NEW YORK, N.Y. -- With the winds whipping off the Hudson making for an incredibly difficult day for the kicking and passing games, Columbia won a share of its first Ivy League title in 63 years with a hard-fought 17-9 victory over Cornell on Saturday afternoon at Wien Stadium. The Lions' win, coupled with Yale's 34-29 win over Harvard, gave the Lions a three-way share of the title with the Crimson and Dartmouth at 5-2. The Big Red closed its 2024 season, its first under head coach Dan Swanstrom, with a 4-6 overall record (3-4 Ivy).

Senior quarterback Jameson Wang, playing his final game in a Cornell uniform, finished the day with 97 rushing yards and 154 more passing, finishing his career in 10th place all-time in career rushing (1,811 yards) and third in passing (6,950 yards). He directed the offense to 378 total yards and 21 first downs in the loss. 

Sophomore Alan Zhao booted three field goals through wind gusts of more than 30 miles per hour, successfully making attempts from 34, 45 and 22 yards to end his year with 72 points, tied for second all-time in a single season among kickers. Classmate Samuel Musungu caught seven passes for 93 yards and had 105 all-purpose yards, while Ean Pope ran for 53 yards on 14 carries. Defensively, Damon Barnes made a career-best 13 tackles and both Luke Banbury (10) and Joey Cheshire (10) also reached double figures. Banbury added 1,5 tackles for loss and recovered a fumble.

The Lions scored the game's lone two touchdowns on 1-yard runs, the first by Caleb Sanchez in the second quarter and then Joey Giorgi in the third. Giorgi ran for 165 yards on 29 carries, with Sanchez completing 11-of-19 passes for 221 yards. Columbia had 405 total yards of offense in the win. Anthony Roussos made a team-best 10 tackles for the Lions, with Charlie Newton adding nine stops with a sack.

The two teams were nearly even at halftime, with the Lions out-gaining the Big Red 182-181. Cornell turned the ball over once, but a giant fourth-down conversion on a fake punt gave the visitors their first points of the game on a wild Alan Zhao 34-yard field goal into the gusts. 
 
First Quarter
• The teams traded punts to begin the game before the Big Red sustained a drive, using a roughing the passer penalty and a 25-yard toss from Wang to Zoller put the Big Red in the red zone.
• A Lions' sack pushed Cornell back, and Zhao's resulting 30-yard field goal went wide with a swirling wind at his back.
• The Big Red forced a three-and-out, but Wang was intercepted at the Columbia 33 after picking up a first down.

Second Quarter
• Columbia was forced to punt to begin the second quarter, pinning the Big Red at its own 5 just 23 seconds into the quarter.
• Wang went to work with two carries himself for 22 yards to pick up a pair of first downs, but the series petered out and the Big Red kicked it back to the Lions. 
• Columbia broke the scoring seal with a 1-yard run by Sanchez at the end of a 10-play, 64-yard drive.
• The Big Red answered with its own 10-play scoring drive, this time resulting in a Zhao field goal.
• The sophomore hit one of the toughest 34-yard field goals in history, belting his kick into the wind with 1:58 to play before halftime.
• Columbia went into its two-minute offense, and two passes for a total of 28 yards from Sanchez to Marcus Libman got the Lions to the Big Red 38.
• A pass breakup by Trey Harris in the end zone prevented a touchdown, and after a bad snap led to a Hunter Sloan stop, the Lions were forced to punt.
• Cornell ran the ball twice looking to break a long run, but instead went into the break trailing 7-3.

Third Quarter
• The Lions took the opening kickoff of the second half and marched right down the field to the Big Red 13, but a holding penalty, a near interception of a screen pass and two stops forced the Lions into a field goal attempt.
• The 39-yard field goal went wide right to keep the score where it was.
• Taking over at its own 21, Cornell marched to the Lions' xx before a fourth-down pass attempt to Samuel Musungu was ruled incomplete on the field and led to the Lions taking a shot - that paid off.
• A deep shot from Sanchez to Ethan Hebb went for 73 yards to flip the field, with Trey Harris running him down at the 3.
• Two plays later, Giorgi went over from a yard out and the PAT kick made it 14-3 entering the fourth quarter.

Fourth Quarter
• On the first play of the fourth, Wang carried 25 yards past midfield, with a pitch to Tucker the play after put the Big Red on the edge of the red zone. 
• Zhao booted through a 45-yard field goal to cut the game to a one-possession contest at 14-6.
• On the ensuing drive, Banbury found an errant snap and pounced on it after breaking through the line to give the Big Red its first turnover.
• After picking up a pair of first downs, Wang's throw into the end zone was picked off by Hayden McDonald and returned out to the 15.
• With momentum back in its corner, Columbia sucked 6:24 off the clock with a 13-play, 78-yard drive that ended with a 25-yard field goal by Hugo Merry that put the home team up 11 with just 1:50 remaining.
• Cornell had plenty of fight left in it, picking up five first downs and converting a third-and-13 along the way before electing for a 22-yard field goal with 10 seconds left instead of playing for the touchdown.
• Zhao knocked through the kick, but the on-sides attempt was recovered by Columbia, who took a knee and the win.
• The Lions returned to their locker room after meeting the Big Red at midfield and waited nearly an hour until the Harvard-Yale game went final, earning a long-awaited celebration more than six decades in the making.

NEXT UP
• The 2024 season is complete.
• The Big Red will get back to spring practice with eyes on preparing for the 2025 season that will kick off on Saturday, Sept. 20 at UAlbany.