FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Five unanswered goals over a span of 6:40 during the third quarter transformed a 6-5 lead for Penn State (12-5) into a 10-6 advantage for Cornell (17-1), as the Big Red fended off a fourth-quarter comeback attempt by the Nittany Lions to secure an 11-9 victory at Gillette Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

As their classmates marched to Schoellkopf Field for Saturday's graduation ceremony, the Big Red seniors took another step toward its goal of winning the program's fourth national title by avenging its only loss of 2025. Cornell will now take the field at Gillette Stadium for a second time with an NCAA crown on the line - ironically, it was Penn State head coach Jeff Tambroni who led Cornell on the field in 2009, falling just short that season against Syracuse in overtime.

With its 13th consecutive win, Cornell has established a new single-season record for victories (17) while securing its place in Monday's NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship game for the ninth time in program history. The team will compete for a national title for the second time in four years under Connor Buczek, the Richard M. Moran Head Coach of Cornell Men's Lacrosse.

Senior midfielder Hugh Kelleher recorded a hat trick for the Big Red, while senior attack Michael Long scored a team-high five points (two goals, three assists). Fellow senior attack CJ Kirst, the nation's leading goal scorer and point producer, was kept off the scoreboard by Penn State, marking the first time in 66 collegiate games that he finished a game without a point.


Senior goalkeeper Wyatt Knust made nine saves for Cornell, six of which occurred in the first quarter, during which the Big Red held Penn State scoreless. Jack Cascadden won 15-of-23 faceoffs, including eight straight at one point, and scored a goal.

Penn State's Liam Matthews spearheaded the Nittany Lions' offense with four goals, while Jack Fracyon recorded eight saves between the pipes.

Knust had four saves in the opening minutes and the Big Red wasn't able to get the offense on track until Long backed up an errant shot and quickly found sophomore Willem Firth cutting in front of the net for a dunk with 9.9 seconds left after a near-scoreless first quarter. Knust made six saves and the Big Red killed off a penalty in the penalty.

The Nittany Lions won the first two faceoffs of the second quarter and cashed in both times to take its first lead with 12:45 left in the half. Cascadden got it right back, winning the faceoff and going in by himself for the tying score seven seconds later, but the Terrapins made it four of five goals to push its lead to 4-2 late in the second. 

Long cut the lead in half on a rocket from the wing after Kelleher drew a double team, then the first-team All-American drove right down the right side and rocketed the game-tying shot into the net with 2:28 remaining before the break. The Nittany Lions again went up, this time 5-4 after Matt Traynor's dive through the crease ended in his 43rd score of the year. That's how it went into halftime.

the Ryan tandem - Waldman from Sheehan - put the Big Red into the lead for the first time since it was 1-0 with a snipe with 6:21 left to cap off a long possession of more than two and a half minutes. The 4-0 run pushed the Big Red lead to 9-6 when Brian Luzzi put a quick shot on goal that beat Fracyon high. Long then scored again to make the run 5-0 and the lead 10-6 with 2:08 left in the third, forcing a Penn State timeout.

Brendan Staub brought some juice in the second half, tying the score with a pole goal and then finding Ryan Goldstein on his knees for a quick-stick strike. A score by the Ryan tandem - Waldman from Sheehan - put the Big Red into the lead for the first time since it was 1-0 with a snipe with 6:21 left to cap off a long possession of more than two and a half minutes in between Staub's two points. The run extended to 5-0 over the span of 6:40 when Brian Luzzi and Long went back-to-back to enter the fourth with a 10-6 lead.

After Penn State's epic rally over Notre Dame in the fourth quarter in last weekend's quarterfinals, its three straight goals to open the fourth could have shaken the Big Red - but instead the defense tightened. Penn State did not score over the game's final 9:35, and Kelleher's third goal with 5:49 to play made the lead two (11-9). The Big Red controlled possession and allowed just one shot, which was blocked, in the final five minutes. A strip and tough ground ball by Luke Gilmartin in the final 90 seconds were emblematic of the effort, and the Big Red ran out the time on Penn State to avenge its only loss of the season.

The Big Red will face the winner of the day's second semifinal matchup between No. 2 Maryland and No. 6 Syracuse. Cornell has a history with both squads in NCAA Championship contests, defeating Maryland in 1971 (12-6 in the first-ever NCAA Championship game) and 1976 (16-13), and falling to the Terrapins 9-7 in 2022. Cornell and Syracuse have met in the championship game twice with the Orange claiming both championships - the first in 1988 (13-8) and again in 2009 (10-9 in OT), with the latter game played on the same field in Foxborough.