NEW YORK — The Columbia men's soccer team never found the second-half strike it needed to bring the match level, falling to Yale by a score of 3-1 Saturday night in Ivy League action at Rocco B. Commisso Soccer Stadium.
 
Columbia (1-9-4, 0-3-2 Ivy) fell behind in the 10th minute and saw Yale's (6-4-4, 3-0-2 Ivy) lead double in the 34th. Senior Sebastian Gunbeyi provided a spark heading into halftime with his first goal of the season off a cross fed in by Max Gonzalez, swinging the momentum completely in favor of the Lions to start the second half.
 
The equalizer never came, as the Bulldogs limited Columbia to just one shot over the final 45 minutes and all but put the game away when Daniel Massaad found the back of the net in the 75th minute.
 
"We tweaked things a little bit for tonight and I think, to be fair, in the first half we got scored on against the run of play," Columbia head coach Kevin Anderson said. "The game is about scoring your chances and Yale scored their chances. In the second half, it was harder for us to get on the ball, guys weren't as patient and so we had less possession and quality getting into that final third."
 
Columbia's starting 11 never came out of the game until the 69th minute, when Anderson subbed on Ryan Kipness for Paolo Primavera. The Lions only used two subs on the evening.
 
Gunbeyi's first-half goal was created when Ryan Wallace snuck a ball out wide for Max Gonzalez in space. Gonzalez brought it down the sideline and crossed it into the area for Gunbeyi, who took advantage of a bounce off a defender and tapped it into left side for his first goal of the season. The senior's goal answered a 34th-minute strike from Yale's Kahveh Zahiroleslam. The goal was created off a corner sent in by Gelber Lemus that met the head of Jeremy Haddock. After falling to the ground, Haddock kicked it over to Zahiroleslam, who blasted it home from close range to make it a two-goal game.
 
Yale's opening tally came against the run of play. After the Lions had the majority of possession in the Yale half, the Bulldogs struck on the counter with Paolo Carroll crossed a ball low for Eric Lagos, who redirected it past Collodi for the opening tally.
 
The stat book showed a fairly even match at the half. Columbia had taken six shots to Yale's seven and had sent in four corners to just one for the Bulldogs, which they scored off of. The second half told a completely different story, with Yale taking 10 shots, seven on goal, and holding Columbia to just a single attempt.
 
"We'll continue to work," Anderson added. "It's been a tough season but guys have really come out every day and put their best foot forward and been responsive. We'll continue to work and prepare ourselves for next weekend."
 
Columbia closes out its home schedule next Saturday against Harvard. The Lions will honor the careers of seniors Blake Willis, Andrew Stevens, Sebastian Gunbeyi and Will Todd in a pregame ceremony. Kickoff form Rocco B. Commisso Soccer Stadium is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET.

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