Cornell Ends Big-Game Woes, Tops No. 1 Tigers
by Brian Delaney | Special to Lacrosse Magazine Online
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| Max Seibald scored two goals, including the dagger to culminate a 6-minute, 33-second long possession late in the fourth quarter Saturday, as No. 4 Cornell defeated No. 1 Princeton, 10-7. |
ITHACA, N.Y. - With an air of patient finality, Max Seibald cocked his stick over his right shoulder and, for the second time in 11 tries, found his target with a devastatingly hard shot.
For fourth-ranked Cornell, the timing couldn't have been better.
Seibald's goal concluded a circus-like 6-minute, 33-second possession to open the fourth quarter, and the resulting momentum stifled top-ranked Princeton the rest of the way in the Big Red's pivotal 10-7 Ivy League men's lacrosse victory Saturday at sunny Schoellkopf Field.
For Princeton, that seemingly endless sequence epitomized a nightmare day in the time-of-possession category. Cornell won 14 of 19 faceoffs, committed just five turnovers in the second half and allowed the Tigers to possess the ball for just 65 seconds in the fourth quarter in capturing at least a share of its seventh straight league championship.
Cornell (9-2, 5-0 Ivy) can wrap up the title outright with a win at No. 13 Brown on April 25. Princeton (10-2, 3-1) has league games left against Dartmouth and Brown.
"You can't win a lacrosse game and not have the ball," said Princeton coach Bill Tierney, whose team was playing its first game with a No. 1 ranking since 2001. "And that's ultimately what it comes down to. I thought they did a fabulous job of defending us. The goalies played OK, but they had the ball more and they did a great job with it -- much better than we did."
Cornell opened up a 3-0 lead, staved off multiple Princeton mini-rallies and never trailed in avenging an 11-7 loss to the Tigers a year ago. That lopsided loss, coupled with a 15-8 shellacking at the hands of Ohio State at Schoellkopf in the first round of the NCAA tournament, ignited an offseason of Big Red soul-searching.
After losing its first two games this year to top-five teams, and getting blown out in its four biggest games in 2008, Cornell's players and coaches felt a piano-like weight lift off their backs Saturday.
"I'm as relieved as I am excited," Cornell coach Jeff Tambroni said. "It's nice to know we can win a big game during the course of the regular season. We just haven't felt like we've done that."
Fifth-year senior John Glynn dominated the faceoff X, winning 13 of 18 draws -- many of them cleanly -- to up his season percentage to 63. He picked up 11 ground balls and was instrumental in minimizing the importance of Princeton's wing play.
"Once you get into that rhythm, you try and switch it up because you don't want them to know where you're going to go," Glynn said.
Cornell received several important plays from role players. Sophomore lefthander Jon Thomson scored a man-up goal at the start of the third quarter to give Cornell a 6-4 lead, and freshman shortstick defensive midfielder Roy Lang whipped home a lefthanded shot off a bulldodge for a 7-4 cushion.
After Princeton answered with a pair of goals, second line midfielder George Calvert sent a low shot past Tigers goalie Tyler Fiorito into the corner for an 8-6 lead with 6:14 left in the third.
Cornell senior goalie Jake Myers came up big in the final seconds of that quarter, when he stopped Rich Sgalardi's 10-yard shot with five seconds left before instinctively blocking Tommy Davis' clean follow-up attempt from the doorstep at the buzzer.
For Myers, that was pretty much his day. He spent most of the fourth quarter watching his offense wear down Princeton's defense.
"John did a great job on the faceoff X, and it was how smart we did in the fourth," he said. "No turnovers, and it was just awesome. Just a great game."
Mark Kovler led Princeton with three goals, but the Tigers' 12 ground balls were the fewest in the 22-year Bill Tierney era.
Ryan Hurley sealed the win with his third goal of the game and 37th of the season at the 5:42 mark of the fourth quarter, finishing a pretty set-up from freshman Rob Pannell on the man-advantage. Cornell scored two power play goals on six attempts, and conversely committed just two penalties.
But Seibald's goal, the 85th of his All-American career, was the killer.
He started the possession by winning the faceoff. A minute later, he drilled the left post. Shot after shot, sandwiched around patient ball movement, followed. Fiorito made two saves, but couldn't retain possession. A Pannell shot was deflected, but Seibald scooped up the ground ball and fired wide.
Second by second, the crowd's sense of the moment heightened.
Finally, with 8:27 on the clock, Seibald struck and the crowd of 8,026 exploded.
The 6-foot-1, 200-pound midfielder said he was inspired before the game by Joe Boulukos, a 2006 Cornell graduate and former first-team All-American midfielder. He passed along that message in a rare pre-game speech, then followed through.
"Joe said exactly what I said to the team," Seibald said. "This is it. This is the game you will remember for the rest of your life. It's the Ivy League championship on the line. You will never forget this."
