No. 8 Cornell Slips Past Canisius
from press release
BUFFAO, N.Y. - The No. 8 Cornell men's lacrosse team used
a five-goal run to end the second and start the third quarters as
it held on for a 9-6 victory over Canisius on a frigid day at the
Demske Sports Complex in Buffalo, N.Y. With the win, the Big
Red improves to 2-0 on the season.
Cornell was led by Ryan Hurley and Rob Pannell with four points
apiece, as Hurley scored three goals and one assist, while Pannell
tallied one goal and three assists. Chris Ritchie and Roy Lang also
had a pair of goals and Jon Thomson rounded out the scoring with a
single tally. Scott Austin added an assist and Chris Livadas
registered his first career point with an assist.
Canisius (0-2) was led by Adam Jones, who tallied three goals and
one assist, while Mike Benzinger, Matt Barkas and Jon Domres all
found the scoring column.
The game was riddled with sloppy play early in the first period,
with the two teams combining for seven turnovers in the first eight
minutes, a trend that continued for the majority of the game as
Cornell ended with 21 turnovers, 15 unforced, while the Griffs
finished with 18 turnovers, 11 of which were unforced.
Cornell held the edge in shots (30-26) and ground balls (31-24) and
won 12-of-18 face-offs, thanks mostly to Austin Boykin who won
7-of-9 restarts. Boykin also had six ground balls, while Pierce
Derkac, who played the wing on face offs, picked up seven.
In goal, AJ Fiore looked solid, stopping nine shots for his second
win of the season, while Sean Callahan made 12 saves in the losing
effort.
For the second game in a row, Chris Ritchie got the Big Red on the
board with the first goal of the game as he slipped past his
defender and bounce a shot past Callahan to make it a 1-0 game at
the 6:21 mark. Cornell's tenacious ride set up its second goal
exactly two minutes later, as Austin forced a turnover on a
Canisius clear attempt, picked up the loose ball and found Hurley
on the doorstep.
The Griffs got on the board early in the second quarter when Simon
Gioumetakis found Benzinger all alone just outside the crease and
Benzinger beat Fiore up high.
Back-to-back goals by Jones gave Canisius its first lead of the
game, 3-2, with 10:42 to play in the second quarter, marking the
first time the Big Red trailed in a game all season long.
Cornell tied the game just over one minute later when Pannell sent
a pass from behind the cage and Ritchie blasted a shot from 12
yards out for his second goal of the afternoon. The goal was the
first of five straight which put the Big Red up for good.
Another tenacious ride by the Big Red returned the lead to Cornell
as Max Feeley caused a turnover just as Dan Coates crossed midfield
and Thomson picked up the loose ball. Thomson sent a long pass
upfield to Pannell, who ripped a cross-crease pass to Hurley, who
scored from close range.
An outstanding individual effort by Lang, who split a pair of
defenders and beat Callahan, pushed the Big Red's lead to 5-3 with
6:26 remaining in the second quarter.
Hurley and Pannell teamed up for a pair of goals to start the third
quarter, with Hurley scoring a man-up goal off an assist from
Pannell, before Pannell scored off an assist from Hurley to make it
a 7-3 game at the 9:32 mark.
Canisius ended the Big Red's five-goal run when Barkas scored off
an assist from Jones, but that ended the scoring for the quarter
and Cornell took the 7-4 lead into the final stanza.
Thomson scored a man-up goal early in the fourth quarter when he
picked up a rebound off a Callahan save and buried it to make it an
8-4 contest.
Canisius answered with a nearly identical play just over one minute
later with a man-up goal by Domres, who scored off a rebound from a
Fiore save, before Jones scored on the doorstep to close the gap to
two goals, 8-6, with 9:54 to play.
A one-minute penalty on the Big Red gave the Griffs a man-up
opportunity with less than nine minutes to play, but solid defense,
and a hit post by Canisius ended the treat and a save by Fiore
after the man-up expired returned possession to Cornell with 6:15
showing on the clock.
Just under 30 seconds later, Lang ended the scoring for the day as
he pushed Cornell's lead back to three goals, 9-6, with his second
tally of the contest, as he used a perfectly placed shot to beat
Callahan down low.
Cornell opens the home portion of its schedule this weekend as it
welcomes Army to Schoellkopf Field on Saturday, March 6 at 3 p.m.
