Box Score

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Junior goalkeeper Kristen Reese had all nine of her saves in the decisive second half, while both freshman Jessi Steinberg and sophomore Libby Johnson registered hat tricks as No. 20 Cornell topped Brown 12-9 on Saturday afternoon at Schoellkopf Field. The Big Red used a 5-1 run to open a tied game in the second half to improve to 7-4 (2-3 Ivy), while the Bears fell to 6-5 (2-2 Ivy).

Reese was phenomenal in the final 30 minutes with her nine saves, a caused turnover and a pair of ground balls. She has none made 22 saves and allowed just 12 goals in her last two contests. While Reese was spearheading the defensive charge, it was the young attackers who were hard to guard on offense. Steinberg scored the go-ahead goal with 26:23 left in the second half and then tallied again less than two minutes later to put the home team ahead for good. Johnson did most of her damage in the first half, scoring twice, including putting the Big Red on top for the first time nine minutes into the game when her score from Halsey Diakow made it 2-1.

Freshman Katie Kirk also had an outstanding all-around game for Cornell, registering two goals, an assist, three ground balls, three draw controls and a caused turnover. COrnell held a narrow 13-10 edge on the draw in large part because of six big wins by Tissy O'Connor. She also had  pair of caused turnvoers. Senior captain Jessica Wiegand chipped in two goals and two caused turnovers. Possibly the most exciting moment of the game came when senior defender Kelly Hansen netted her first career goal at the 6:55 mark of the first half, giving Cornell a two-goal cushion at 6-4. 

Both teams were able to capitalize on their free-position attempts, as Cornell was true on 4-of-8 attempts and Brown went one better with its 4-of-7 effort. 

The Bears got three goals from Lauren Vitkus. She added three caused turnovers and a pair of ground balls. Both Alexa Caldwell and Kelly Robinson chipped in two goals apiece. Kara Kelly had four ground balls, a draw control and a caused turnover on defense. In goal, Gianna Spinelli had five saves and allowed six goals in the first half, but Madeline Wasser relieved her at the break and made just one save while surrendering all six Big Red goals.

Cornell returns to action on Wednesday, April 15 at 7 p.m. when it travels to the Carrier Dome to face Syracuse.