FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- As the final minute began to tick away on a magical 2025 season, senior CJ Kirst avoided a Maryland double team, ran straight down the middle of the field and scored on an empty net to salt away Cornell's first NCAA title in 48 years. All that was left was the faceoff and the field rush.
The top-ranked Big Red toppled No. 2 seed Maryland 13-10 on Monday afternoon at Gillette Stadium to claim the program's fourth NCAA title and first under the Richard M. Moran Head Coach of Men's Lacrosse, Connor Buczek '15.
"It's hard to put into words - I'm so incredibly proud of this group. They had a mission, they had a goal," Buczek said. "Every single day they showed up to work ... for these guys to achieve this goal and bring a title back to Cornell for the first time in 48 years, I simply don't have the words for it. I'm so proud as an alum and as a guy that gets to work with them every single day. They have earned everything they have gotten, and I'm glad we can enjoy this moment together."
For Cornell, it marks the first NCAA team title in any sport since men's lacrosse's 1977 title, which at the time was its third in seven years under legendary head coach Richie Moran. The game also marked the fourth time the same two programs had played for a national title - and the third time the Big Red was able to raise the trophy.
The signs of a special season for Big Red fans were all around from the beginning.
The title comes 21 years following the tragic death of Big Red captain George Boiardi, who wore jersey number 21 as a player - a number that has since become sacred in the Cornell lacrosse community. The championship was played in Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., where its last contest ended in a heartbreaking overtime loss to Syracuse in the 2009 NCAA title game. Its 2025 tournament march included wins over UAlbany and Richmond, two teams it defeated in the regular season, and then a Penn State team that not only handed the team its lone loss, but was headed by Jeff Tambroni - Boiardi's head coach at Cornell who was on the sidelines for that 2009 championship game. This championship game pitted Buczek against fellow Cornell graduate John Tillman '91, who has won two national titles with the Terps - including defeating the Big Red in 2022. Tillman's college coach? Richie Moran.
Gallery: (5-26-2025) MLAX vs. Maryland 5/26/25
Cornell's senior class, led by captains Kirst, Michael Bozzi, Christopher Davis, Michael Long, and Walker Wallace, reached the national finals in 2022, falling just short against a Maryland team that ranks as one of the greatest teams ever. The 2025 squad made a case to put themselves in that same conversation. An 18-1 record, tying a Division I mark for wins in a season (18-1). Ivy League regular season and tournament titles. Leading the nation in scoring. Eight All-Americans. A generational talent and national player of the year.
Kirst, in addressing the team at dinner on Sunday night, recalled as a freshman in 2022 that he and his teammates lined up and listened to the National Anthem prior to the NCAA title game vs. Maryland. A military flyover and pyrotechnics punctuated the Memorial Day celebration. He told them when that moment arrived, to embrace each other - that it would be a memory they would have together forever.
Once the opening whistle blew, the Big Red created plenty more memories.
While the signs pointed in Cornell's direction, the championship game pitted the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in college lacrosse for the first time in 20 years. The Big Red slowly separated itself from the Terrapins without its usual patented scoring runs. Cornell never trailed, though Maryland tied the contest three times in the first half and cut a three-goal deficit to 10-9 early in the fourth quarter.
Much like in its semifinal victory on Saturday, the Big Red quickly rose to the challenge. Kirst scored his 81st goal of the season with 6:42 to play, and Goldstein added his 43rd just over two minutes later to push the lead back to three. Maryland had a glimmer of hope when it tallied with 82 seconds left, but Kirst put home his sixth of the day shut the door on any hopes of a comeback by the Terps.
Kirst's six goals and seven points resulted in him being named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. He was joined on the all-tournament team by seniors Michael Long, Wyatt Knust, Hugh Kelleher and sophomore Ryan Goldstein. Kirst's 82nd and final goal, the empty netter, tied the NCAA single season mark of 82 by Yale's Jon Reese (1990) and UAlbany's Miles Thompson (2014).
It was just another record to cap his legendary career that will likely end this coming week with the Tewaaraton Trophy.
Goldstein ended the afternoon with four goals, while Brendan Staub was a nuisance on defense with three caused turnovers and four ground ball wins. Senior Wyatt Knust made 12 saves in goal for the Big Red to close his career with an impressive 26-5 mark between the pipes.
Eric Spanos led Maryland with two goals and two assists. The second-seeded Terps won the faceoff battle (15-12) and had more ground balls (33-30), but its four failed clears and 12 turnovers, including an uncharacteristic six in the fourth, didn't allow for a comeback.
Cornell went into the halftime break with a 6-5 lead with Kirst's opening goal as the difference. Knust made seven saves and Goldstein scored twice, with Long assisting on a pair of scores. Maryland got a pair of goals from Spanos and six saves from Logan McNaney, the All-American goalkeeper and Corning, N.Y. native who ended the night with 11 stops.
But in the end, it was the Big Red's afternoon to join the short list of greatest lacrosse teams in school history under a coach who has been a Cornell man, through and through.
"I think this place (Cornell) is very endearing," Buczek said. "It's a lot of reason why I'm in the profession that I am and I'm sure it's a big reason (Coach Tillman) is in the profession that he is. This place changes you, and for the better. And it's not because it's easy; it's not all rainbows and butterflies. It's because it challenges you and asks a lot of you, and through all that, when you can kind of see the forest through the trees, you can appreciate every moment. I'm sure that Coach Moran had that impact on Coach Tillman. I know the coaches that I played for had that impact on me. This program changes you for the better, and we are just fortunate to continue to live the dream every single day."
