Sept. 20, 2005
George Mason profiles former player Pam (Baughman) Cornell in the `Where are they now?' series commemorating the 20th anniversary of the 1985 NCAA Championship women's soccer team. Cornell, a three-time All-American, was a member of the inaugural freshman class for women's soccer in 1982. In the first four years of the program, the Patriots recorded a 63-14-7 overall record, four visits to the NCAA Tournament, including National Champion Runner-up in 1983 and National Champions in 1985.
Cornell earned MVP honors from the 1985 NCAA Tournament. In the final game against North Carolina, Cornell, a senior, scored the biggest goal in George Mason history, a 10-yard blast from the left corner past goalie Kathleen O'Dell and assisted on the second goal from Lisa Gmitter, for the 2-0 victory.
She has great memories of playing at George Mason. "Hank Leung is a very special coach, who had this vision of winning the NCAA Championship, but had to convince us (the team) it could be done," recalls Cornell. "I remember at first we fought him and could not imagine winning the championship, but he convinced us, he made us believe. Once we believed it, we set out, sacrificed a lot, but in the end, we did it!"
The tri-captain remembers the day, Sunday, November 24, 1985 as a sunny day beautiful day. A then-NCAA record 4,500 people showed up, including her friends, family and future husband Glenn, to see if the Patriots could deny North Carolina its fourth-straight NCAA women's soccer title. The Tar Heels were 18-1-1 and had championship experience. The Tar Heels entered the match 10-0 all-time in the NCAA Tournament while Mason was 4-3. To add to the drama, vandals had painted a UNC Tar Heel on the field.
"I remember running out to the field to start our warm up, wearing our new green jersey," added Cornell. "We were not nervous, only excited. We knew we could beat them, but we would have to play great and it would be a battle, but we knew we could do it."
The Patriots had gone 0-5-2 against North Carolina before the championship match and the Tar Heels were a higher seed than the Patriots, forcing them to sit on the visitors' bench on their field. Cornell is grateful for the experience. "It really was a special team and an incredible experience. We didn't always get along off the field, but on the field we would do anything for each other," Cornell confides. "We came to understand that as individuals we could not beat UNC, but as a team we could. It was a great life lesson."
The Fairfax, Va native, married her college sweetheart Glenn Cornell in the year following college. She now lives in Front Royal, Va. with two children, Nick (14) and Brian (13) and will be celebrating 20 years of marriage this January.
The entire Cornell family is completely involved in soccer. Pam currently coaches two girls' teams, the SYA U13 Arsenal and the SYA U14 Spirit and is in her third year of coaching in the VA ODP Program. She spends her summers working for Soccer Academy as an instructor at camps. Her husband, Glenn also coaches two teams, the U15 SYA Fire, with both sons playing on the team. Nick played JV soccer last spring and Brian has been involved in the VA ODP Program for a couple of years.
She manages to continue to play the game she is passionate about on an over 40 team. Last summer her team lost in the finals of the Veteran's Cup, which is a National Championship, to a team from San Francisco. In 2001 she was inducted into the VA/DC Soccer Hall of Fame.
Pam has tried other sports, but seems to end up back on the soccer field. "I have been involved in soccer for most of my life and have enjoyed the incredible growth," said Cornell. "I think it would be great if more players with college playing experience would come out of college and immediately get involved with coaching our youth. Their playing experience and their passion for the game could be passed on to the next generation of soccer players."
