Box Score
NEW YORK, N.Y. -- Freshman Shannon McHugh recorded a hat trick and four other Cornell players scored two goals apiece as the Big Red ruined Columbia's best start in school history with an 11-8 win over the Lions on Saturday afternoon at Robert Kraft Field in the Ivy League opener for both teams. Cornell improved to 5-0 (1-0 Ivy), while Columbia slipped to 5-1 (0-1 Ivy).
Junior goalkeeper Kristen Reese made eight saves, while McHugh led the way with her three tallies. Seniors Halsey Diakow and Jessica Wiegand, junior Kate Dewey and sophomore Libby Johnson each had two scores as well.
Cornell went into halftime with a 5-2 lead after closing the half on a 3-0 run and methodically built its edge to as many as five goals (9-4) after halftime to put away the Lions for the 13th time in as many meetings.Only an outstanding effort by Lions' goalkeeper Emma Mintz with 14 saves kept the score from being more lopsided, as the visitors nearly doubled up the home team in shots (36-19) and had advantages on the draw (11-10) and in ground balls (20-8). The defense bottled up Columbia's all-time leading scorer Holly Glynn, holding the senior scoreless over the first 52 minutes before surrendering two goals in the final eight minutes.
The Lions got on the scoreboard first when Taylor Gattinella found the back of the net 3:46 into the contest to give the Lions a 1-0 lead. Cornell equalized just over a minute later when Kate Dewey scored on a free-position shot to make it 1-1, but the two teams would go scorelesss for more than 12 minutes before Diakow put the visitors ahead for the first time at 2-1 at the 12:31 mark. The Lions tied it up less than two minutes later when Brittany Shannon found Lizzie Lee at the 11-minute mark to knot the game at 2-2. Cornell won the ensuing draw and went right back up just 22 seconds later when Johnson got on the scoreboard for the first time to make it 3-2. Her score would also a trigger a 3-0 run to end the half, as Wiegand got on the board with 3:16 left and Dewey took a feed from Steinberg with just 25 seconds remaining before half to send Cornell into the break up 5-2.
After the Lions netted the first score of the half to get back within two, the Big Red went on another 4-1 run to extend the lead to 9-4 with 22:44 left in regulation. McHugh tallied two times as Cornell scored three goals in 3:27 to sew up the game. Columbia got within a pair of goals when Glynn finally got on the board at the 7:21 and 4:46 marks to make it 10-8, but that was as close as the home team would get. Johnson answered with her second goal to put Columbia away and claim the three-goal victory.
Senior Deirdre Lafferty continued her fine season with three caused turnovers, three ground balls and a draw control win, while Tissy O'Connor also had three ground balls and two caused turnovers. Overall, Cornell caused 10 turnovers and scored on 5-of-8 free-position shots.
Cornell returns to action on Wednesday, March 18 at 3 p.m. when it meets No. 20 Loyola (Md.)
