ITHACA, N.Y. – The Big Red men's lacrosse team hung with No. 4 Yale for the first 30 minutes of action, but was unable to hand the Bulldogs their first loss of the season, falling 15-9 this afternoon at Schoellkopf Field. With the win, Yale improves to 6-0 and earns its first regular season victory over the Big Red since 1999, and its first at Schoellkopf Field since 1996.
 
Cornell, which had won 16 Ivy League openers in a row prior to today, slips to 3-3 overall and 0-1 in conference play.
 
Freshman attackman Colton Rupp and senior midfielder Ryan Matthews each registered a hat trick to lead the Big Red against a stout Bulldog defense, while John Edmonds, Jack Bolen, and Jordan Dowiak each scored once. Freshman Zach Ward had two assists, with Charlie Estill and Tony Britton adding one assist apiece.
 
In goal, Brennan Donville made nine saves.
 
Yale was led by Ben Reeves seven-point day (four goals, three assists), while Michael Keasey (four goals) and Jeff Cimbalista (three goals) each had a hat trick.
 
The Bulldogs had more shots (39-32), shots on goal (24-16) and ground balls (32-24). Cornell won the face-off battle (15-of-27), with Domenic Massimilian winning 12-of-24 restarts with seven ground balls. Junior Grant Mahler saw his first action of the season and won all three of his attempts.
 
Both teams had five failed clears, but Cornell had five more turnovers than the Bulldogs (19-14).  
 
TURNING POINT
With the game tied at 6-6 and time winding down in the second half, Yale goalie Phil Huffard sent the ball downfield and over the Cornell cage. The referees deemed it was a shot instead of a turnover and with 0.4 seconds on the clock Eric Scott took the ball on the endline and sent a pass to Cimbalista, who caught the ball and then shot it past Donville to send Yale into the locker room up, 7-6.
 
The Bulldogs went on to score the first two goals of the third to build a 9-6 lead at the 8:34 mark. The Big Red could not manage to get any closer than two goals the rest of the way.
 
QUOTABLE KERWICK
Congratulations to Yale. They played a really persistent, consistent game. That's what they do and it was impressive what they did in the second half. We had a long stretch were we didn't score there in the third quarter that I think was our undoing … I know they scored a few at the end on the empty net so the final score isn't really indicative of what the game was.
 
It was a hardfought game. I thought they earned it off the ground. That was a big determining factor in this one … They are very patient and they ended some long possessions with goals.
 
They're one of the better defensive groups in the country. I thought they're goalie made a few nice plays. Unfortunately we didn't capitalize on some of those good chances.
 
They threw the ball down to try and get the ball to their attackman. The officials said it was a shot. So they gave Yale the ball. Unfortunately, with .4 seconds on the end line I don't know how the play could have developed the way it did. There's not enough time … But it happens and that was just one goal. The game was not determined on that play. Certainly, you want to go into half feeling positive and we drove it home to our guys that we were battling and doing a lot of good things. But it's unfortunate.
 
This is only one game. You have to keep battling. There's no panic in that locker room. There's no panic from me. This team is really progressing and I'm excited about where we're going. Obviously, we're smarting a little bit right now. We wanted to win this one. We hate to lose on the 'Kopf and we hate to lose our first Ivy game but it's just one game. I'm focused on where we're going to go.
  
NOTES TO KNOW
• The victory is Yale's first on Schoellkopf Field since 1996
• The nine goals by Cornell are the most allowed by the Bulldogs so far this season.
• SSDM Jack Bolen has scored a transition goal in three straight contests.
• Domenic Massimilian has won double-digits face-offs in 13 straight games.
• Junior Grant Mahler saw his first action of the season and won 3-of-3 face-offs. For his career, he is now a perfect 8-of-8.
• John Edmonds has registered at least one point in nine consecutive games.
• In addition to Mahler, senior Sean Doyle and sophomore Matt Pinto also saw their first action of the season.