Box Score (PDF)

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Cornell pulled away from a hot Canisius team after halftime and advanced to the second round of the 2016 NCAA Women's Lacrosse Tournament with a 15-11 win on Friday evening at Schoellkopf Field. The Big Red (14-4) will host Massachusetts (19-1) on Sunday at noon for a spot in the NCAA quarterfinals.

The win for the Big Red was just its third in program history and the first in 14 years, since Cornell took down seven-time defending national champion Maryland on Schoellkopf Field. This time, the stakes weren't as high as playing for a spot in the Final Four, but the victory was just as sweet.

Joey Coffy (two goals, two assists), Amie Dickson (three goals, one assist) and Taylor Reed (three goals, one assist) each had four-point evenings and four others had multi-point efforts to lead the offense. Coffy added four draw controls and Reed had three ground balls and won three draws. The Big Red scored on all three free-position attempts, dominated at the draw circle (16-10) and played a clean game (just six turnovers, 10-of-10 on clears) against a Golden Griffins team looking to slow down Cornell. Renee Poullott, chosen as an IWLCA All-Region pick earlier in the day, made five saves and won two ground balls.

Canisius, which had won 11 of its last 12 contests entering the game - including a perfect 8-0 run through the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference schedule - got three goals and two assists from MAAC Midfielder of the Year Erica Evans. Evans closed her sophomore season with a school single-season record 91 points and added three draw wins and two ground balls. Tessa Chad, the MAAC Rookie of the Year, chipped in four goals and Taylor Giglio had a hat trick. Goalkeeper Rebecca VanLaeken, the MAAC Defensive Player of the Year, made six saves and both Giglio and Allie Stewart caused two turnovers.

The eighth-seeded Big Red broke open a 6-6 contest at halftime with three straight goals after the break and never trailed the rest of the way. 

After a slow start, Cornell's fortunes changed in the span of 71 seconds. Trailing 2-0, the Big Red got on the board, tied it up and took the lead. Dickson, Coffy and Reed scored consecutive goals that got the home team back in the flow. Though Canisius would go on to tie the game at 3-3, 4-4, 5-5 and 6-6, it would never again go ahead.

Though the rest of the game played close, Cornell pulled away with its dominance at the draw circle and some quick-strike offense after halftime. The Big Red scored 65 seconds into the second half and three times in the game's final minutes – two on empty nets - as Canisius tried to get back in the contest.

Canisius won the opening draw and cashed in a little more than two minutes later when Erica Evans used a fake and dropped a shot past Poullott to make it 1-0. The Golden Griffins goalkeeper Rebecca VanLaeken made four saves in the first nine minutes for an energized visiting squad, but just two the rest of the way as the Big Red methodically took over.

The visitors had one late chance to make it a game, after cutting a three-goal Big Red lead to 10-9 with just under 15 minutes remaining. Holding possession after the draw, the Golden Griffins hit a pipe on what could have been the tying goal and Cornell made them pay. Reed drew a foul on the other end and scored on the restart to make it 11-9. Canisius pulled its goalkeeper late and the Big Red scored twice in the final two minutes and three more times overall to pull away.

Cornell and Massachusetts will be meeting for the third time and the first since a 2003 matchup in the ECAC Championship game – a contest won by the Big Red 14-8 at Schoellkopf Field.

POST GAME NOTES

• Cornell is now 3-0 in NCAA Tournament games at Schoellkopf Field.
• In all three of the Big Red's all-time Tournament wins, the opponent has scored first.
• Cornell is 3-1 in Tournament games when outshooting the opponent. The Big Red held a narrow 22-21 edge in shots over Canisius.
• The Big Red's 22 points (15 goals, seven assists) over Canisius was the most by Cornell in a Tournament game.
• Dickson's goal 1:05 into the second frame was the fastest start to a second half in Cornell NCAA Tournament history, surpassing Beth Calder's goal 1:29 into the second stanza in an overtime loss to Georgetown on May 17, 2002.
• With four points each, Dickson, Coffy and Reed, cracked the program all-time top 10 lists for Tournament games, tying for fourth for single game points and single postseason points, and tying for sixth for career Tournament points.
• Dickson and Reed also tied for fourth for single Tournament game goals with three each, tied for sixth for single postseason goals and tied for seventh for career postseason goals.
• Coffy's two assists marked her first career multi-assist game and tied her for second in single-game assists in program Tournament games. Junior Kristy Gilbert joined her with a pair of assists as well.
• Coffy was also the first Big Red player to record four draw controls in a Tournament game.
• Coffy extended her goal streak to 13 games, while Dickson extended hers to 11 games.
• Cornell has had at least five different goal-scorers in 17 of its 18 games this season. The win over the Golden Griffins marked the seventh occasion that eight different players scored.
• With five saves, junior goalkeeper Renee Poullott moved into fifth all-time with 279 career stops.
• The Big Red reached 14 wins for the first time since 2002, when Cornell finished 16-2.

