CJ Kirst became Cornell’s all-time leading goal scorer and the Big Red men’s lacrosse team got its Ivy League season off to a great start with a 15-10 victory over No. 2 Princeton on Saturday afternoon at Schoellkopf Field. The Big Red improved to 5-1 (1-0 Ivy), while the Tigers slipped to 4-2 (0-1 Ivy).
Kirst scored five goals as part of a seven-point effort to eclipse Mike French’s nearly 50-year-old goals record of 191, ending the night with 193. His fourth goal of the contest with 4:12 left in the third was the record breaker.
Kirst was far from alone in the Big Red’s most complete effort of the season. Willem Firth had two goals and two assists and Michael Long(two goals, one assist), Hugh Kelleher (two goals, one assist), and Ryan Goldstein (one goal, two assists) each had three-point afternoons to pace a balanced offense. Matt Dooley caused three Princeton turnovers and Jack Cascadden won 13-of-23 faceoffs to give Cornell plenty of possessions, especially in the second half when the Big Red won 9-of-12. Wyatt Knust made a dozen saves for the Big Red in goal. Cornell held a 51-35 edge in shots and won the battle off the ground (29-24).
Princeton’s Coulter Mackesy, who trails only Kirst among the nation’s active leading scorers, had a pair of goals among four Tigers with multiple scorers. Nate Kabiri had a goal and two assists. In goal, Ryan Croddick had a game-high 14 saves.
The Tigers got on the board first, but Cornell never trailed again after it evened the game less than a minute later when Ryan Sheehan snuck one past Croddick on a feed from Ryan Waldman to make it 1-1. The Tigers evened the game at 2-2, but three straight for the Big Red, including a Willem Firth score with six seconds left before the end of the quarter, put the home team up 5-2.
The lead eventually grew to 7-2 on the strength of its 7-1 run only to see the Tigers run up four in a row to get back within a goal with three minutes to lay before halftime. This time it was Waldman who cashed it, sending the home team into the break up 8-6.
The teams traded goals in the third with Kirst’s record-breaking score the highlight entering the fourth. Cornell scored four in a row to build its lead to six (15-9) midway through the fourth and Princeton never challenged the rest of the way.
UP NEXT
• The Big Red hits the road for the first time in Ivy play when it visits Yale on Saturday, March 22 at 1 p.m. at Reese Stadium.
• The contest will be broadcast live on ESPN+.
• Cornell leads the all-time series 55-30-1, though the teams have split the past 16 meetings (8-8).
• The Big Red earned an 18-15 victory last season in Ithaca behind four goals and four assists from CJ Kirst.
Kyle leads sports coverage and hosts the Concrete Jungle podcast. Have a lead or question? Send it to [email protected].