The weather in Ithaca cooperated just in time for the start of Ivy League competition on Cornell’s turf.  In its first conference game of the season, yesterday afternoon at Schoellkopf Field, the women’s lacrosse team (2-2, 1-0 Ivy) defeated Columbia (2-1, 0-1 Ivy), 9-7, with the help of a six-goal outburst from sophomore attacker Jessi Steinberg.  

The 14th straight victory over Columbia added to Cornell’s winning history against one of its toughest Ivy foes.  While the final numbers of the mid-week Ivy opener seemed to indicate a close game, the Red was confident in its ability to pull out the win from the get-go.  Cornell silenced Columbia’s roar with a three-goal run in the second stanza to ensure that the Red came away with the victory.

Steinberg, single-handedly, tallied two thirds of the Red’s nine goal total. On just nine shots, the sophomore standout capitalized with six finishes, five of which were unassisted.

“Our focus attack-wise was just to play our game, exercise discipline, and stay spread out to run our plays,” Steinberg said. “I think we did a great job meeting our goals.  We were patient on the attacking end and we did a really nice job of waiting for the perfect opportunity.  Executing on these fronts created a lot of space in the middle, which makes for great one-on-one takes.” Double hat trick: Sophomore attacker Jessi Steinberg led the Red to a narrow victory, scoring six of the team's nine goals. - By: Jade Tabony

Leading the defense was senior tri-captain Tissy O’Connor with four draw controls and two caused turnovers.  Red goaltender senior Kristen Reese started the game in between the pipes and registered a save before sophomore Kyla Dambach came on in relief 19:34 into the game. Dambach notched six saves in 40:26 of play and stopped a potential game tying shot at the half.

Less than 10 minutes into the first period, Cornell boasted a 3-0 edge from two Steinberg goals and junior tri-captain Libby Johnson’s goal and assist.  Columbia rallied back to come within one at halftime.

Up 4-3 at the beginning of the second half, the Red held its advantage for 55 seconds until the Lions mustered up an opportunity to even the score.  Both teams experienced a 16-minute draught in which the scoreboard remained unchanged.  With 13:05 on the clock sophomore attack Olivia Knotts came to the Red’s rescue to end the dry spell, recording the team’s fifth tally of the day.  Steinberg continued the Red’s momentum with three more goals, while sophomore midfield Katie Kirk provided an additional cushion with a sensational diving goal with 3:14 remaining.

Junior defense Cara Grealy touched upon several Red strengths in its Ancient Eight victory.

“One theme of yesterday’s game was that our ride was very consistent,” Grealy said. “There were several times when we were able to slow [Columbia] down and force them into a double.  This style of play caused our opponents to scramble and prevented them from ever settling.  We had some back checks in the first half that really cut down on their chances to set up an attack.”

Columbia goalkeeper Karlee Blank had a strong performance in net, saving 12 shots.  Columbia freshman Kacie Johnson had a large role in the opposing attack with a pair of back-to-back goals and an assist.  Sophomores Taylor Gattinella and Sarah Avallone also contributed to the Lions offense with two scores apiece.

“We’re feeling pretty good about our first ivy win,” Steinberg said. “Our attack definitely made some great improvements and as always we were solid on defense.  For our next game we just have to further develop some of our new plays and really get familiar with them so we can use them in our game Saturday.”

Cornell is scheduled to resume play Saturday afternoon against No. 17 Loyola.  The Red will welcome the nationally ranked Greyhounds for a 3 p.m. face-off at Schoellkopf.

“We haven’t yet put together 60 full minutes … in which plays on attack and defense came together,” Johnson said. “Once we fix this, the possibilities for this program will be limitless.”