POST GAME QUOTES
CORNELL HEAD COACH JENNY GRAAP
Opening statement …
I'm really thrilled with the win tonight on Schoellkopf Field. I thought that our second half performance was really critical. Canisius played a great game and they've got a number of marque players and we were struggling to contain in Erica Evans and Taylor [Giglio] but I'm really, really proud of how we handled ourselves. There were a lot of times where we had to stay composed, especially when they pulled their goalkeeper at the end of the game. That's the first time we've seen that … We don't see that often with the extra defender on the field. So I was pleased that our attackers stayed composed and we were able to score some empty net goals there at the end.
 
On the second half adjustments …
I think we settled in a little bit and held some possessions a little more in the second half. I think in the first half we tried to push some transition looks that didn't always work out for us. So we just weren't being disciplined. I was much more pleased with the looks we got in the second half in the offensive end.
 
On trying to contain Erica Evans …
We tried a few different defensive looks on her. We started the game in a face guard and deny her the ball a little bit, but she's so fast, she was able to get cuts in there, so we went away from that strategy. We threw our backer zone against them a little bit and I thought that had some success as well. That left her a little more free at times, but I still think it's a good defensive look for us. After halftime our strategy was to put one of our best defenders on her, Catie Smith … I thought Catie was really good and tried to stay disciplined and tried to force her back to her right hand because she's a very strong lefty and when she's able to beat you to that left side she's real dangerous ... She one of the top scorers in the country because not only is she a strong left, but she's just lightning fast. She was a handful.
 
SENIOR ATTACKMAN OLIVIA MATTYASOVSZKY
On playing her first NCAA game …
After four years it definitely feels good to be at this point. I know we were really focused on putting our best out there. It was rocky at first but we pulled together at half time. We looked at each other and said 'We need to do this for each other. We need to dig in, be patient, and do the little things correctly.'
 
On what they can take from this game into Sunday's game vs. UMass …
In this game, we came out flat and it showed that at halftime it was all tied up. We were pretty angry at ourselves. We hadn't let that many goals be scored on us in the first half in a really long time. So we know we can't come out flat. UMass is a really good team … We can't wait until halftime. We need to start the game with that fire and that determination.
 
SOPHOMORE MIDFIELDER JOEY COFFY
On the second half adjustments …
It was really neck and neck in the first half, but we really rallied together … and we did a great job of taking care of our possessions on offense, winning the draw control, playing great defense like we have all season, and it translated into a win.
 
CANISIUS HEAD COACH SCOTT TEETER
Opening statement …
I thought that was a great lacrosse game from start to finish. I thought my girls battled for 60 minutes and left it all on the field and unfortunately Cornell, who is an excellent team, made three or four more plays than we did. I couldn't be more proud of my players for giving it there all, not just in this game, but all season long.
 
On the first half of play …
I thought we battled. We came ready to play and had a great start to the first half and got up by two. I thought that defensively we were making some stops and Becca [VanLaeken] was making some saves, and our offense was controlling the tempo of the play and finishing their shots when they had the opportunity.
 
On Cornell's size …
They have a height advantage on us a little bit. That was the first time where we've seen a whole team that was drastically bigger than us and they use their size to their advantage well by posting up and getting good feeds and finishing while they're in there.
 
On Cornell's defense …
Cornell is very good at going into man-to-man to zone defense and I thought our offense did a pretty good job recognizing what defense they were in and to hit our primary looks.
 
SOPHOMORE ATTACKMAN ERICA EVANS
On Canisius' long possessions …
Our plan was to slow the ball down. They're a very good defensive team and we knew we had to control the ball a little bit longer … We tried to slow the ball down to get those good opportunities.