Cornell lacrosse 2022

[mike1960]

Back from vacation and saw the replay of the Yale game. I thought Cornell played well against a very good Yale team. It was a game of runs. Cornell surged ahead, and Yale made a last-minute push. Our offense found lots of opportunities to score against some seriously strong Yale defenders. Overall, Yale did look physically stronger than Cornell. Maybe more time in the weight room? They physically knocked our players off the ball a few times.

It's a little worrying that in the first few minutes we couldn't clear the ball. Yale doubled the ball and caused all kinds of problems, at times later in the game as well.

Of course, the main problem for us in this game is the faceoff. We've done a pretty good job in the past few games, but this game we were just dominated 21-7.

On the plus side, Chayse made some awesome saves. CJ had another great game, and Aiden Blake is a sharpshooter from outside. The team looks in rhythm with Mikey Long at X. This weekend should be another good one.

[billhoward]

Code Select Expand


Cornell 6-1, 1-1    1  3  4  3  –  11
Penn    4-2, 1-1    3  6  3  3  –  15

Cornell
Michael Long   2-3--5
CJ Kirst       3-2--5
John Piatelli  4-0--4
Chase Ierlan   15GA 12SV .444

Penn
Sam Handley    3-3--6
Dylan Gergar   1-4--5
P Burckinshaw  11GA 15SV .570

Cornell got within 3 late in the third, Penn opened a six-goal lead, 14-8, in the first 3-1/2 minutes of the fourth, Cornell got 3 of the 4 goals scored in the last 5 minutes to make it sort-of respectable, 15-11.

Stats that hurt Cornell:
Clobbered on faceoffs, Penn 21x30
Almost doubled on ground balls, Penn 46-24

Stats that helped or didn't hurt Cornell:
Clears: Cornell 18x21 vs. 19x24
Turnovers: Cornell 14, Penn 20
Shots on goal: Penn 27-26 (shots at goal, Penn 52-42)
Man-up: Cornell 3x5, Penn 2x3 (2 Cornell EMO goals were last 5 minutes)




#3 (USILA) 1 pm 3/26 at #7 Penn. Which Penn looked really good in a 22-21 loss at Princeton last week. Penn senior Sam Handley #26 had 3-4-4-3 points in the first four games then 3-8-11 at Princeton. Despite Cornell's higher ranking, this seems like a toss-up. One thing in Cornell's favor is when CJ Kirst got shut down a bit on attack, John Piatelli more than took up the slack. And Cornell can't go just 25% on faceoffs two weeks in a row, can we?

[billhoward]

Not going to be easy. Penn gets an early goal in the first minute. Then scoreless the next 10 minutes of the first . Which means Cornell is playing good D, too. CJ Kirst finally ties game 11-1/2 minutes in. Two more Penn scores, 3-1 Penn end of first period.

Q2: Penn dominates faceoffs, slowly adds to the lead. Penn Sam Handley is the real deal, 5 points so far. Both goalies look good. Easier to score off fast breaks, both teams, before the defenses set up. Cornell gets margin down to 7-4 with 2:15 to play. Halftime: Penn 9-4. Ouch.

Q3: Penn may get to 20 two weeks in a row. Unlike Princeton last week, we may not hit 21. 11-4 five minutes in, correction, 11-6 5:50 in. A breath of life returns. 11-7 midway through the period. 11-8 with 4:00 to play off Kirst's third goal. Cornell getting a little more physical. Penn scoreless for almost 10 minutes, goal in the last minute, period ends: Penn 12-8. Could have been 11-9. #CouldHaveBeen


Q4: Coulda been 11-9 is now 14-8 Penn, 3-1/2 minutes in. Cornell now needs six in the last 8 minutes. Just keep winning faceoffs and ... Cornell got 3 of the quarters 7 faceoffs but too late. Cornell gets 3 goals in the final five to make the final score 15-11.

[Al DeFlorio]

Burkinshaw stoning us close-in.  Losing faceoffs.

[mike1960]

Penn is playing absolutely outstanding defense. They are aggressively sliding and being in the right positions.

[mike1960]

Looks like Cornell will be trying to find cutters on offense. Let's hope it works.

[mike1960]

Defensive lapses. That's twice we left a shooter alone in front of the goal.

[Al DeFlorio]

Losing ground balls and faceoffs.  Just an awful half.

[arugula]

Penn was 21-19 on faceoffs against Princeton.  11-2 against us today so far. I ask again, why are we consistently terrible at the x. Everything else is good and it's all being undermined by the x. A shame to have one aspect ruin everything.  Down 9-4 and could be worse but for Ierlan.

[Iceberg]

Some astute lady sitting near me mentioned how Cornell can't win a face-off. Penn's defense aside, that's a huge difference right now

[mike1960]

Penn was 21-19 on faceoffs against Princeton.  11-2 against us today so far. I ask again, why are we consistently terrible at the x. Everything else is good and it's all being undermined by the x. A shame to have one aspect ruin everything.  Down 9-4 and could be worse but for Ierlan.

The FOGO position is a mess. Not only do we consistently lose cleanly, we also lose when we manage to fight for the ball and our wing play lets us down. Worse, with all the procedure penalties, the FOGO position is creating man-down situations.

Cornell will make a run in the second half, but without some faceoff wins, it's hard to see how we take home a W today.

[arugula]

Yes.  That's so frustrating too when the fogo fights to a draw and we don't get to the ground balls.  Strange that coach to coach it's the same problem.

[mike1960]

Our defense is going to really have to step up for us to have any chance at all.

[mike1960]

Great D.

[semsox]

Unfortunately, if Blake's injury was as bad as it looked, I think it's a pretty significant downgrade of the ultimate ceiling of this team. :-/