Box Score
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- All year, the Cornell men's lacrosse team's offense got all the accolades. Sunday, the defense played a primary role in making sure the No. 8 Big Red would advance to the NCAA quarterfinals after a 10-9 win over No. 11 Syracuse on Sunday evening at the Carrier Dome. The Big Red improved to 13-4 on the year, while the Orange's season ended with an 8-7 record.
The 13 wins are the most for the program since the 2013 squad went 14-3, and also ties the best single-season win total improvement in men's lacrosse history, matching the 12-0 1966 team, which posted eight more victories than the 4-7 1965 team.
Colton Rupp's man-up goal with 5:35 remaining in the contest and
Clarke Petterson's five goals were key, but the Big Red's rally from a three-goal deficit came largely due to a defensive effort that limited the Orange to a pair of second half goals. Fifth-year senior
Christian Knight, who was named a second-team Inside Lacrosse All-American earlier in the evening, made six second half saves and eight on the evening to spur the comeback. With his performance, Knight moved into fourth place in Cornell history with 593 career saves, surpassing Justin Cynar (585; 1999-2002).
"Christian made adjustments in his game in what he was doing with what he was seeing," said interim head coach
Peter Milliman. "We don't normally see stadium stands behind the shooters ... There's no way to prepare yourself for this environment because it's so different, so a lot of those adjustments have to come in game. And I think Christian was really good at making some of those adjustments."
The Big Red forced 15 Syracuse turnovers - with three coming on second half clear attempts by the Orange - and overcame big deficits on face-offs (16-6) and ground balls (37-20) to advance to its 21 national quarterfinal appearance and first since 2013. The Big Red caused nearly half of SU's turnovers (seven) with
Fleet Wallace posting a game-high two caused turnovers.
Eight different players registered a point for a balanced Big Red offense.
Jake McCulloch had two goals and two assists and both
Jordan Dowiak and Rupp notched a goal and an assist in the win.
Syracuse goalie Dom Madonna had 12 saves to allow the Orange to maintain a lead for most of the first three quarters. Brendan Bomberry and Jamie Trimboli both had two goals and an assist, while Tucker Dordevic (two goals) and Brendan Curry (goal, assist) both had multi-point afternoons.
The Orange scored 49 seconds into the game, and used a big first half from Madonna (six saves) to keep the Big Red offense at bay. Cornell tied the contest three times and ended the first quarter all knotted up (3-3), but the home team opened the second with three goals in the first five minutes to take the lead 6-4 lead. Goals form Petterson and McCulloch, sandwiched around a goal from Nate Solomon sent the teams into halftime with the Orange leading, 7-5.
Cornell evened the game at 7-7 early in the third quarter with back-to-back goals from Petterson and McCulloch, before Curry returned the one-goal lead to the home team. It took more than five minutes for the Big Red to tie the game, but did so in dramatic fashion with
Jonathan Donville finding Petterson on the crease for a tally with 2.6 seconds left in the third.
The visitors took their first lead of the day came off a scramble in front of the goal when Petterson won a ground ball, spun and scored with 11:47 left for his fifth goal of the afternoon. The tally matched a career-high and ranks seventh all-time in program history for goals in a single NCAA Tournament game. Cornell never again trailed, though the Orange tied the contest at 9-9 with 9:05 to play, before Rupp's extra-man game winner at the 5:35 mark.
From there, the defense shut the door on Syracuse, beginning with killing a 30-second penalty immediately following its go-ahead goal to stay out of danger. The Orange squeezed five shots off in the closing minutes, with Knight saving two, before
Jake Pulver forced Solomon to the ground in the waning seconds to keep the home team from getting off a last second shot.
NOTES TO KNOW
• The Big Red advances to the NCAA Men's Lacrosse Tournament quarterfinals for the 21st time overall and the ninth time since 2002.
• Cornell is now 33-24 overall in NCAA tournament games.
• The Big Red is now 6-0 all-time against the number eight seed in NCAA tournament games.
• Cornell is now 7-6 all-time when unseeded in the NCAA tournament.
• The Big Red earned back-to-back wins over the Orange for the first time since winning both the regular season and post-season match-up in 1987.
• Cornell is now 4-0 this season in nationally televised games.
• The Big Red moves to 6-2 vs. nationally ranked opponents this season.
UP NEXT
The Big Red will face top-seed Maryland in the NCAA Quarterfinals on Sunday, May 20 at noon at Navy Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Md. The game will be televised on ESPNU. It will be the third time in its last four NCAA appearances Cornell will meet the Terrapins, with both teams claiming a victory.
