ITHACA, NY –Williams fell to Cornell 8-1 on Friday evening. The Ephs were faced with a tough challenge from the Bears, who have always been one of the top ranked teams in the nation.
Although Williams came in as the underdog, they fought hard and forced their opponents to fight hard for their wins. Caroline Hogan (#9) had a particularly strong performance, defeating her opponent in four extremely well-played and tight games. In addition, Esther Baek (#2), Charlotte Walsh (#8), and freshman Anna Nicholson (#6) all managed to get games off of their opponents. Melissa Swann (#3), also a freshman playing in her first match, fought hard against a tough opponent, as did returning players Nicole Friedman (#1) and Ananya Mahalingam-Dhingra (#4). Captain Alyssa Ritchie (#5) also came out strong in her first match of the season against a skilled opponent, alongside her fellow senior Ellen Coombe (#7), who rallied hard but also fell to her opponent in three games. Freshman Eliza Bower (#10) also made a strong effort in the exhibition match but was not able to defeat her opponent.
Assistant coach Blair Dils had this to say about the match: "It's always tough starting the season on the road against a quality team like Cornell, but we're really proud of the competitiveness we showed tonight despite the lopsided score. We have a real chance to finish the weekend 3-1 and we'll hopefully get in the win column tomorrow against William Smith.
Captain Alyssa Ritchie agreed with his sentiments, saying, "Cornell proved to be a tough challenge, but people stepped up and worked hard tonight. Caroline started us off with an energizing win, and other players won important games. We're definitely looking forward to the matches tomorrow and the rest of the weekend to fine-tune our games"
The Ephs will remain at Cornell through tomorrow, facing William Smith at 12pm and then Dickinson at 2pm. They will then travel to play Hamilton on Sunday afternoon to round off the weekend.
Individual scores to come.
