Thorburn’s Big Stops, Second Half Goals From Brown And Davidson Give Princeton A Win Over Cornell

Before Autumn Brown tipped in a ball off a corner and Sam Davidson did, well, what Sam Davidson does, before Princeton turned a one-goal deficit into a 2-1 win over Cornell, there was Ella Thorburn.

The freshman from South Africa, making her first career start, allowed an early Big Red goal and then made three Monster first-half saves to keep it at 1-0, keeping the Tigers in striking difference. Without those saves, it would have been a much different game, and possibly a much different Ivy League race.

We’ve reached halftime, still 1-0 Cornell. Another big save by Ella Thorburn kept it that way. pic.twitter.com/f11XLnBNhm

Princeton FH (@TigerFH) October 15, 2022

Instead, no. 8 Princeton survived on a sunny, warm, windy day in Ithaca to set up this coming Sunday’s Showdown against Harvard on Bedford Field. The Tigers and Crimson will come into that game both at 4-0 in the league, whereas every other team has at least two league losses.

Had Cornell won the game, it would have turned the race on its head, since the Big Red would have been assured of winning the league’s automatic NCAA tournament bid had it knocked off Princeton and then won it. After Grace Leahy’s goal after just 2:01 had elapsed and then after Cornell kept the Tigers off the scoreboard for the first 35:50 of the game, it looked like it might just go that way.

Instead, Princeton finally cashed in, this time when Brown tipped in Beth Yeager’s pass after a penalty corner. For Brown, it was goal No. 3 on the season, while Yeager’s assist was her seventh of the year and left her with 27 points.

Princeton then drew a penalty stroke just 1:10 later, and that’s when Davidson came on. Once again she converted, making her 5 for 5 on the season and 7 for 7 for her career.

Princeton outshot Cornell 16-6 on the day, including 6-0 in the second half.