CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 8 Cornell men's lacrosse team scored five goals in the final 2:32 of the game but couldn't find the equalizer as its comeback came up just short in a 15-14 loss to No. 7 Virginia this afternoon at U-Hall Turf Field in Charlottesville, Va. The Big Red played some inspired lacrosse over the final moments of the contest, despite trailing by six goals with less than three minutes to play, but the Cavaliers managed to win the final face-off of the game, just its ninth win of the afternoon and leg out the final 34 seconds to earn the victory.
 
After allowing five goals in the first quarter, Virginia goalie Matt Barrett settled down and made 21 saves, including 14 during the middle two quarters as the Cavaliers used a 6-1 run to take control of the contest.
 
Cornell (3-2) was led by Matt Donovan with five goals and two assists for a career-high seven points, while Dan Lintner registered his first hat trick of the season. ­Bradlee Lord (two goals), John Edmonds (one goal, one assist) and Connor Buczek (one goal, one assist) also posted mulit-point games for the Big Red.
 
Domenic Massimilian was outstanding in the face-off circle, winning a career-high 23 restarts and picking up a career-high 12 ground balls. He won 10-of-13 face offs in the final quarter, including a streak of three straight as the Big red went on its late run. One the wing, Chris Cook picked up a career-high nine ground balls, while Marshall Peters had four ground balls and scored his first goal of the season.
 
In goal, Christian Knight made 10 saves, including four in the final quarter.
 
Virginia (4-1) was led by James Pannell's seven points (six goals, one assist), while Zed Williams hand a game-high four assists to go along with one goal. Both Greg Coholan and Ryan Lukacovic finished the game with two goals and one assist.
 
The Big Red held the edge in shots (58-34) and ground balls (43-32). Cornell also posted more turnovers than the home team (13-8).
 
Both teams manage to score just one man-up goal, with Cornell going 1-of-5 and Virginia going 1-of-4.
 
The game started as an offensive clinic with the teams combining for 11 goals over the first 15 minutes. After an initial save by Barrett on Cornell's first possession, Linter came up with a hard fought ground ball and Buczek eventually scored on a blistering shot, despite having a defender draped over him to make it a 1-0 game just 1:24 into the game.
 
Knight made a fantastic save on the first shot he saw, but couldn't control the rebound and Williams batted the ball into the net to knot the game at 1-1.
 
The teams traded turnovers, but the UVa miscue proved critical as Donovan picked up the ball near midfield, streaked to the goal and scored to put the Big Red up, 2-1. UVa's Ryan Tucker then tied the game once again at 2-2 with a great back door cut that left him wide open on the left alley.
 
Lord and Pannell traded goals just 10 seconds apart to make it 3-3 contest before a goal by Lintner put Cornell back up by one goal (4-3) with 4:27 showing on the clock.
 
From there, the Cavaliers used a 6-1 scoring run, with the Big Red's lone goal coming from Lintner, to take a four-goal lead (9-5) early in the third quarter.  Lukacovic started the run when he tied the game, and just over one minute later consecutive goals by Coholan and Pannell put the Cavaliers up, 6-4 at the 1:52 mark.
 
Lintner's goal sent the teams into the first break at 6-5, and the Big Red held possession for long stretches of the second quarter, and had two man-up chances, but couldn't find the solution for Barrett. The Cavaliers got a goal early in the stanza by Coholan, and late in the quarter when Pannell scored on a broken play to send the home team into the intermission with an 8-5 lead. Pannell then extended the Cavaliers lead to 9-5 early in the third quarter.
 
Donovan ended the 6-1 Virginia run when he picked up a rebound off a Barrett save and buried it at the 10:39 mark to end a Cornell scoring drought of 23:48.
 
The Big Red had another man-up chance stalled by Barrett, who made a big save and saw the rebound go all the way to midfield, where it was picked up by Owen Van Arsdale, who found Will McNamara all alone for a man-down tally to make it 10-6.
 
Edmonds responded less than a minute later with a goal off a nice feed from Buczek to make it a 10-7 game with less than five minutes to play, and that's how the team's entered the final break.
 
The Big Red opened the fourth quarter with a bang, as Cook picked up a loose ball deep in the defensive zone and took it into the offensive box, where he dished to Donovan, who blasted it into the upper right hand corner to make it a 10-8 game with just over 13 minutes to play.
 
Virginia responded with four consecutive goals, including three by Pannell, to give the home team its largest lead of the game, 14-8, with just over seven minutes to go in the contest.
 
Knight came up with a big stop late in the quarter and Peters took the ball coast-to-coast to score his first of the season and end the Cavaliers run, but with the Big Red defense pressing to force a turnover, AJ Fish managed to slip his defender and score his first of the season to put UVa back up by six with 2:54 to play.
 
That's when Cornell made its final push, as Massimilian won the restart and Lord scored on a nearly impossible angle off a pass from Donovan. Moments later, Donovan tallied back-to-back goals to make it a 15-12 game with 1:48 to play. Massimilian won the face-off and a Cavalier penalty led to a man-up goal from Lintner with 1:04 on the clock. Another face-off win by Massimilian gave Cornell one last possession and Hogan converted off a pass from Edmonds to make it 15-14 with 34 ticks remaining.
 
On the last face-off of the game, Jason Murphy managed to tie up the ball and the Cavaliers eventually came up with the ground ball.  A well-timed time out by Virginia coach Dom Starsia saved possession for the home team and Tucker legged out the final 14 seconds to seal the victory for UVa.
 
The Big Red remains on the road for its sixth straight contest when it takes on No. 6 Yale at Reese Stadium on Saturday, March 14 at 12:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on FOX College Sports.