from press release

ITHACA, N.Y. – The No. 3 Cornell University men’s lacrosse team erased a four-goal deficit to defeat No. 13 Harvard, 13-12, this afternoon on Schoellkopf Field. Despite not holding a lead for more than 44 minutes during the contest, the Big Red managed to take the 12-11 advantage early in the fourth quarter and Andrew MacDonald blocked a last second Crimson shot as Cornell hung on for the victory.

 

Max Seibald and Chris Finn both registered career highs with four goals apiece to lead the Big Red, while freshman Rob Pannell tallied five assists to break his own Cornell rookie record. Ryan Hurley chipped in three goals and John Glynn and Rocco Romero added one goal apiece.

 

In goal, Kyle Harer made just two saves and allowed 11 goals in just over 40 minutes of action before giving way to Jake Myers, who made four saves and allowed just one goal to earn the win.

 

Harvard (5-2, 1-1 Ivy) was led by Jeff Cohen’s four goals, while Jason Duboe added two goals and one assist. Terry White had a pair of tallies and Nick Sapia, Christian Oberbeck and Travis Burr scored once each.

 

The Crimson received a solid game from its goalie, Joe Pike, who made 14 saves in the loss.

 

Cornell (7-1, 3-0 Ivy) held the edge in shots (50-37), shots on goal (27-18) and ground balls (38-26). The Big Red also won 15-of-27 face-offs, including a stretch of 5-for-5 in the crucial second quarter as Cornell began its come back. Glynn, who was questionable before the game due to an arm injury, won 12-of-21 restarts and picked up a game- and career-high 10 ground balls.

 

Despite wet and windy conditions, Cornell managed to clear the ball safely 14-of-16 times, while holding Harvard to a 14-of-19 performance.

 

Both teams registered a man-up goal, with the Crimson converting 2-of-3 chances and Cornell going 1-for-3.

 

After trading goals to start the game, with both Big Red tallies coming from Seibald, Harvard used four unanswered goals to go up 6-2 with just under one minute to play in the first quarter.

 

A huge save by Pike in the waning moments gave possession to Harvard with 10 seconds to go in the opening stanza, but Pannell caused a turnover by deflecting Pike’s outlet pass. Finn picked up the ground ball and buried it in the back of the net to make it a 6-3 game with just seven seconds remaining.

 

Glynn made it a two-goal game in the opening moments of the second period as he beat his man and scored from close range, but a goal by Duboe at the 12:04 mark restored the visitor’s lead to three goals.  

 

Cornell made it a two-goal game once again as Pannell sent a brilliant pass through traffic to the front of the crease and Finn converted, before a Hurley goal made it a 7-6 game with 4:47 to go before the half.  Hurley’s goal was the result of being in the right place at the right time when a shot by Glynn was saved, and he snatched the high rebound out of the air, faked high and beat Pike low.

 

Neither team managed to score for the remainder of the half, and the Crimson took the one-goal lead into the intermission.

 

A Cornell penalty in the final seconds of the second quarter resulted in a one-minute man-up opportunity for Harvard to start the third quarter, but a huge save by Harer allowed the Big Red to kill the penalty.   

 

Just two minutes later, Seibald knotted the game at 7-7 when he bulldozed over his defender and ripped a shot past Pike, but a goal by White and a man-up tally by Cohen gave the two-goal advantage back to the Crimson.

 

Once again Seibald answered for Cornell, this time fighting through three defenders and getting a shot off, despite having a Harvard player hanging on his arm, to make it a 9-8 game at the 8:39 mark.

   

Cohen responded when his shot was saved by Harer, but had just enough steam on it to trickle over the goal line, and the Big Red came right back with a rebound goal of its own as Finn picked up a ground ball off a save and beat Pike low to make it a 10-9 game.

 

A 15-yard rocket by Duboe was answered by a bomb from Romero, off an assist from Pannell, to bring Cornell back within one, 11-10, with 4:53 to play in the third quarter.

 

A goal by Hurley tied the game at 11-11 with 32 seconds left in the third quarter as Pannell sent a pass from behind the cage to Hurley on the right side and the junior attackman buried it from five yards out.

   

A long possession by Harvard early in the fourth quarter was halted by a save from Myers and a spectacular cross-crease pass from Pannell to Hurley, who scored on the doorstep, gave Cornell the 12-11 lead with 11:12 to play in the game.

 

A workmanlike effort on the ride gave Cornell a much-needed insurance goal as a restart by Harvard in its defensive end was undone when Finn checked Pike and knocked the ball loose. Finn picked up the ground ball and scored what would prove to be the game-winner on the empty net.  

 

The Crimson earned its final goal of the game when Burr scored off a pass from Duboe to make it a one-goal Cornell lead with 4:35 to play, but the Big Red defense stepped up in the final minutes to secure the victory.

 

Harvard won the en suing face-off, but a hustle play by Matt Moyer, who backed up an errant Crimson shot, gave possession to the Big Red. Unfortunately, Cornell turned the ball over, but a huge save by Myers with 3:10 to play returned the possession to the Big Red.

 

After a stall-warning was issued to Cornell a turnover by the home team gave Harvard the ball with just over one-minute to play and the Crimson called a time out to set up its play. Following the restart, a well-time trail-check by Peirce Derkac on Duboe put the ball on the ground and after a 10-second scrum, Harvard came up with the ball and called a second time out.  

 

After working the ball around in the offensive end, a shot by Cohen was blocked by MacDonald, who then picked up the ground ball and sent a pass up field, allowing the Big Red to run out the final 30 seconds of the contest.

 

The Big Red is back in action on Tuesday as it travels to Syracuse to take on the No. 2/2 Orange at the Carrier Dome on April 7 at 7 p.m.