ITHACA, N.Y. – The No. 22/RV women's lacrosse team notched its first Ivy League win of the season in dominating fashion, taming the Columbia Lions with a 17-5 decision on Saturday at Schoellkopf Field. With the result, the team is now a perfect 22-0 against Columbia since the two teams first met in 1997. Additionally for the Big Red, it was the most goals scored and the largest margin of victory for the squad since topping Binghamton, 17-3, on Apr. 4, 2017.
The game was tight in the beginning, with it deadlocked 3-3 after Columbia's Alexandria Absey found the back of the net with 16:05 left in the first half, but Cornell rang off 10 unanswered goals from 15:37 left in the first half to 18:13 left in the second to charge to a 13-3 lead.
In that time frame, goals were scored by Caroline Allen (4),
Joey Coffy (2),
Tomasina Leska (2),
Anna Baumeister (1) and junior captain
Sarah Phillips (1). Allen's quartet of scores tied her career high which she recently set on Feb. 24 at Penn State. Baumeister's goal was her first of the season.
The visiting team showed that they still had some fight left in them, notching two goals from Lindsey Ewertsen and Victoria Kalamaras to slightly close the gap, 13-5, but Cornell closed out the game with four more goals courtesy of Olivia Jensen, for her first-career score, Ellie Walsh and back-to-back goals from Phillips.
Coffy was the first to get on the board just over three minutes into the game, notching her first goal of the season. Columbia went on to a 2-1 advantage with a short streak of two goals, but senior captain
Taylor Reed answered back with two goals in a row of her own before the Lions tied things up at 3-3.
Cornell's defense was locked in, holding Columbia to its least amount of goals since it lost to Drexel, 6-5, in overtime in the Lion's season opener on Feb. 20, 2016. Goalkeeper Katie McGahan backstopped the defensive efforts with 11 saves on the day, including seven in the second half alone. Kelsey Gedin had 12 stops for the opposition.
Hannah O'Reilly led Cornell with three groundballs while Reed controlled six draws. Leska and Coffy each caused two turnovers. Overall, the Big Red dominated offensively, outshooting Columbia 40-22 while winning the draw control tally, 17-7. Cornell was also once again efficient from the free position, converting on four of their eight opportunities.
The team is back in action next Saturday, facing UMass in a neutral site game at the brand new US Lacrosse headquarters in Sparks, Md. The match is slated to begin at 12 p.m. at Tierney Field.
