ITHACA, N.Y. – Sophomore quarterback Robert Somborn had a career day and senior wide receiver Lucas Shapiro went over 1,000 career receiving yards in  the Big Red's best offensive performance of the season, but Cornell came up short in a 38-27 decision to defending Ivy League champion Princeton this afternoon on Schoellkopf Field.
 
"There was a ton of growth shown by our football team today," said David Archer '05, The Roger J. Weiss '61 Head Coach of Football. "Obviously, it hurts so much to not come away with the win because these guys pour so much into it.  I thought we played with great emotion so it stings when you come up short, but hats off to Princeton. They made plays when they had to."
 
Somborn posted career highs in completions, attempts, yards and touchdown passes in going 23-of-40 for 315 yards with two touchdown passes, both to Shapiro, who finished the day with 12 catches for 165 yards. Junior running back Luke Hagy also had a productive day with 16 carries for 91 yards, three receptions for 45 yards, and a 17-yard touchdown pass, which he threw to Ben Rogers for the Big Red's first score of the contest.
 
"It's really easy to get into a groove with a receiver like Shap," said Somborn. "He's a big target. He's an older guy. He's a senior captain. He's somebody who knows what the defense is giving us and knows what he needs to do for the routes that he's running and he just finds a way to get open. Even if he's not open, he's one that will go up and get the ball, no matter where it's thrown and do whatever he can do to fight to get the catch."
 
Defensively, Miles Norris finished with eight tackles, five solo, including one for a loss and one pass breakup. Freshman Nick Gesualdi continued his impressive play with six tackles, one tackle for loss, one sack, one pass breakup and one interception, which he returned 18 yards. Rush Imhotep, Justin Harris and Jonathan Ford all posted five tackles, with Imhotep recovering a Big Red on-side kick, and Harris forcing a fumble that was recovered by Jackson Weber.
 
Princeton (4-3, 3-1 Ivy) was led by quarterback Connor Michelsen, who went 23-of-33 for 281 yards and four touchdowns with one interception. Reciever Connor Kelley was his favorite target with 13 catches for 147 yards and two touchdowns, while running back Will Powers carried the ball 14 times for 83 yards.
 
Both teams got off to a bit of a slow start and on Cornell's second possession an unlucky bounce gave the ball to Princeton, as James Few's pass was tipped and fell directly into the arms of Anthony Gaffney at the Cornell 37-yard line. The Big Red defense responded, however, and after a big pass breakup from Gesualdi, and an incomplete pass, Harris forced a Michelsen fumble and Weber jumped on the ball to give possession back to the home team.
 
Cornell wasn't able to capitalize and after being forced to punt, the Tigers made its first tip into the red zone, advancing all the way to the nine-yard line before a huge sack by Gesualdi for a loss of eight yards pushed Princeton back to the 19. Facing third-and-goal, Michelsen found Scott Carpenter on the two-yard line, but Imhotep stripped the ball away to force the incomplete pass, holding the Tigers to a 36-yard field goal from Nolan Bieck to make it a 3-0 game wand account for all the scoring in the first quarter.
 
Somborn came in on the next series and moved the ball past midfield when a sure interception went through Matthew Skowron's hands and fell to Matt Doneth, who rumbled 17 yards to the Princeton 45. Hagy took consecutive runs 31 yards and then threw a touchdown pass to Rogers on the first play of the second quarter to  put Cornell up, 7-3.
 
The Tigers wasted no time in responding with a seven play drive that went 82 yards and ended with a three-yard shovel pass from Michelsen to Dre Nelson, who went around the right side to make it a 10-7 game.
 
The teams traded possessions before Princeton punter Brendan Sofen pinned the Big Red on its two yard line and the Princeton defense forced a three-and-out, setting up good field position near midfield. A pass interference play put the visitors on Cornell's 35-yard line and a 10 yard rush by AJ Green, followed by a nine-yard reception by Kelley put the Tigers into the redzone. On the next play, Michelsen hit Carpenter for a 16-yard touchdown and a 17-7 lead with just under seven minutes to play in the half.
 
The ensuing kickoff went out of bounds, setting up the Big Red on the 35-yard line and Somborn executed an 11-play drive that resulted in a Big Red touchdown with a six-yard reception by Shapiro with just 1:09 showing on the clock. The highlight of the drive came in a third-and-19 situation when Shapiro hauled in 22-yard catch to keep the drive going. Somborn followed that up with back-to-back strikes to Chris Lenz and Shapiro with 13 and 12-yard catches, respectively, before consecutive runs by Hagy for a combined 25 yards set up the touchdown.
 
The teams headed into halftime with the Tigers leading 17-14, but Princeton wasted no time scoring out of the break, using Kedric Bostick to run for six yards before he threw back-to-back completions to James Frusciante and Trevor Osborne for a combined 38 yard to get to the Cornell 31. Michelsen then hit Frusciante with a 10-yard pass before Kelley hauled in a 21-yard TD reception. Bieck's point after was good to put the visitors up, 24-14.
 
After trading three-and-outs, Cornell put together a long drive, highlighted by Somborn's 41-yard toss to Rogers that put the home team into the red zone. Cornell advanced the ball all the way to the Princeton 3-yard line before the drive stalled, sending out the field goal unit. Princeton's Khamal Brown came off the line untouched and blocked Wells' attempt. The ball was recovered by Doneth, but the ball was turned over on downs.  
 
The Big Red's defense came up big once again as Gesualdi picked-off a Michelsen pass at midfield and returned it to the Princeton 32. The offense then saw an apparent 32-yard touchdown run by Hagy called back due to holding, before a sure touchdown pass was dropped in the end zone. The field goal unit headed back onto the field, but the 36-yard attempt sailed wide left to keep the score 24-14.
 
Princeton went to the air early in its next drive, with three straight completions taking the Tigers to their 43 yard line, before back-to-back runs by Powers went for a combined 29 yards. Michelsen then threw a 28-yard bomb to Kelley in the end zone, who came down with the ball despite having a Big Red defender draped over him.
 
Cornell managed to make it a 31-21 game with a long drive to open the fourth quarter. A 29 yard reception by Shapiro on third-and-nine kept the drive alive and gave the senior 1,000 receiving yards for his career. Shapiro then pulled in a 10-yard touchdown toss for his second score of the game with 10:01 to play and Joe Pierik added the extra point.
 
Both teams then went on nearly identical 11-play scoring drives, starting with the Tigers, who went 65 yards and ate up 5:22 of playing time before Bostic scored from two yards and Bieck added the PAT to make it 38-21.
 
Cornell went 78 yards over 11 plays in a hurry-up offense that managed to score with just under five minutes to play in the contest. Somborn completed passes to Hagy, Shapiro, Rogers, and Shaw before Hagy rushed six yards for the score.
 
The Big Red's Imhotep recovered the team's first on-side kick since the 2008 season when Tim Bax came up with the ball vs. Lehigh, giving the ball back to the offense to try for one last score. After picking up one first down on a fourth-and-five conversion, as Somborn hit Lenz for an 18-yard gain, the drive stalled. The Tigers took over on downs and managed to run out the clock of the 38-27 victory.
 
Cornell is back in action next weekend when it returns to Schoellkopf Field on Saturday, Nov. 8 to play host to Dartmouth at 12:30 p.m.