Pannell Dishes Six in Cornell Win over Canisius
from press release
ITHACA, N.Y. – Cornell junior Rob Pannell
registered six assists and one goal to lead the No. 14 Big Red
men's lacrosse team to a 14-7 victory over Canisius this afternoon
at Schoellkopf Field. With the victory, Cornell improves to 3-1,
while the Golden Griffins remain winless at 0-4.
Pannell was one of 10 Big Red players to find the back of the net,
with 11 registering at least one point. Senior Jesse Gamble, who
has seen limited playing time due to injuries during his career,
tallied a career-high two goals, both of which came on extra-man
opportunities as he helped Cornell convert all four of its
chances.
Midfielders Jack Dudley, Roy Lang and Mitch McMichael also netted
two goals each, setting a new career-high for Dudley and matching
career highs for Lang and McMichael.
Attackmen Scott Austin and Cody Bremner and midfielders Chris
Langton, Mike O'Neil and JJ Gilbane rounded out the scoring with
one goal apiece. Matt Taylor chipped in one assist.
Canisius was led by Simon Gioumetakis with two goals and one
assist, while Nick LoCoco added two goals and Jimmy Haney had one
goal and one assist. Brendan O'Hagan and Travis Gibbons also scored
for the Griffs, while Greg Michael and Mike Albert chipped in
assists.
In goal, AJ Fiore earned the win after making three saves and
allowing four goals in 45 minutes before Andrew West came on in
relief and made two saves and allowed three goals in the final 15
minutes. Canisius starter Sean Callahan earned the loss after
allowing 10 goals and making six saves in 38:08. Kyle Bell finished
the game with four goals and four saves.
Cornell held the edge in shots (39-20) and ground balls (31-26).
Despite incredibly windy conditions, the Big Red cleared the ball
safely 16-of-19 times, while Canisius was successful on 14-of-23
tries.
Face-offs were an even 12-of-24, with McMichael posting a 7-of-14
performance and Doug Tesoriero winning 5-of-8 tries for the Big
Red. The Griffs' Justin Mederer won 8-of-17 while long-stick
defender Drew Caldiero was a perfect 2-of-2.
For the first time all season, an opponent got on the board first
as O'Hagan picked up a loose ball off a Fiore save and scored just
34 seconds into the contest.
The Big Red responded almost immediately as Pannell took the ball
from behind the cage, rolled up top and rifled a low shot home to
knot the game at 1-1. Less than a minute later, Dudley registered
an unassisted goal to give Cornell the advantage, but LoCoco got
the equalizer when a missed slide left him all alone on the
crease.
Cornell scored the next six goals to build a substantial 8-2 lead
at the 12:30 mark of the third quarter.
The run began with a goal by Lang that was initial saved, but had
been shot with such force that it rolled off Callahan and landed in
the goal. The ensuing stick-check found that LoCoco had an illegal
crosse and the Big Red earned a three-minute unreleasable
opportunity. McMichael rifled home back-to-back goals, the first
off a pass from Taylor and the next off a pass from Pannell, to
make it a 5-2 lead before the advantage expired. Goals by Dudley
and Gamble, both assisted by Pannell, and an unassisted tally by
Lang ended the run.
The teams traded goals before an unassisted score from O'Neil
pushed the Big Red's lead to seven, but a pretty cross-crease feed
from Michael to LoCoco made it a 10-4 game at the 4:38 mark.
Cornell responded with four unanswered goals to push its lead to
14-4 in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter but Canisius
closed the game with three straight tallies to account for the 14-7
final.
Cornell will participate in one of the premier lacrosse events of
the regular season this weekend, as it faces No. 2 Virginia at the
Konica Minolta Face-Off Classic at M&T Bank Stadium in
Baltimore, Md., on Saturday, March 12 at 1:30 p.m. The game will be
part of a tripleheader that will also feature a game between
Syracuse and Georgetown at 11 a.m., and a contest between Johns
Hopkins and UMBC at 4 p.m.
