Cornell lacrosse 2024

[scoop85]

I think one player for Cornell who deserves mention is freshman Luke Gilmartin #77.   I think he was forced into the short-stick defensive midfield position early due to injuries or lack of depth at that position.   Regardless "Gilly" really stepped up this season.   He's tough, fast, and has a big motor.   His father Robert played for Cornell back in the mid-80's.   Defensive mid-fielders don't get a lot of press, but Luke Gilmartin has been a great addition to this program.   Go Big Red!!!

Yes, he was terrific. If he stays at ssdm I think he'll eventually get All American recognition.

[Local Motion]

Luke Gilmartin scored two goals vs. Penn in the Ivy Tournament.  In high school last year he scored 58 goals and 23 assists which are more like attack numbers.   I am thinking Cornell may promote Gilly to first team midfield next year rather than SSDM given his ability to play offense too.  He is also a very good golfer according to his bio.  

On the defensive side Cornell needs to recruit some tough and physical defensemen to shore up that side of the field.  That's one of the reasons we lost to Penn twice as they were just more physical than Cornell.   Even though we beat Syracuse this season, they are looking good in the NCAA's.   One of the traits I have always admired about the Orange is they have great skill players especially on attack, but they field a physical defense as well.  The Syracuse head coach Gary Gait had a great career for the Orange and he also played professional box lacrosse, thus bringing physicality back to that program.

[marty]

Nah. The difference between fifth year COVID eligibility and other limitations that have burdened Ivy sports in the past is that this one is new, and it's going away after next year. Cornell has managed to compete with the blue bloods of hockey and lacrosse despite the lack of scholarships and other historical limitations, but this is yet a new significant limitation placed on top of the existing ones. These burdens are cumulative: each additional one hurts us more than the prior baseline.

So yes, the Ivies have been limited in many ways historically, but it's reasonable to infer cause and effect from a *new* restriction that directly benefits our opponents. By the way, I do NOT blame our loss to Penn on this, since they are subject to the same rules. I DO think the COVID fifth year cost us the NCAAs this season, though. Just because there are a bunch of pre-existing rules hurting the Ivies doesn't mean that each additional such rule doesn't hurt us even more.

Also, I just want Cornell to win. I would much prefer they take "mercenaries" for a grad year than see them miss the frozen four for the 21st year in a row. When the Cubs won the World Series, that was obviously more meaningful to their fans than the Yankees winning. But this comparison is premised on the Cubs ever winning the World Series in the first place. We have no idea if Cornell is ever again going to win a championship in lacrosse or hockey.

Our biggest limitation is that the alums don't consistently wear their lucky shirts.  (Also, we would have done better if Pissed Off Touchdown hadn't been axed.)

[mike1960]

Luke Gilmartin scored two goals vs. Penn in the Ivy Tournament.  In high school last year he scored 58 goals and 23 assists which are more like attack numbers.   I am thinking Cornell may promote Gilly to first team midfield next year rather than SSDM given his ability to play offense too.  He is also a very good golfer according to his bio.  

On the defensive side Cornell needs to recruit some tough and physical defensemen to shore up that side of the field.  That's one of the reasons we lost to Penn twice as they were just more physical than Cornell.   Even though we beat Syracuse this season, they are looking good in the NCAA's.   One of the traits I have always admired about the Orange is they have great skill players especially on attack, but they field a physical defense as well.  The Syracuse head coach Gary Gait had a great career for the Orange and he also played professional box lacrosse, thus bringing physicality back to that program.

Lacrosse is a physical game, and the defense has to play tough, but physicality doesn't win lacrosse games. I was curious to see how Princeton scores so well on the great Penn defense. The answer is that they did a lot of things; Princeton is not one dimensional. As we know, the most physical player on the Penn defense is Lavelle, but he was a non-factor in the championship game. Lavelle guarded Mackesy, but Mackesy didn't sit on the wing and try to beat him one-on-one. That is Lavelle's strength. Instead, Mackesy moved around quite a bit, taking Lavelle away from the action. Mackesy was often more of a distributor and facilitator. Princeton also set some nice ball picks on Lavelle that freed up Mackesy for some shots. When Penn doubled Mackesy, and passed the ball and got it right back to shoot against a single defender. On another double team on the top, he found a cutter to an open area in front of the crease.

