After a deflating loss to Yale, No. 10 Cornell desperately needed to bounce back to save its hopes of making the NCAA Tournament and hosting the Ivy League tournament. The Red (6-3, 3-1 Ivy) did just that with a dominating 16-8 win over No. 15 University of Pennsylvania (5-5, 2-2 Ivy) on Saturday, April 4.
Sophomore defender Michael Marshall has taken over the third spot on defense, filling the place that junior defender Ike Lohnes had early in the season.
The game also saw the return of freshman attackman Rowyn Nurry and senior faceoff Jack Cascadden to the lineup, two big pieces who had been missing for the past few games. Nurry scored two goals and Cascadden won 68% of his faceoffs, contributing to a Cornell team that looked completely different from a week ago.
The returners’ impact was felt immediately, with Cascadden winning the opening faceoff and dishing an assist to junior attackman Willem Firth. Penn scored next, but Nurry answered on a crease feed from senior midfielder Brian Luzzi.
Penn scored late in the first quarter, tying it up at 2-2, and took its only lead of the game to open the high scoring second. Firth answered with two goals in six seconds, the second again assisted by Cascadden coming right off of a faceoff.
Penn scored before Luzzi found a goal alone on the crease on the man-up. There were five goals in the last four minutes of the half, four of them coming from Cornell to take a 9-5 halftime lead.
Cornell was completely dominant in the second half, starting with junior midfielder Ryan Waldman scoring a behind-the-back goal. Cornell added three more in the third quarter while junior goalkeeper Matt Tully saved all four Penn shots, pushing the lead to 13-5.
With the game already decided, both teams put up three goals in the fourth, for a 16-8 final score.
Firth and Luzzi led the way for the Red, posting five points each. Goldstein had four points and Waldman had a hat trick from the midfield.
Nurry looked good in his return, both with his two goals and the way he affected play beyond the scoresheet. His size and dodging ability opened up more chances for the rest of the offense, a contrast from the smaller, ball moving senior attackman Matt Perfetto who filled in during his injury.
Cornell dominated on faceoffs, with Cascadden winning 15 of 22 and sophomore faceoff Michael Melkonian winning two of five for 63% total.
Cornell was also solid on defense, holding Penn to eight goals. The short-stick defensive midfielders came to play, with junior Luke Gilmartin picking up five ground balls and junior TJ Lamb causing three turnovers. Tully saved 11 of 19 shots for 58% on the day.
Cornell now has two Ivy League games remaining against Dartmouth (4-6, 0-3 Ivy) and Harvard (9-1, 3-0 Ivy). The Red will host the Ivy League tournament if they win both.
Cornell will now turn its attention away from league play as they prepare to face No. 12/11 Duke (8-2, 0-2 ACC) and High Point (5-5, 4-0 A-10) in the final non-conference battles of the season.
Cornell and Duke will face off at Long Island University’s Bethpage Federal Credit Union Stadium at 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 11.
