Frosh Pannell Leads Cornell in 18-6 Win

from press release

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. – - The Cornell University men’s lacrosse team scored the
first seven goals of the contest and never looked back as it defeated
Binghamton, 18-6, at the Bearcat Sports Complex this afternoon. With the
win, the Big Red improves to 1-0, while Binghamton falls to 0-1.

Freshman Rob Pannell was dominant in his collegiate debut, registering
three goals and four assists to lead Cornell, while junior Ryan Hurley
picked up where he left off last season, scoring three goals and adding
two assists. The senior trio of Max Seibald, Chris Finn and Kyle Doctor
all registered two goals apiece, with Seibald and Finn adding one assist
each for three points on the day. Senior John Glynn also had three points
with a goal and two assists.

In goal, senior Kyle Harer was solid in his first start for the Big Red,
making 10 saves and allowing just four goals in 51:51, before giving way
to sophomore Mat Martinez, who stopped five shots and allowed two goals in
the final 8:09.

Binghamton was led by Jake Boyce and Mike Sciarrino with one goal and one
assist apiece, while senior Larry Kline made 14 saves.

Cornell outshot the Bearcats, 40-26, and held the edge in ground balls,
37-25. The Big Red won 17-of-29 face-offs, thanks in large part to Glynn,
who went 9-for-11 on the afternoon. Both teams converted 1-of-2 extra-man
opportunities.

Pannell wasted little time making his mark in his collegiate debut as he
rolled around the back of the net and centered the ball to Doctor, who
scored from close range to make it 1-0 at the 13:04 mark.

Not to be undone by the rookie, the familiar connection of Glynn and
Seibald teamed up as Glynn carried the ball into the offensive box and
found Seibald 10 yards in front of the net. Seibald caught the pass, spun
and fired a low rocket past Kline’s feet to give the Big Red the 2-0 lead.

Just over two minutes later, the Cornell attack showed off its riding
ability as Hurley chased down Kline, who had carried the ball out of the
defensive end. Hurley forced Kline to send a wild pass back to the middle
of the field, where Pannell scooped it up and lofted the ball into the
open net.

Pannell had a hand in Cornell’s fourth goal as he caught a pass from Glynn
on the right side of the crease, spun and threaded a pass through the
Binghamton defenders to Hurley, who converted on the doorstep. Hurley then
fed Glynn for a 20-yard bomb to make it a 5-0 game with 18 seconds
remaining in the first quarter.

Hurley opened the scoring in the second quarter off a feed from Shane
O’Neill, before finding Pannell on the crease for the freshman’s second
goal of the game, putting Cornell up, 7-0, just four minutes into the
second stanza.

Neither team managed much offense for the rest of the quarter as Boyce’s
unassisted goal at the 3:34 mark got Binghamton on the board and sent the
teams into the intermission with a score of 7-1.

Hurley registered the first goal of the third period when he took a pass
from Seibald, wrapped around the goal, faked Kline and deposited the ball
in the back of the net.

Less than two minutes later, freshman Roy Lang scored his first collegiate
goal as he streaked down the middle of the field, fought off two defenders
and sent a perfectly placed shot into the lower left hand corner of the
goal to make it a 9-1 contest.

A rocket of a shot by Seibald, off a pass from Pannell, gave the Big Red
its only extra-man goal, before Pannell found Doctor on the right side of
the net for an easy goal to put the visitors up by double-digits, 11-1, at
the 7:54 mark.

Sciarrino ended the Cornell run with an unassisted goal with 5:06 to play
in the third period, but Cornell responded with three straight goals from
Pannell, O’Neill and Finn to make it a 14-2 game with just over 14 minutes
left in the contest.

The Bearcats got back-to-back goals for the first time in the game when
Steven Carlson and Andy Cook made it 14-4 at the 9:43 mark.

The teams traded goals the rest of the way until back-to-back goals by
Finn and Chris Ritchie gave Cornell the 18-6 lead with less than three
minutes to play.

The Big Red remains on the road next weekend as it travels to Army to take
on the Black Knights at Mitchie Stadium on Saturday, Feb. 28 at 5 p.m. The
game will be broadcast for a nationwide audience on ESPNU.