The #11/#12 Cornell men’s lacrosse team used all aspects of its high-powered offense including a five-goal run in the fourth quarter to move to 2-0 in the Ivy League with an 18-15 win over Yale on Schoellkopf Field Saturday afternoon. Ten players tallied at least one point and three recorded five or more. With the win, Cornell moved to 5-2 (2-0 Ivy), while the Bulldogs fell to 4-2 (1-1).
The Cornell offense was led by CJ Kirst who matched his season-high with eight points on four goals and four assists. Senior Michael Longfollowed with his third three-goal, four-assist game of the season. In his first career start, Ryan Goldstein tallied a career-high five goals. Willem Firth and AJ Nikolic rounded out multi-point scorers. Marc Psyllos won 14 faceoffs for the second-straight game and scooped a team-high nine groundballs. Brendan Staub led all players with three caused turnovers. Matthew Tully made a career-high 13 saves.
Yale’s Matt Brandau led the Bulldogs offense with five goals and two assists for seven points. Carson Kuhl followed with three goals and two assists for five points. Thomas Bragg posted a hat trick and an assist, and Max Krevsky rounded out multi-point scorers with two goals. Yale ran a two-man faceoff unit with Machado Rodriguez taking the most reps, and Nicholas Ramsey following with 12 tries. The duo combined for 21 wins on 35 attempts. Jared Paquette made 14 saves in the contest.
FIRST QUARTER
- The first quarter opened with back-and-forth play with neither team taking more than a one-goal lead.
- Cornell allowed just four goals on Yale’s 18 shots in the first 15 minutes, helping to close out a tie at four at the end of the first quarter.
SECOND QUARTER
- The Big Red sparked a three-goal run to start the second quarter, two of which came on the man-up.
- Yale responded with two goals in the final six minutes of the half to cut the Cornell lead to 7-6 entering halftime.
THIRD QUARTER
- The goals came pouring on for both teams in the third, started by a Yale goal just 41 seconds into the half.
- Cornell responded by retaking the lead and more on a 5-1 run across the next seven minutes.
- The Bulldogs battled through the final minutes with three goals to limit Cornell’s lead again to one at 12-11.
FOURTH QUARTER
- Cornell broke into a 5-0 run to open the fourth, building out a six-goal lead with 6:59 remaining.
- Yale managed a three-goal run from 6:32 through 1:26 remaining to cut Cornell’s advantage to three, but CJ Kirst and Michael Long created the insurance goal with six seconds remaining before the Bulldogs found the net one last time with one-second remaining.
BIG RED NOTABLES
- CJ Kirst now ranks fifth in Cornell history in goals with 144. He passed up Ryan Hurley ’10 with his second goal today.
- Kirst is also now tied with John Piatelli ’22 in career points at Cornell accounting for 196 to date.
- Ryan Goldstein is now the second freshman in Cornell history to post at least a hat trick in his first two collegiate appearances after Willem Firth did so earlier this season.
UP NEXT
Cornell hits the road next weekend to Philadelphia, Pa., when the team takes on Penn on Franklin Field. Faceoff is set for 1 p.m. and the game will be streamed live via ESPN+.
Kyle leads sports coverage and hosts the Concrete Jungle podcast. Have a lead or question? Send it to [email protected].