Box Score NEW YORK, N.Y. –
Christian Knight was again a wall,
Jeff Teat orchestrated a buttoned-up offense and
Jake Pulver's longpole goal highlighted a 9-1 Cornell run as the Big Red won the 2018 Ivy League Men's Lacrosse Tournament with a dominant 14-8 win over No. 1 Yale on Sunday afternoon at Columbia's Wien Stadium. The Big Red won its second Ivy Tournament title and claimed the conference's automatic bid to NCAAs while improving to 12-4.
"This was a really good team game," said Milliman. "I think we competed in every facet. We wanted to challenge Yale everywhere we could because we knew that they were really good at everything. It's a tough game plan when you know that they don't really have weakness. They really are good at everything. And most things they're great at."
Knight made 16 saves, giving him a tournament record 35 stops in Cornell's two wins, on his way to tournament MVP honors. He also moved within three saves of jumping into the top four in school history in saves, improving his number to 585.
"This is one of the happiest moments of my life," said Knight. "It's a really special thing to accomplish with really special team. We've been working hard all year long. We set our minds on winning an Ivy League tournament championship during the fall. So it feels really great to accomplish one of our goals."
Teat had a goal and five assists to lead a Big Red offense that assisted on nine of its scores and moved into a fifth-place tie for career assists with 98. His 96th point of 2018 matches the great Eamon McEneaney for fifth on the single-season list.
Clarke Petterson, meanwhile, had three goals and an assist, becoming the 43rd player in school history to reach 100 career points.
Altogether 12 different Big Red players found their way into the scoring column, with
Colton Rupp and
Jordan Dowiak each scoring twice and
Jake McCulloch adding one goal and one assist.
But while the offense was clicking, particularly with its six goals in the fourth quarter, it was the defense - and the defense's offense - that made the difference.
On the seven-year anniversary of having his large intestine removed, senior captain
Jake Pulver made his first career goal count. Leading 8-6 early in the fourth but with Cornell struggling against Yale's 10-man ride, Pulver wound up from beyond midfield and fired a laser into the goal. That score did more than give Cornell a three-goal lead - it also deflated a Bulldog team building some momentum and put the Big Red in the driver's seat. The second-seeded Big Red would up its lead to as many as six and cruise in the final minutes.
"I knew [Jake] was throwing it into the net," said Teat with a laugh at the postgame press conference. "In practice, he loves throwing it. He practices it. He's good at it and he stuck that one and it was a big momentum swing for us and we built off it."
Pulver also picked up two ground balls and caused one turnover to lead a defense that caused eight of Yale's 11 miscues.
The Bulldogs held the advantage in shots (35-22) and ground balls (30-26). Yale also won 16-of-26 face-offs, but Cornell freshman
Luca Tria held his own, taking 10-of-22 restarts with a career-high eight ground balls.
BY THE NUMBERS
• Cornell's first nine goals were scored by nine different players.
• The Big Red's first seven goals were assisted scores.
• Cornell put 16 of its 22 shots on goal and scored 14 times.
• Neither team registered a penalty.
• The Big Red had three failed clears (19-22), while the Bulldogs had two failed clears (16-18).
NOTES TO KNOW
• The win gave the Big Red an Ivy League Men's Lacrosse Tournament championship for the first time since 2011, and second time overall.
• The win also stymied Yale's attempt to become the first team since Cornell in 2011 to go undefeated in conference play and win the Ivy League Tournament.
• With its 12 wins this season, the Big Red has posted the second best single-season win total improvement in men's lacrosse history, matching the 7-6 1995 team which posted six more victories than the 1-10 1994 team.
• The win snapped a three-game losing streak to Yale, while improving Cornell to 3-0 this season in neutral site games and 3-0 in nationally televised games.
• The victory was the first for the Big Red against the top ranked team since defeating No. 1 Syracuse, 11-6, on April 12, 2011.
UP NEXT
Cornell will learn its NCAA Tournament fate tonight during the NCAA Selection Show at 9 p.m. on ESPNU.
2018 CORNELL ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Christian Knight - Tournament MVP
Jake Pulver
Clarke Petterson
Jeff Teat
John Piatelli
Jake McCulloch
