ITHACA, N.Y. —
Willem Firth scored six goals and assisted on two others, and No. 4 Cornell buried Harvard with a six-goal first quarter and never looked back, rolling to a 17-8 victory Friday in the Ivy League Tournament semifinal at Schoellkopf Field. The Big Red advance to the Ivy League Championship Game on Sunday at 1 p.m.
Cornell wasted no time establishing control. After Harvard's Logan Turley converted a man-up opportunity at 12:42 of the first quarter, the Big Red rattled off five unanswered goals in less than nine minutes to lead 5-1. Firth scored his first,
Ryan Goldstein scored his two, and
Brendan Staub capped off the outburst.
Harvard pulled within 5-2 on an Aurandt IV goal late in the first, but Cascadden immediately answered off the ensuing faceoff to make it a 6-2 lead at the end of the opening frame.
The lead grew to 10-4 by halftime as Firth recorded three goals in the second quarter alone, including a buzzer-beater at the horn to send the Big Red into the locker room firmly in command. Goldstein finished the half with two goals and three assists, orchestrating the offense at every turn.
The second half was much of the same for the Big Red, after Harvard made it a 12-6 game with 5:07 to play in the third, Cornell rattled off five-straight goals from the 3:07 mark of the third to 10:05 in the fourth, with Firth scoring two more times and
Brian Luzzi,
AJ Nikolic, and
Ryan Waldman finding the back of the net to seal the win.
Nikolic had a standout performance off the bench with two goals in the third quarter, and
Luke Robinson, Waldman, Luzzi and
Rowyn Nurry each added a goal as Cornell put 17 different scoring plays on the board spread across 10 players. Firth led the way with six goals and a pair of assists, followed by Goldstein's six points on two goals and four helpers.
Jack Cascadden was dominant at the faceoff, winning 18 of 24 draws and collecting 12 ground balls.
Matthew Tully made 11 saves over 53-plus minutes before
Tim Piacentini finished with three saves.
Next Up
Cornell advances to face the winner of the Princeton and Yale semifinal in the Ivy League Championship Game on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Schoellkopf Field. The game will be broadcast live on ESPNU.
