PRINCETON, N.J. – In a game where goals were at a premium, Princeton's Ryan Ambler scored the Tigers' lone goal of the second half, snapping a scoreless drought of 30:07, to hand the home team a 7-6 win this afternoon at Sherrerd Field at the Class of 1952 Stadium. The goal ended Cornell's comeback bid and sent the Big Red to 6-7 overall (1-5 Ivy), its first losing season in 18 years.  
 
Despite the late goal, Ambler was not the hero for the Tigers, an honor that went to senior goalie Matt O'Connor who came in after halftime and made 11 saves while allowing just two goals to earn the win.
 
The goalie play was outstanding for both teams, with Brennan Donville posting 10 saves and allowing seven goals in his final game in a Cornell uniform.
 
The Big Red dominated possession, wining 11-of-17 face offs, and held edge in shots (40-29) and ground balls (33-28), but allowed Princeton to score three man-up goals, two of which came in 5-of-4 situations, and all of which came in the first quarter. The Tigers went on to score the first three goals of the second quarter before taking the 6-4 lead into halftime.
 
As it has done all season, Cornell's offense came from a myriad of players with the Big Red's six goals coming from six different players.
 
Ryan Matthews and Kason Tarbell scored early to stake the visitors a 2-0 lead, and Marshall Peters made it a 3-2 game after consecutive man-up goals by Princeton's Gavin McBride had tied the game at 2-2. McBride netted the hat trick with his third man-up goal of the game to sent the teams into the first break tied at 3-3.   
 
Princeton got its first lead of the game off a goal by Riley Thompson early in the second quarter, then killed off Cornell's first man-up chance before forcing a turnover and Thompson scored his second in a row to go up, 5-3. The Tigers then doubled-up the visitors (6-3) when Zach Currier picked up a loose bouncing ball in front of the net and banged it home with just over four minutes to play in the second quarter. That would be Princeton's final goal until the game-winner.
 
Cornell scored its lone man-up goal of the game when Colton Rupp took a pass from Clarke Petterson to send the teams into halftime at 6-4.
 
After the break, O'Connor stopped the first four shots he faced before Zach Ward took a pass from Tarbell on the crease and beat the senior up high to make it a one-goal game with 4:08 to play in the third quarter. It took 13:28 before Cornell would score again, this time with Jack Bolen notching a goal in transition to knot the game at 6-6 with exactly 12 minutes to play.
 
Cornell had two great chances late in the fourth, but Petterson's straight away shot dinged off the pipe and a shot by Matthews with 1:40 to play was gobbled up by O'Connor to end the threat.
 
Defenseman Tony Britton finished the game with two assists, one ground ball and one caused turnover, while Ryan Bray also added one assist. In the face-off circle, Domenic Massimilian won 7-of-10 with four ground balls, while Grant Mahler took 4-of-7 restarts.