It was all Cornell all afternoon in Ithaca Saturday. The Big Red was able to grab a 4-1 lead after the first, and never looked back from there. At times it seemed they could score at will. Penn used three different goalies, and none could stem the tide. Cornell seemed to be on a mission, perhaps trying to make an emphatic statement about last year’s loss to Penn, the only Ivy League game Cornell dropped. The Big Red longsticks put on a clinic, constantly thwarting Penn’s offense by getting a piece of passes and snagging hanging sticks. Cornell’s dominating performance showed why they are still undefeated.
CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS RELEASE
No. 1 Men’s Lacrosse Remains Perfect, Trounces Penn 20-5
ITHACA, N.Y. - The Cornell men's lacrosse team opened a season at 7-0 for the first time since 1987 and avenged its lone Ivy League loss from last season as it rolled to a 20-5 victory this afternoon in front of more than 4,200 fans at Schoellkopf Field. The Big Red, who scored more than 20 goals for the first time since the 1998 season, improves to 2-0 in the conference, while the Quakers fall to 4-4 overall and 1-2 in the league.
The Cornell attack led the way for the Big Red as seniors Eric Pittard, David Mitchell and Henry Bartlett combined for 17 points. Pittard registered a game-high seven points with five assists and two goals, and Mitchell led all scorers with five goals and handed out one assist, while Bartlett tallied a career-high four goals. Rounding out the multi-goal scorers were sophomores Max Seibald, with three goals on just three shots, and Rocco Romero with two tallies.
The Quakers were led by Casey O'Rourke's two goals and Craig Andrzejewski's three assists.
In goal, senior Matt McMonagle was solid, saving .643 percent of the shots he faced as he made nine saves and allowed five goals, while Chris Casey gave up 16 goals and made only six saves in 46:27. Greg Klossner and Greg Murray closed out the game for Penn, combining for four saves and four goals in the final 13:33.
Cornell out shot the Quakers, 51-36, and held a 45-31 advantage in ground balls, but Penn held the edge in face offs, winning 16-of-28. The Big Red committed nine penalties on the day, but kept the Quakers 2-of-9 on extra man attempts, while scoring on 1-of-3 of their man up opportunities.
The game stayed tight for the first half, with Penn cracking the scoreboard at the 13:03 mark to take the early 1-0 lead. The Big Red scored the next five goals to close out the first quarter and open the second, but O'Rourke's goal with 10:27 remaining in the second stanza ended the scoring for the half, and the home team took a slight 5-2 advantage into the intermission.
The second half was all Cornell, however, as the Big Red out scored the Quakers 15-3 in the final 30 minutes, including seven unanswered goals to end the game as the team cruised to the 20-5 victory.
The Big Red is back in action next weekend as it plays host to Harvard at Schoellkopf Field on Saturday, April 7 at 1 p.m.
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA PRESS RELEASE
Men’s Lacrosse Downed by Cornell, 20-5
ITHACA, N.Y. - Penn scored the first goal in Saturday's game at No. 1 Cornell, giving a brief thought that maybe the Quakers would be able to get the upper hand and upset the Big Red for the third time in the last four years.
The thought was certainly brief.
Cornell evened the game less than three minutes later, then scored the next four goals and never looked back. When the game finally ended, the top-ranked team had rolled to a 20-5 victory over the Quakers.
The Big Red improved to 7-0 (2-0 Ivy League), while Penn fell to 4-4 overall and 1-2 in the Ivy League.
Alex Salihi scored Penn's first goal, off a feed from Craig Andrzejewski, less than two minutes into the game to give Penn the early advantage.
Cornell's Max Seibald finished an Eric Pittard feed with 10:41 left in the first quarter, setting the Big Red off. David Mitchell scored with 7:18 left in the first to give Cornell the lead they never relinquished, and 50 seconds later Henry Bartlett finished a Mitchell feed for a 3-1 lead. Seibald notched his second of the day to close out the first-quarter scoring, and then Pittard netted his first less than three minutes into the second quarter.
Penn's defense held firm after Pittard's goal, as the only scoring that occured in the last 12 minutes of the half came with 10:27 to play when Casey O'Rourke scored an unassisted goal for Penn. At the half, the score was a fairly innocent 5-2.
That all changed in the second stanza, as Cornell gave a staggering display of its offensive prowess.
Cornell scored three goals in a 49-second span before the third quarter was three minutes old, and after O'Rourke netted his second of the day the Big Red came back with two more in a 34-second span. That made the score 10-3 with nine minutes still to play in the third.
Tim Hlavin got a goal for Penn with 7:36 to play in the third, but Cornell responded with three more goals over the next four minutes.
David Cornbrooks scored his first of the day for Penn with 2:26 still left in the third, but that goal was matched by Cornell's Henry Bartlett before the horn. Then, in the fourth, Cornell unleashed six more goals in the first seven minutes to get to the final score with more than eight minutes left in the game.
In addition to O'Rourke's two goals, Penn was led offensively by Andrzejewski who had three assists.
For Cornell, Pittard finished the day with two goals and five assists, while Mitchell had five goals and an assist. Bartlett had four goals, while Seibald had three scores.
Cornell outshot Penn, 51-36, on the day, and three Penn goalies -- starter Chris Casey, Greg Murray, and Gregory Klossner -- combined for just 10 saves. At the other end, Cornell's Matt McMonagle had nine stops in getting the win.
Penn is now home for its next two games, taking on Dartmouth next Friday at 6 p.m. and then Princeton on Tuesday, April 10, at 7 p.m.
