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Notre Dame Stops Cornell's Run in NCAA Semis
Courtesy: Cornell Athletic Communications
BALTIMORE – As the youngest team in
the Final Four, the Cornell men's lacrosse team knows this season
will be one to build on. The Big Red had its unexpected run to the
national semifinals ended by unseeded Notre Dame on Saturday
afternoon at M&T Bank Stadium, as the Fighting Irish took the
12-7 victory. Notre Dame advances to its first-ever national
championship game, where it will face the winner of the
Virginia-Duke contest. Cornell ends its season with an impressive
record of 12-6.
Notre Dame (10-6) goalkeeper Scott Rodgers was the difference,
making 16 saves to keep the Big Red at bay all afternoon despite an
advantage in shots (40-32), groundballs (39-31) and face-offs
(12-of-13). Neal Hicks and Zach Brenneman added four and three
goals, respectively, for the Irish in the win.
Cornell freshman Steve Mock had three goals and added five ground
balls, while senior Ryan Hurley posted two goals and an assist.
Freshman Mike Bronzino had three caused turnovers and USIL
Attackman of the Year Rob Pannell had two assists and six ground
balls, while David Lau chipped in two assists. In their final game
in a Cornell uniform, Pierce Derkac picked up five ground balls and
caused two turnovers with Austin Boykin went 8-for-16 in the
face-off circle and picked up three ground balls.
Cornell struck first when Roy Lang found space in the middle of
the field in-between four Notre Dame defenders, took a pass from
Lau, turned and beat Rodgers up high to make it a 1-0 game just
1:27 into the contest.
The teams traded possessions with the Irish getting five saves from
Rodgers over the next 10 minutes, but the Big Red defense was
solid, forcing multiple turnovers and killing off a 30-second
man-up opportunity before three-straight goals by Notre Dame over
the final three minutes of the quarter put the Irish up, 3-1, at
the end of the first quarter.
The Irish run continued in the opening moments of the second
quarter with a goal by Brenneman, but Mock ended a 15:44 scoring
drought when he dodged through traffic and caught an amazing pass
from Pannell and buried it to make it a 4-2 contest.
A man-up goal by Brenneman restored the three-goal lead to Notre
Dame but a ferocious ride set up a Cornell goal as the Big Red
worked the ball around until Lau found Mock and the freshman
attacker literally put a hole in the net as he made it a 5-3 game
with 3:33 to play in the half.
The teams battled back and forth for the next three minutes and the
Big Red killed another 30-second man-up chance but a great
individual effort by Hicks gave the Irish a 6-3 lead going into
halftime.
Brenneman’s third goal of the game pushed the Notre Dame lead
to 7-3 early in the third quarter but once again, Mock cut the lead
back to three goals when he took a pass from Jack Dudley, faked
high and then beat Rodgers low.
Ross Gillum scored his first postseason goal when he converted on a
12-yard shot, to make it a 7-5 contest with 7:24 to play in the
third quarter. The goal was the only one to beat Rodgers from any
real distance during the game.
Just as Cornell got some momentum, the two-goal run was ended when
concurrent penalties gave the Irish a 6-on-4 advantage for
one-minute . An initial shot by was saved by Fiore, but Hicks
picked up a rebound and converted for the man-up goal to give his
team an 8-5 lead heading into the final quarter.
Steve Murphy gave the Irish its largest lead to that point with a
great effort that beat Fiore up high to make it 9-5 with 10:55 to
play in the contest.
Hurley made it a three-goal game once again when he took a pass
from Gillum, streaked to the goal and beat Rodgers on a bounce
shot, but three straight empty net goals over the final 6:08 of the
game pushed the Notre Dame lead to 12-6.
An extra man goal by Hurley with 16 seconds to play, off a pass from Pannell, accounted for the 11-7 final.