As with Cornell, Penn packed in the defense against Princeton. When they did that to us, we spun it around, looking for the perfect shot. Princeton did some of that, but they also attacked the short sticks a lot from the back and wings. They tried skips passes. They hit some great shots on the wings down the alleys with small angles. They tried some ISO on the wings. They dodged well.

Penalties also hurt Penn. Penn coach Mike Murphy was hit with a 2 minute non-releasable. He must have said the magic words. In some cases, Penn was too physical. Lavelle had a major. There was a tripping call. There was a two-minute non-releasable for a cross check to the neck. I counted four Princeton goals from the EMO. The last two or three Princeton goals were open netters.

Princeton had good advantage on faceoffs, but it wasn't dominant. I'm sure they had a GB advantage. They definitely had a massive advantage in shots taken.

There are clearly ways to beat that packed in Penn defense. Princeton has the instructional manual.

[rss77]

Check out Very Rusty explanation on the Laxpower as per Princeton against Penn. Was surprised at the way Princeton looked against Maryland-Tillman and Company really has their number. A couple of shoutouts:

Totally agree with the comments about Gilmartin-the young man is a beast
Also I credit the coaching for their discipline when Kirst was getting roughed up by Penn-no retaliatory hits by the Red. Compare that to the 2023 football which got at least 1personal foul a game.

[Local Motion]

Actually Gilmartin against Penn leveled a guy that knocked the ball out and set up a quick score by Cornell.  Cornell has some exciting rising sophomores going into next season.   Cornell has the fire power, but all I am saying is our defense needs to be more physical.   Even though Cornell had a great season, we lost the overall season turnover battle 202 to 215.  In comparison, Penn dominated the season turnover battle 241 to 213.   Again I think our Cornell team was much better than Penn, but their physicality was the prime reason we lost those two games.   If Cornell had lost only once to Penn I think we would have been in the NCAA's.  

Regardless, the future is bright for Cornell lacrosse and Go Big Red!!!

[mike1960]

Actually Gilmartin against Penn leveled a guy that knocked the ball out and set up a quick score by Cornell.  Cornell has some exciting rising sophomores going into next season.   Cornell has the fire power, but all I am saying is our defense needs to be more physical.   Even though Cornell had a great season, we lost the overall season turnover battle 202 to 215.  In comparison, Penn dominated the season turnover battle 241 to 213.   Again I think our Cornell team was much better than Penn, but their physicality was the prime reason we lost those two games.   If Cornell had lost only once to Penn I think we would have been in the NCAA's.  

Regardless, the future is bright for Cornell lacrosse and Go Big Red!!!

Again, Penn didn't beat us because they were physical. They beat us because they play great team defense and Cornell (which has better offensive players than Princeton) didn't figure it out. Princeton did and scored +15 in both games against Penn.

If being physical was the key, then any club team would play great defense. They are often composed of ex-football players who like to hit people. (I know this.) Lots of NCAA defensive men are physical, but the reason people like Gavin Adler stand far above them all is stick skills and great technique.

[Swampy]

Actually Gilmartin against Penn leveled a guy that knocked the ball out and set up a quick score by Cornell.  Cornell has some exciting rising sophomores going into next season.   Cornell has the fire power, but all I am saying is our defense needs to be more physical.   Even though Cornell had a great season, we lost the overall season turnover battle 202 to 215.  In comparison, Penn dominated the season turnover battle 241 to 213.   Again I think our Cornell team was much better than Penn, but their physicality was the prime reason we lost those two games.   If Cornell had lost only once to Penn I think we would have been in the NCAA's.  

Regardless, the future is bright for Cornell lacrosse and Go Big Red!!!

Again, Penn didn't beat us because they were physical. They beat us because they play great team defense and Cornell (which has better offensive players than Princeton) didn't figure it out. Princeton did and scored +15 in both games against Penn.

If being physical was the key, then any club team would play great defense. They are often composed of ex-football players who like to hit people. (I know this.) Lots of NCAA defensive men are physical, but the reason people like Gavin Adler stand far above them all is stick skills and great technique.

I don't think it's a matter of either/or. Gavin Adler is a generational talent, and if we could have 4-5 defenders like him, we could go undefeated. A team capable of winning the NC needs defenders who are fast, skilled, and able to be physical when necessary.

