Complete Effort Fuels Cornell's Semifinal Upset
by Paul Krome | Lacrosse Magazine Online Staff | NCAA Semifinals Blog
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Cornell's end-to-end dominance of Virginia in the NCAA semifinals Saturday included the play of goalkeeper Jake Myers, who was ready when tested in an eight-save performance. Myers meets his former team, Syracuse, in the NCAA championship game Monday at 1 p.m. © Kevin P. Tucker |
FOXBORO, Mass. -- Cornell senior midfielder Tommy Schmicker didn't play Saturday in his team's 15-6 upset of top-seeded Virginia in a national semifinal, but he might have set in motion the sequence of events that led to this stunning outcome.
He grabbed some athletic tape, a marker and a broken down cardboard box: "I will give my all for Cornell today."
He designed the makeshift sign hung on a wall in Cornell's locker room inside Gillette Stadium to make the Big Red feel like they were at home, where they posted a 6-0 mark this season and where they touch a permanent sign bearing those words upon entry and exit from their real locker room at Schoellkopf Field.
It worked. The Big Red put together a complete effort to advance to their first NCAA championship game since 1988.
"The fact that they [Max Seibald and John Glynn] can draw two poles up top, that really helps us down low at the attack," said attackman Ryan Hurley, who benefitted to the tune of three goals. "Guys like Chris Finn and Dave Lau can dodge against a short stick, or we can run pick-and-rolls off them. They draw so much attention, it opens up a lot for everyone else to score."
And score they did. Cornell didn't need Seibald and Glynn (combined three points) when it had freshman Rob Pannell victimizing the Cavaliers' defense for three goals and three assists. He got the better of his matchup against Matt Kelly, who was emotional in the Virginia locker room later.
Pannell's poise has been well documented, and it was on display again for a paid crowd of 36,594.
"It's a pleasure sitting back and watching them play, especially when they're possessing the ball as much as they do," said Cornell defenseman Matt Moyer.
"We weren't really communicating that well. It was a poor showing on our end. Giving up that many goals is unacceptable," said Virginia defenseman Ryan Nizolek. "They (Pannell and Hurley) are talented players, and we didn't account for them as much off the ball. That's where a lot of their goals came from. It came down to execution. Today they did it better than we did."
The Big Red assisted on nine of their 15 goals (60 percent), slightly better than their season-long average of 56.8 percent. They repeatedly took time off the clock -- something they wanted to do coming in -- and found the open man for a high-percentage attempt.
High-percentage shots are not something Virginia found, thanks to a stingy Cornell defense that has limited its three NCAA tournament foes to date to an average of just six goals per game. Big Red coach Jeff Tambroni emphasized fundamentals and good team defense this week. He didn't lead on that there would be wholesale changes in philosophy compared to his team's 14-10 loss at Virginia in March, but Cavalier attackman Danny Glading noticed a difference.
"They did slide to us early today, and they played completely differently the first time we played them," said Glading, who had two goals, an assist and some struggles against Moyer. "They were quick to go today, real quick, and they recover fast to the next pass because they're so athletic."
Moyer, Max Feely, Michael Howe and goalie Jake Myers have heard their share of criticism by the press this season. They endured a mid-season stretch of allowing 38 goals in three games, but they improved to 10-0 when holding an opponent to single digits.
"We've been scrutinized for our play, rightfully so," said Moyer. "It's a tough system to learn. It takes about a year to learn. The underclassmen are picking it up, and you're starting to see that now."
Today the system placed long poles on Cavalier midfielders like Shamel Bratton, who managed just one goal against LSM Pierce Derkac. Attackman Steele Stanwick was met with a short stick -- a change from the first meeting -- and scored twice, but the Big Red never allowed Virginia to get into a rhythm.
"We were trying to rotate as much as we could and wanted to get the ball out of their big-gamers' sticks. That's tough against Virginia because all six of them are tough," said Moyer. "We knew we'd have to rotate once, get them to move the ball, and then rotate again. We did a pretty good job shoring up the inside, and Jake did a great job in the cage."
The Big Red will be underdogs again Monday against Syracuse, which put together an equally impressive effort in a 17-7 dismantling of Duke. But they'll have a shot if they keep thinking of Gillette Stadium as their home away from home.
