Cornell Business

Issue date: 11/5/00 Section: Sports

Johnson School Gunners

The SCJ Gunners knew that they had a small squad of 13 players going up to the annual Yale Cup, the largest fall gathering of MBA soccer teams. The team also drew a tough bracket assignment with traditional powerhouses, Tuck and HBS. Most of the team arrived in New Haven, CT by Friday night. Hideo Tada and Gen Obata, who were interviewing with Bain late Friday arrived Saturday at 5 AM with the opening game against Dartmouth only three and a half hours away. Saturday was a chilly morning with a bright sun and Cornell really turned up the heat on attack. At halftime, the score was 0-0 but Cornell was the obvious dominator with more shots on goal. Dartmouth was content with a very strong defensive game plan, which rewarded them in the second half. A Tuck player was taken down in the box midway through the second half and they converted the penalty kick to go up 1-0. Cornell fought back with intense pressure but lost Joe Marchesi in a collision with the goalie that left him with 14 stitches above the eye. During the closing minutes of the game, Tuck scored on a breakaway that secured their victory 2-0. The Johnson School was disappointed with the result but had to plan their attack as the injuries were mounting.

HBS was the game 2 opponent and again The Gunners started strong, winning almost every free ball in the first half and creating excellent scoring opportunities. The tension was very noticeable on the Harvard bench with shouts of "their winning everything, come on HBS". Unfortunately again, none of the chances turned into goals and halftime arrived with the score 0-0. Ethan Spencer, Alex Roe and Tim Sallade recorded near misses. Harvard came back strong in the second half. Unlike Cornell, they finished their first good opportunity on the net and went up 1-0. The tide turned and Cornell could not answer, Harvard continued the scoring with two more excellent goals. Cornell left the field a loser again after having dominated most of the game. With two losses, there was no hope for advancing to the quarterfinals. Both Dartmouth and Harvard would advance from our group.

Cornell still wanted to show the spectators and competitors they were better than 0-2. The final game on Saturday was against Wharton II. Even though it was Wharton's second team, Cornell showed the Yale Cup they had no business being on the field with The Gunners. In the end, The Gunners recorded a 6-0 victory, sending a clear message to the other teams. Battered and bruised, The Gunners returned to Ithaca feeling confident that with a healthy squad they would find greater success in April at The MBA World Cup hosted by Tuck.
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