NEW YORK – Much of the drama was eliminated as the Big Red men's soccer team clinched an NCAA Tournament berth without playing a game on Friday night, but the team made sure it had plenty of reason to celebrate on Saturday.
 
With a 1-0 win at Columbia, Cornell finished the regular season with its first outright Ivy League title since 1977 and just the second outright league title in program history.
 
The Big Red's excellence all year long was capped by yet another goal from Daniel Haber, and Cornell celebrated on the Lions' home turf and were presented with the Ivy League Trophy after the victory.
 
The win was Cornell's first over Columbia since 2010 and gave the team six Ivy League victories for the first time since 1995.
 
Though Cornell (15-1, 6-1) came into the game against Columbia (4-8-4, 2-3-2) knowing it had already earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament and could do no worse than share the league title with a loss to the Lions, the Big Red left no doubt about its Ivy claim with a dominating win over the Lions.
 
When the dust had settled, Cornell had bested Columbia in all major statistics including a 6-2 advantage in shots on goal, 15-5 in total shots and a 5-4 margin in corner kicks.
 
Cornell got on the board early in the first half with Haber's goal, his 18th of the season. His strike came just as the clock passed the 14-minute mark. Nico Nissl had taken a shot 10 seconds before, and Columbia's Brendan O'Hearn failed to clear the ball far enough away from goal. Jake Rinow was there to head the clearance back into the box, Haber found the ball at his feet in a dangerous spot and he did not miss.
 
Cornell had plenty of opportunities in the 75 minutes after that, but it would not need another goal as Rick Pflasterer made saves on the Lions' two shots on goal and the Big Red defense played a stifling effort. The back line of Jake Kirsch, Patrick Slogic, Peter Chodas and Jake Rinow was again terrific, helping Cornell to its seventh shutout of the season.
 
Plfasterer's win, his 15th of the year, breaks the school single-season record for wins and puts him just one behind the school record for wins in a career (29).
 
The Big Red used 15 players in the victory including Matt Kagie, Simba Meki, Devin Morgan and Conor Goepel off the bench. Goepel played in his first game since the Yale contest nearly a month ago.
 
With the regular season over, Cornell awaits its NCAA Tournament schedule. The NCAA selection show will air on NCAA.com at 5:30 p.m. on Monday. The Big Red will either play a first-round game on Thursday night or get a first-round bye and play in the second round on Nov. 18. In either case, it will be the team's first NCAA appearance since 1996.

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