Division I Men :      March 9, 2002 [ The Game Story]
Cornell 16 Umbc 4 Scoring: Scoring: Andrew Collins Billy Fort Jp Schalk Justin Redd Ben Spoonhower Sean Greenhalgh Jd Nelson Scott Lee Brandon Hall Galen Beers Frank Sands Ian Rosenberger (4, 3) (2, 2) (1, 3) (2, 1) (2, 0) (2, 0) (0, 1) (0, 1) (0, 1) (1, 0) (1, 0) (1, 0) Josh Gerber Joey Kestermann Adam Shiley Scott Steele (1, 1) (1, 1) (1, 1) (1, 0) Saves: Saves: Justin Cynar Kyle Miller 7  (0.636) 1  (1.000) Tim Flanagan Kevin Cepelak 16  (0.615) 0  (0.000) Current Record :     (2-1) Current Record :     (1-2) Team Page For 2002 Team Page For 2002       The Game Story: ITHACA, N.Y. Sophomore Andrew Collins (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) recorded a career-best seven points on four goals and three assists while eight other teammates scored goals as the No. 14 Cornell men^Òs lacrosse team routed UMBC 16-4 in the 2002 home opener, which was played in front of 1,223 people Saturday at Schoellkopf Field. The victory improves Cornell to 2-1 on the season, while the Retrievers fall to 1-2. The contest was a much different story than last season^Òs 6-5 win for the Retrievers in Baltimore. Cornell jumped out to a 4-0 lead early, with freshman Sean Greenhalgh (St. Catherines, Ont.) leading the way with two goals. The rookie has a team-high nine goals three games into the season, but a minor concussion suffered late in the first quarter forced other players to supply the offense. The final goal of the first quarter was an extra-man goal by sophomore Ben Spoonhower (Webster, N.Y.), his first of two goals on the man-up. Cornell was 3-for-4 on the advantage, a clear improvement from an 0-for-7 performance last season against UMBC. Collins scored the team^Òs other extra-man goal. Ahead 6-2 at halftime, Cornell pulled away with a 4-2 advantage in the third quarter. After Collins opened with his extra-man score, UMBC^Òs Josh Gerber made it 7-3 with a score on a pass from Joey Kestermann. Cornell ran off the next three goals, beginning with an unassisted tally from senior Billy Fort (Bethesda, Md.). Fort, who scored twice in the game, has four goals against UMBC over the last two years. Spoonhower and Collins followed with scores before Kestermann ended the third quarter with a goal. The final 15 minutes were all Cornell, as five players combined for six goals and the Big Red defense pitched a shutout. Freshman Justin Redd (Towson, Md.) scored twice, while Collins, junior J.P. Schalk (Jamesville, N.Y.), senior Galen Beers (Darlington, Md.) and junior Frank Sands (West Babylon, N.Y.) scored once. The sizable lead allowed Cornell coach Jeff Tambroni to go deep into his bench, The Big Red played 30 people, including the debut of freshman goaltender Kyle Miller (Orangeville, Ont.). Following a strong seven-save performance from first-team preseason All-America selection Justin Cynar (Massapequa, N.Y.), Miller played the final few minutes and made his first collegiate save. Cornell dominated in all statistical categories. It won 15-of-23 faceoffs, outshot the Retrievers 46-21 and earned a 49-22 advantage in ground balls. Senior Josh Heller (Milton, Mass.) led the way with eight groundballs, while senior Addison Sollog (Lynbrook, N.Y.) and junior Ryan McClay (Mahopac, N.Y.) each had seven. Those three players were each preseason All-America selections. ^ÓTo me, groundballs is an effort stat,^Ô Tambroni said after the game. ^ÓWe asked the guys to invest themselves into this team. The commitment was there, but we asked them to give their heart and soul. Now we will try to stay on an even keel. We didn^Òt want to be too low after the Georgetown loss or the close win at Colgate. We don^Òt want to be too high after the win over UMBC.^Ô Cornell will stay home to face Canisius College Tuesday at Schoellkopf Field at 5 p.m. Cornell is 2-0 against Canisius, with the last win being a 23-2 rout in 1998.

The Cornell Big Red (2-1) crushed the UMBC Retreivers (1-2) 16-4 on Saturday at Schoellkopf Field (Cornell, NY) under dark and cloudy skies which more than hinted of rain. Fortunately the weather never got worse than a slight drizzle and the fans never had to break out the rain gear. Leading the way for Cornell offensively was attackman Andy Collins who notched 7 points (4g, 3a) and also recorded his first goal of the season which came off a pass across crease followed by a nice 3 or 4 fake finish to the goal.

As the game got started it was Cornell all the way right from the opening whistle. The game stats tell the same story with Cornell dominating in shots, clears, face-offs, and groundballs. Led by their stingy defense anchored around Pre-Season First Team All-American's Ryan McClay and Justin Cynar, UMBC never got the chances they needed to make this a game. With Cornell coming out of the gates with 4 quick goals in the first period it seemed as if it would take a miracle for UMBC to put something together. UMBC finally answered Cornell's initial first period onslaught with a goal coming at 2:05 into the second off a shot up top from midfielder Scott Steele. Would they make a game out of it? No. Cornell answered right back with a goal of their own from attackman Billy Fort on a feed from behind the cage. Another goal apeice for each team and we were sent into halftime after a rather slow second period. At this point it became clear that the score could be much, much worse for UMBC. Cornell had so many scoring chances that either barely missed the net or were stopped by the outstanding play of UMBC goalie Tim Flanagan. After the short break Cornell came out fast again in the second half just as they had done in the first with an EMO score 20 seconds into the third period digging the hole even deeper for UMBC. This would be the trend for the second half as UMBC was outscored 10-2. Most of Cornell's goals came off settled situations where they just moved the ball around to find the openings. In the fourth quarter it was apparent that UMBC had given up. Outscored 6-0 in the final 15 minutes of the game, they failed to generate any real chances of their own and the Cornell defense just ate up any attack they could put together.

After the clock expired, my general impressions of this game reveal that not only did Cornell play better on Saturday, they were the better team overall. They should be a real contender this season and should give some strong teams runs for their money. With Ivy League rival Princeton already falling to 0-2 this season things are looking bright for the Big Red.