ITHACA, N.Y. -- In a game full of runs, it was a goal that interrupted Yale's final flurry and a late defensive stand that delivered a 13-12 victory for third-ranked Cornell over No. 11 Yale on Saturday afternoon at Schoellkopf Field. The Big Red improved to 6-0 (1-0 Ivy), while Yale slipped to 3-2 (0-1 Ivy) in the conference opener for both teams.

The Bulldogs nearly recovered from a 12-5 deficit early in the fourth quarter, but the Big Red stemmed a 7-1 charge with a long possession that included a ground ball win to the end line that gave the home team the ball back with an opportunity to run out the clock. Yale forced a turnover and called a timeout with 15 seconds to play, but Cornell kept the ball in front of them and a last-second, long shot from Christian Cropp sailed too high as the Big Red ran on to the field and celebrate the win.

For much of the second half, it didn't appear the Big Red would need the dramatic finish. It turned an 8-5 lead into a 12-5 advantage when it scored the first four goals, shutting out the Yale offense in the third. Yale exploded in the fourth, scoring seven times with only a single goal to break up the run. 

It turned out that goal made all the difference.

On a day where the Big Red struggled on face-offs, a big pickup by Marc Psyllos after a long scrum allowed Cornell to settle in for a settled offensive possession. CJ Kirst cashed in his fourth score of the day with 6:37 remaining to put Cornell up 13-10. 

Chayse Irelan made 18 saves, including 10 in the decisive second half, and added three ground balls and an interception. Twelve different Big Red players caused turnovers, with Gavin Adler recording two, and four different players had four ground balls. Offensively, Kirst scored four times, John Piatelli and Aiden Blake each found the back of the net three times and both Matt Licciardi (two goals, one assist) and Michael Long (three assists) also tallied multi-point days.



Yale's Jared Paquette made 18 stops in goal and Nicholas Ramsey won 21-of-28 face-offs with 16 ground balls. Leading scorer Matt Brandau was held to one goal, though he was credited with two assists. Chris Lyons recorded a hat trick for the Bulldogs.

Yale scored twice in the opening four minutes, had the Big Red answer back with the next four and then netted three consecutive to go up 5-4 midway through the second quarter. The Big Red stayed in it despite struggling to clear the ball against the Bulldogs (turning it over seven times in the first half and 10 times in the game) and to win face-offs (Yale won 21-of-28). The Big Red shook that off, and the game-deciding run came shortly after the Bulldogs regained the lead.

Kirst scored the first of his team's eight consecutive goals on the extra-man to even the score, the first of his two goals during the run. Blake scored three times over the span of 11:30 and the Big Red settled in to a 12-5 lead early in the second. 

Yale then turned the game on its head. The Bulldogs scored once with 13:12 to play to make it 12-6. then reeled off four scores in the span of 2:07 to get within 12-10.

Cornell slowed the momentum with the Psyllos face-off win, a long offensive possession and a Kirst goal. Yale got the goal back and then cut it to one with 3:24 before winning the ensuing face-off, but hit the post and then turned it over. Cornell took over with 2:12 to play and got to the end line to regain a possession after a Kirst shot was saved and ricocheted out of bounds. A late turnover gave Yale one last chance, but the Big Red held strong.
 

UP NEXT

• The Big Red returns to the road for a contest at Ivy rival Penn on Saturday, March 26 at 1 p.m. at the Palestra.
• The Quakers have won four of the last six meetings after Cornell won eight straight from 2007-14 and leads the all-time series 66-26-3.