Columbia Set for Saturday Showdown with Yale

Saturday, November 2

New York, N.Y.

1:00 P.M.

Columbia University

Yale

Photo by: Columbia University Athletics/Maryam K. Hassan

11/1/2019 2:10:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Watch on ESPN+Live Stats Follow on Twitter

Lions have a chance to pull within a point of league lead

NEW YORK — A pivotal Ivy League Saturday awaits Columbia men's soccer (4-5-4, 1-1-2 Ivy), as the Lions welcome league-leading Yale (10-2-2, 3-1-0 Ivy) to Rocco B. Commisso Stadium. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m., followed by the women's soccer game against the Bulldogs at 5 p.m.

Fans unable to attend Saturday's games can watch them live on ESPN+. Live Stats will be provided by GoColumbiaLions.com. Fans can also keep up with the match on Twitter by following @ColumbiaMSoccer.

5 THINGS TO KNOW

1. IVY LEAGUE TABLE
Seven of the Ivy League's eight teams are still alive in the race for the championship. The top six teams are separated by just four points with three league weeks remaining. The Lions have an opportunity to pull within one or two points of the lead with a win over the Bulldogs. The rest of the league's Saturday slate sees Penn travel to Brown, Cornell travel to Princeton and Dartmouth travel to Harvard.

Rk.	Team	Record	Points	GF	GA
1.	Yale	3-1-0	9	9	4
2.	Princeton	2-1-1	7	5	3
	Penn	2-1-1	7	5	4
	Dartmouth	2-1-1	7	3	3
5.	Columbia	1-1-2	5	5	5
	Brown	1-1-2	5	7	5
7.	Cornell	1-2-1	4	10	7
8.	Harvard	0-4-0	0	1	14

2. SWAIN WINS IT LATE
Senior Matthew Swain scored the game-winning goal in the 84th minute to lift the Lions past Fordham 1-0 on Tuesday. The game-winner was the first of Swain's career, while the goal was the New York native's second of the season and third of his career. All three of Swain's career goals have come at home.

Swain's goal was the latest in a match by the Lions this season, 14 second later than John Denis's winner at UConn. Columbia has put away seven of its 17 goals on the campaign in the final 20 minutes.

3. PENALTY STOPPER
First-year goalkeeper Michael Collodi earned his second collegiate shutout and first against an Ivy League opponent last Saturday at Dartmouth. The rookie out of Frisco, Texas made three saves, none more crucial than a save off Braden Salvati's penalty kick in the 25th minute. The penalty save was the third of the season for Collodi, having stopped all three penalties he's faced in his Columbia career. His first penalty stop came back on Sept. 27 in a 2-0 win over Monmouth. His second came on Oct. 5 to help preserve a 3-2 win over Brown.

4. BY THE NUMBERS

John Denis and Uri Zeitz each rank among the Ivy League's top 10 in goals, points, shots and shots on goal.
Zeitz leads the Ivy League with 18 shots on goal and ranks among the top five in shots (30) and top 10 in goals (4) and points (11).
Denis ranks No. 3 in the Ivy League in points (13), No. 3 in shots (32), No. 4 in goals (5) and No. 6 in shots on goal (14).
Zeitz's shot accuracy (0.600) ranks 15th nationally, while his shots on goal per game (1.38) ranks top 75.
Denis ranks inside the NCAA's top 100 in points per game (1.18) and goals per game (0.45).
Columbia's shot accuracy as a team (0.470) ranks No. 28 nationally.

5. THE SERIES
Columbia and Yale's history dates back to 1907. The two sides are at a near even split in the 69 matches they've played. The Lions have a chance to even up the series on Saturday, trailing by a slim margin of 30-31-8. Columbia has done a lot of work to gain ground back in the last nine years, going unbeaten with a record of 6-0-3 against Yale since 2010. The Lions are also on a five-match series winning streak but have won each of those matches by only a single goal.

ABOUT THE OPPONENT
After winning nine straight and starting off the season unbeaten in 11 matches, Yale fell out of the national rankings with back-to-back 1-0 overtime losses at then-No. 25 Maryland and Penn. The Bulldogs were ranked No. 24 in the United Soccer Coaches Week 7 and Week 8 polls. They got back on track with a 2-1 road win over Northeastern on Tuesday, taking a 2-0 lead and holding on after the Huskies scored early in the second half. Miguel Yuste has seven goals to lead the Ivy League but has not netted a single one of those goals in Ivy play. Elian Haddock is expected to start in goal, boasting a 9-2-1 record and league-best 0.683 GAA.

--

For the latest on the Columbia men's soccer program, follow @ColumbiaMSoccer on Twitter and Instagram, on Facebook at Facebook.com/ColumbiaMensSoccer and on the web at GoColumbiaLions.com.