Pannell, Lau Key Decisive Cornell Run
from press release
NEW HAVEN, Conn. – No. 12 Cornell men's
lacrosse team scored four unanswered tallies late in the second
quarter to take a 6-3 lead into the intermission, and then held on
to earn the 10-8 victory over No. 16 Yale this afternoon at Reese
Stadium in New Haven, Conn. With the win, the Big Red improves to
4-2 on the year (1-0 Ivy) and extends its winning streak against
the Bulldogs to 12 games. Yale, meanwhile, dropped its first
contest of the year to fall to 4-1 overall (0-1 Ivy).
Rob Pannell and David Lau were instrumental in the decisive run,
combining to have a hand in all four goals as each attackman
registered one goal and one assist. Pannell finished the day with
two goals and two assists, while Lau tallied one goal and had two
helpers.
The Big Red was led by Steve Mock, who matched a career-high with
four goals, and Chris Langton was the team's only other multi-point
scorer with one goal and one assist.
Thomas Keith and Jack Dudley rounded out the scoring for Cornell,
while Roy Lang finished with one assist.
The Big Red got solid play from a pair of goalies, with AJ Fiore
making eight saves and allowing five goals in 45 minutes of action,
while Andrew West stopped six shots and allowed three goals while
playing in the third quarter.
Yale's offense was led by some unlikely sources, as its potent
scoring duo of Brian Douglass and Matt Gibson were held to just one
combined assist by the tough defensive play of Max Feely and Jason
Noble. As a unit, the Big Red registered seven caused turnovers and
Keith had an exceptionally strong game, not only scoring but
picking up a team-high four ground balls.
Greg Mahoney and Brandon Mangan finished with three and two goals,
respectively, for the home team, while Matt Miller tallied one goal
and one assist. In goal, Jonathan Falcone made 10 saves and allowed
10 goals in the loss.
Yale held the edge in shots (37-33), groundballs (30-25) and
face-offs (14-of-21), but turned the ball over three times more
than Cornell (19-16). The Big Red was also perfect on clears
(27-of-27), while Yale had one failed attempts (20-of-21).
Both teams scored an extra-man goal, with Cornell converting on
just 1-of-4 chances and the Bulldogs scoring on 1-of-2
opportunities.
The game started as a tight defensive battle, as Fiore made three
great saves in the opening minutes, allowing the Big Red to take a
1-0 lead at the 10:22 mark when Pannell found Keith in transition
and the long pole defensive midfielder tallied his first career
goal from close range.
Back-to-back goals by Mahoney, including a man-up tally, gave the
home team its first lead of the game, 2-1, in the opening moments
of the second quarter. Moments later, Langton evened the game at
2-2 when he dodged past his defender and beat Falcone down low.
Mangan restored the one-goal lead to the Bulldogs with a perfectly
placed shot to lower left-hand corner of the goal with just over 11
minutes to play in the second period.
It took nearly five minutes before Pannell got the equalizer for
the Big Red, on a beautiful wrap-around goal that opened up the
decisive scoring run. Mock scored from Lau, before Lau registered a
man-up goal off a pass from Langton. A goal from Dudley, off a pass
from Pannell, sent the visitors into the locker room with the 6-3
lead.
The teams traded goals throughout the third quarter; with Mock
accounting for two of Cornell's three tallies, and the Big Red took
the 9-6 lead into the final intermission.
Mock continued his stellar play with a transition goal scored on
the crease with just over 14 minutes to play to give Cornell its
largest lead of the game, 10-6.
Some momentum swung towards the home team as back-to-back goals by
Mangan and Colin Still cut the Big Red lead to 10-8 with just under
six minutes to play, but after winning the ensuing face off, a
great hustle play by Fiore to back up an errant shot by Matt Gibson
ended the threat.
The teams traded possessions the rest of the way with saves and
multiple turnovers by both teams dominating the play as the Big Red
escaped with the 10-8 victory.
Cornell remains on the road, as it travels to Stony Brook, N.Y.,
to take on the No. 5 Seawolves at LaValle Stadium on Tuesday, March
22 at 7 p.m.
