No. 1 Men’s Lacrosse Sends No. 5 Penn State Home in NCAA Semifinal, Advances to Championship Game
"We knew every time we got in the huddle that we were playing our game, we were comfortable and our defense was doing a good job holding them down.”
"We knew every time we got in the huddle that we were playing our game, we were comfortable and our defense was doing a good job holding them down.”
In the 2024-25 season, the Red allowed the second fewest goals in the NCAA, tallied the fourth-most shutouts (10) and earned the fifth-best penalty kill percentage. A large reason for that was defender Rory Guilday.
Though Cornell was behind by one goal at the end of every quarter, ultimately, a last-minute lead and defensive lockdown gave the Red a 13-12 NCAA Quarterfinal victory.
“It doesn’t have to be perfect, but it’s got to be tough. It’s got to be disciplined. Whatever gets it done.”
The Red finished the season 12-22 (7-14 Ivy), ranked seventh in the conference. While it will lose seven seniors, the Red have plenty of young talent to rely on next year, including Quatrani, Hager and Carlson.
After improving on its overall and conference record in 2025, Cornell will look to take another leap forward in the 2026 season.
Senior attackman CJ Kirst will be continuing his lacrosse career with the Philadelphia Waterdogs, as decided by the draft show beginning at 7 p.m. tonight.
“My plan is to go out there, be confident and have a positive attitude in everything I do,” Wang said. “I want to outwork everyone.”
Their journey together started years prior, at Cornell. On Schoellkopf Field, Booth held a camera, trying to make small adjustments and capture the right angles while Hunt ran drills. She was brainstorming through ideas on how to piece together a highlight reel for an athlete feature for the Big Red Sports Network.“‘One day you will be a member of my team,’” Booth recalled Hunt saying.
“By maintaining stability throughout the course of those two days, we put ourselves in the best spot, both individually and as a team, to perform and compete,” Jackson Debusschere said.
“It’s all about the next one,” said head coach Connor Buczek. “Doesn’t matter if you’re up five or down five, the next goal makes the situation a heck of a lot better."
The Student Assembly voted to send Resolution 50 to President Kotlikoff’s desk, which would give freshman and sophomore student-athletes the ability to enroll in up to 8 credit hours one hour before their peers.
“We had to keep playing our game,” Kirst said. “We were going in there with the mentality that it was all about us."
“It’s not possible to manufacture desperation, but you can certainly manufacture desire. We have to make sure that we match and exceed that intensity that [Yale is] bringing here on Friday.”
As far-fetched as this situation may sound, all five of the teams fighting for the fourth seed have Ivy League winning percentages under .500, putting the Red within striking distance of tournament contention. Cornell was picked to finish third in the Ivy League preseason poll, and this weekend it still has the chance to finish in the top four.