[mike1960]

I don't think it's a matter of either/or. Gavin Adler is a generational talent, and if we could have 4-5 defenders like him, we could go undefeated. A team capable of winning the NC needs defenders who are fast, skilled, and able to be physical when necessary.

It's not an either/or. Defensive poles are already physical. Many are more physical than Adler. I would say Lavelle is one. But they are not as good as he is because they are not as skilled as he is. For the most part, defensive poles are already as physical as they can be without getting penalties.

I think I am reacting (maybe overreacting) to the football coach-speak that "we need to be more physical." Instead, we needed to play better lacrosse. For instance, our defense was much improved toward the end of the year, and it wasn't because we were being more physical. It was because we were playing better team defense.

[billhoward]

Regardless, the future is bright for Cornell lacrosse and Go Big Red!!!

Agree with all you said. At some point when older alumni fans look at lacrosse or hockey, we'd kind of like our present to look bright. Same way you feel as a graduating senior hearing next year looks bright when you've come close the past four. For older alums, there may no longer be enough tomorrows left. Well, hockey came real close to final four, and lacrosse came close to coming close, if not winning the ILT, then winning two of the three Denver Syracuse Notre Dame games and making the NCAAs.

[Swampy]

Regardless, the future is bright for Cornell lacrosse and Go Big Red!!!

Agree with all you said. At some point when older alumni fans look at lacrosse or hockey, we'd kind of like our present to look bright. Same way you feel as a graduating senior hearing next year looks bright when you've come close the past four. For older alums, there may no longer be enough tomorrows left. Well, hockey came real close to final four, and lacrosse came close to coming close, if not winning the ILT, then winning two of the three Denver Syracuse Notre Dame games and making the NCAAs.

What you say is very true. But it's very frustrating to come so close without winning the last game of the season, time and time again. Nonetheless, given this year's performance and the teams' makeup, we have every reason to believe that next year's hockey & lacrosse teams will be credible contenders for national championships. But in sports there's always uncertainty, associated with injuries, weather, matchups, bonehead plays, and just plain luck. So, at this point, we have all we can reasonably hope for.

[billhoward]

Jeff Teat finishes fifth in the Indoor National Lacrosse League voting by Inside Lacrosse. The winner is a goalie. Voting at end of the regular season was by four IL editors/writers on a 5-4-3-2-1 basis; each had 5 ranked picks.

Nick Rose, Toronto Rock, 15 points (1 first-place vote)
Connor Fields, Rochester Knighthawks, 14 points (2 first-place votes)
Dhane Smith, Buffalo Bandits, 12 points (1 first-place vote)
Josh Byrne, Buffalo Bandits, 10 points
Jeff Teat, New York Riptide, 8 points
Jake Withers, Halifax Thunderbirds, 1 point

https://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/il-indoor-nll-awards-most-valuable-player-nick-rose/63499

[billhoward]

NCAA men's lax semifinals Saturday were not close.* The rest of the top ten schools could said We could've gotten this far (as long as we weren't in the Notre Dame-side bracket). Notre Dame's NCAA margins of victory have been 5 (Albany), 5 (Georgetown), 7 (Denver). Title game Monday at 1 pm EDT.  


[code]5 Denver     1  3  1  1 --  6
1 Notre Dame 3  2  4  4 -- 13

7 Maryland   4  3  4  1 -- 12
6 Virginia   1  2  1  2 --  6

* Nor was Notre Dame-Denver clearly settled until the fourth quarter. All but about 5 minutes of the first half were within one goal, and ND didn't have a four-goal lead until 10 minutes into the second half. Denver's last goal came 90 seconds into the fourth quarter to make it 9-6 ND.

Notre Dame is probably a heavier favorite against Maryland than Maryland was against Cornell in the 2022 game, and that was only a 2-goal victory for the Terps, 9-7. Should Maryland pull and upset, the Baltimore Sun and Washington Post will be writing about the resurrection of Secession-State -- sorry, Southern -- lacrosse.

[Iceberg]

If I hadn't seen the Maryland team bus in Center City or the various people wearing Maryland or Virginia attire today, I would've had no idea of any of the FF teams. Not much to be invested in this year

[Trotsky]

I have not heard a single person mention college lacrosse in the state of Virginia this year except me.