Box Score
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. -- The Cornell women's lacrosse team answered every Dartmouth run, but ran out of time in a 10-8 loss to the Big Green on Friday afternoon at Franklin Field in the first-ever Ivy League Lacrosse Tournament game. The Big Red were eliminated and fell to 5-9 with the loss.
The Big Green scored two goals just nine seconds apart more than midway through the second half to break an 8-8 tie, then took advantage of several Cornell turnovers late to advance to face the winner of Friday evening's contest between Penn and Princeton.
Dartmouth took the lead five times, only to see the Big Red knot the score each time. It took Kirsten Goldberg's tally with 12:48 to play to give the second-seeded Big Green the lead for good. Sarah Plumb won the ensuing draw and capitalized with a goal less than 10 seconds later to add some insurance.
For the second time, Cornell and Dartmouth played a relatively even game, but Dartmouth was able to capitalize on more mistakes. The Big Red turned the ball over 14 times to just 10 times for the Big Green, while turning it over on the clear three times, including twice in the second half that each resulted in Dartmouth goals. The Big Green also won the battle on the ground, 18-10.
Cornell earned a narrow 11-8 edge in draw controls to keep the contest close, as the Big Red showed tremendous balance on offense. Three players had a pair of goals, with Morgan Axenfeld scoring the first two goals of her collegiate career and adding an assist. Libby Johnson and Olivia Knotts each scored twice, while Jessi Steinberg had a pair of assists. Senior Tissy O'Connor won a game-high four draws and Kate Ivory had two draws while winning four ground balls. Kyla Dambach saved six shots on the evening, including five in the first half.
Goldberg, who netted the eventual game winner, had three goals and both Greta Meyer and Sarah Plumb notched two goals and an assist. Shannon MacKenzie had three caused turnovers and won three ground balls, while Colleen Olsen won three draws. In goal, Julie Wadland had six saves.
In an up-and-down first half, both goalies shined. Dambach saved four of the first five shots Dartmouth put on goal to help the Big Red race out to 2-1 and 3-2 leads. The Big Green stormed back to take a 4-3 lead, but Cornell tied the game going into halftime on a score by Shannon McHugh. A Wadland save on a free-position effort with less than 10 seconds to play sent the teams into the break tied at 4-4.
The second half saw Dartmouth climb out to a 7-5 edge on the back of three goals in the first 5:21, but Cornell again responded. Axenfeld scored her second goal of the game with 21:50 to get back within one, followed by a Katie Kirck goal a minute later to tie it. After Plumb again put Dartmouth into the lead, Libby Johnson scored the equalized with 18:14 left. That would be Cornell's last goal of the contest. Neither team was able to dent the scoreboard in the final 10 minutes after Goldberg and Plumb made it 10-8 and the Big Green were able to play keep away to advance to the title game.
