Men’s lacrosse netted 20 or more goals in both games of the Ivy League Tournament, propelling Cornell to a title victory and first seed in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Tournament.
In its first game of the national tournament, the Red found itself in a different spot: on the wrong end of a 1-0 score.
Following a slow start, Cornell (14-1, 6-0 Ivy) turned up the heat, taking a 15-6 victory against University at Albany (10-8, 4-2 America East) to advance to the NCAA quarterfinals. A characteristically impressive performance from senior attackman CJ Kirst, as well as critical defensive contributions from senior goalkeeper Wyatt Knust and junior faceoff Jack Cascadden, propelled the Red to its first tournament victory since 2022.
“Albany played a great game and made things challenging for us,” said head coach Connor Buczek ’15 MBA ’17. “Our guys got their footing under them, got past the first tournament game jitters, and our defense did a great job keeping us in it.”
After five minutes without goals by either team, Cornell received a controversial offside call. The Great Danes used the turnover to sneak one past Knust, putting the Red in an unusual first-quarter deficit.
Sophomore attackman Ryan Goldstein seemed to net an answer, but he fell into the goal mouth after the shot, and the goal was called back. Senior attackman Michael Long picked up the rebound of a shot from senior attackman CJ Kirst and tied the game.
Kirst and Long then rattled off two in quick succession to put the Red ahead 3-1 after the first quarter of play.
“Sometimes frustration sets in if we’re not finishing our opportunities,” Buczek said. “That’s the resilience of this group. You saw it last weekend against Princeton. You saw it today. They stayed the course.”
Albany found the first goal of the second quarter, and Kirst answered with his 100th point of the season. The Great Danes wouldn’t allow the Red out of their sight and notched a response not long after, keeping the score close at 4-3.
Kirst capped off his first half hat trick to bring the teams into the break with Cornell in a 5-3 lead.
The Red wasted no time opening the second half, with Kirst finding success less than a minute in. The Cornell defense killed Albany’s first, and only, man-up chance before junior midfielder Brian Luzzi scored.
Next on the board was senior midfielder Hugh Kelleher with his first goal of the game. Kirst then rattled off his fifth to put Cornell up by six before Albany broke the five goal run.
The fourth quarter began with a score of 9-4, and the Red quickly hit double digits on a goal from sophomore midfielder Willem Firth, assisted by Goldstein. Then it was Kirst again, followed by Kelleher on a flashy lefty jump shot that rocketed into the Albany net.
Albany was again able to cut into the Cornell scoring run but was quickly answered by Kelleher completing his hat trick, assisted by Long. Senior midfielder Ryan Sheehan scored next, followed by Albany and Firth trading blows.
With this, the Red pulled its starters and settled into the final minutes of the game with a comfortable 15-6 lead, which would stay until final time.
“It doesn’t have to be perfect, but it’s got to be tough. It’s got to be disciplined,” Buczek said. “More games than not we play a pretty version [of lacrosse], but not today, and that’s okay. Whatever gets it done.”
Kirst led the way for the Red with six goals. Long also posted six points on two goals and four assists. Kelleher posted four points on three goals in the game following him being drafted by the New York Atlas in the fourth round of the PLL draft.
“I had to wait a little bit,” said Kelleher with a laugh. “It was a really special moment.”
Senior defenseman Jayson Singer has been assigned opponents’ top attackmen all year and starred again, causing three turnovers and picking up two ground balls. Senior short stick defensive midfielder Christopher Davis also had a caused turnover on a big hit and four ground balls to continue his tremendous season after a career riddled with injuries.
“The fact that he is executing at the level that he is, it’s literally unreal,” Buczek said. “He is a superstar.”
In a season where the Red have struggled with depth at SSDM, missing players like Michael Bozzi and Charlie Box with injury, Davis’ success is monumental.
“We hope [players return] shortly, but time will tell,” Buczek said.
Knust allowed just six goals in the contest, his third time this season allowing six or fewer. He finished with 12 saves on 18 shots on goal, good for a 67 percent save percentage.
Cascadden had another solid game, taking 13 of 20 draws for a 65 percent faceoff win percentage. This now makes 11 straight games for Cascadden with a win percentage above 50.
“Going into every faceoff with a game to one mentality is something we preach in our program,” Cascadden said. “We’re gonna have some good opponents in the tournament, so gotta just keep that mindset and go back to the fundamentals.”
Cornell’s road to the NCAA championship continues with the quarterfinal on Saturday, May 17. The game, held in Hempstead, New York, will be a rematch with University of Richmond. Richmond took its own second-round victory against University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill on Saturday.
This will be the first game away from home for the Red in almost a month, but Cornell does have experience on Long Island, where they played Syracuse on April 12.
“The game doesn't change, the game travels,” Buczek said, “hopefully we can show up and be prepared for the setting.”
The Red last faced the Spiders on March 2nd, when Cornell narrowly escaped with a 12-11 win, its only victory of the season with a one-goal margin.
The NCAA Quarterfinal starting noon on Saturday will be broadcast through ESPN.
Alexis Rogers is the sports editor on the 143rd editorial board. She is in the Class of 2028 in the College of Arts & Sciences, and she can be reached at arogers@cornellsun.com.
