Coach Jason. We also had Jack Hayes, the athletic director at Brown, traveling with us, so each guy was on his very best behavior, including Coach Laughlin. The trip up to Ithaca, New York is a very long one, so we split it up, stopping in beautiful Albany to get a quick training session in. We weren’t really in the heart of the city of Albany, but more in the rural, upstate New Yorkish area. We finally arrived at the soccer complex about 3-4 hours into the trip and finally were able to get off the bus and stretch our legs a bit. Training went well, with the classic one touch game ending in a not-so-classic way. Coach Laughlin joined in this time and ended the game with some quick one-two passing with Edu, followed by a toe poke goal and celebration that ended on the ground with him taking his cleats off and demanding “GAME OVER.”
We all quickly changed out of our cleats and shinnys and grabbed a Panera sandwich as we got back on the bus. The rest of the trip consisted of Oceans 11 and 12 and felt almost twice as long as the first half of it. FINALLY, after twisting and turning through the slim streets of Cornell’s campus and of the city of Ithaca, we arrived at our hotel. We ended the night with some pizza and some thoughts on Cornell and we all got into bed focused on the game to come.
We knew that the game at Cornell would be a difficult task, as playing an Ivy League opponent that has an average height of 6 feet 9 inches always is, especially at their home field. When we took the field it was a balmy 39 degrees. From the first whistle Cornell was right on top of us trying to transform the game into their kickball type game that they like to play, trying to get as many set pieces, throw-ins and second chance knock-down opportunities from those as possible. In the opening 44 and a half minutes we were outshot by Cornell, but with 20 seconds left in the half we broke though. DT sent a beautiful ball into Tariq and he snuck it right inside of the near post. Mayhem ensued. After a tense 20 seconds, we made it into half time with a 1-0 lead.
We prepared ourselves at half-time for the barrage of long-balls and difficult play that we knew was ahead of us in the second half, and dug back in. Despite being outshot 25-5 on the game, we held tough in the back and did what Brown Men’s Soccer has become synonymous with doing: “Defending the Alamo”. We blocked a ton of shots and pulled a few balls off of the line to preserve the shutout. In the end, we were able to walk away from the field with our heads held high, getting our first road victory of the season.
The victory against Cornell felt truly rewarding. After saluting our fans, we headed off the field into the locker room.
After showering and packing all our gear, we all headed to the bus, where some of our most faithful supporters were awaiting us with some yummy sandwiches and other pastries for the long trip back. Once in the bus and ready to go home, the guys started to search for a comfortable position that would allow them to get some rest. Some of the most experienced guys brought their own pillows from home, while others were using their thick winter coats instead. After a short period of repose, the action came back to the bus. After such an important victory, it was by no means time to go to sleep yet. The T squad (sophomores) gathered around Tariq’s seat and started the chat, everyone in the bus was awake by now. Soon after that, some of the members of the team delighted us with some of the best music performances ever seen. Tom Arns absolutely won the conquest, whilst coach Nuss had a pretty disappointing showing; couldn’t handle the pressure and forgot some of the lyrics. Before getting back to Browntown, we watched Oceans 13, finally finishing the whole saga.
The team is now ready to host Penn at Stevenson on Saturday at 4pm, thank you very much to all of our supporters!!
Jack, Josh and Pepe
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