CORNELL WINS 2025 MENS LACROSSE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP!

[BearLover]

It is impossible to know what Cornell athletics would have achieved if the pandemic had never happened. Maybe men's hockey, women's hockey, or men's lacrosse wins a national title that year or soon after. Perhaps men's lacrosse wins in 2022 if the pandemic doesn't lead to Donville transferring to the team that then beat us in the finals.

At the time, the way things were proceeding, the mass exodus of players from the #1 hockey team in the country, the coach of our #1/#2 lacrosse team leaving for Johns Hopkins, losing Morgan Barron and Jeff Teat to the pros after just two postseasons each, it felt like all of Cornell athletics was crashing down and would have to start again from square one.

But this crazy sequence of events led to Buzcek becoming our next head coach, a number of players on the 2020/2021 teams preserving eligibility and giving Cornell numerous fifth and sixth year players, something that would not otherwise be afforded to an Ivy program. Just a few years after the canceled seasons we had maybe the best coach and certainly the best senior class in the entire country. The result: a national championship. Given it's been almost 50 years since the last one in lacrosse OR hockey (men's or women's), in my view yesterday closed the loop on "what could have been" in 2020. I will not again complain about these lost seasons because the winding road of the past few years led Cornell to its first title since 1977.

[JasonN95]

Link to an excellent (in my opinion) condensed version of the game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39dWUW_r6tA&ab_channel=CuseCreaseHighlights

If you want to watch such for other Cornell games from this season, I recommend checking that channel, Cuse Crease Highlights, first to see if they did a version. There's another YouTube channel, College Lacrosse, that does them and gets a lot more views, but their versions have inferior video quality, an annoying watermark, and I don't think their editing choices are as good (way too many replays of a goal using slo mo, at least in their later efforts). One reason that they probably get more views is that they were exceptionally quick in posting after a game completed where as the Cuse Crease channel could take a day or two.

An interesting, classy postgame press conference by Maryland's Coach Tillman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ph-TTQ3CVas&ab_channel=wayneterp

[mike1960]

I just re-watched the 4th quarter. MD kind of self destructed. Highly unusual for a Tillman team. 2 failed clears. An offsides. An offensive hold. That's four possessions lost when they desperately needed them.

I would give Cornell more credit. All year long they've had an incredible ride and outlasted teams in the second half. Maryland had trouble with Cornell's pressure and they were probably exhausted at this point.

I hope that pointing out MD's uncharacteristic errors is not giving our team less credit. I agree that pressure from Cornell was part of the reason for MD's turnovers. And also Cornell was not overwhelmed by the pressure on the biggest stage, the mark of a great championship team. In fact, unlike the PSU game, the team moved the ball quickly and cleanly from the opening whistle. They were ready and they were fearless. I also like what djk26 wrote about unassisted goals. This year, this team won playing beautiful lacrosse, they sometimes won ugly, and on championship day they won out of character. They found a weakness in MD's on ball defense and took advantage. Great teams find a way to win.

[upprdeck]

Celebration on campus today around 4:45 the email says. One sad thing about LAX is winning after all the kids for most colleges have gone home.

I suspect we will see recognition at a hockey game perhaps this fall.

[Chris H82]

For those who weren't there, I've put some photos from the tailgate party and the post-game celebration on a photo-sharing website:
https://chris-h-stuff.smugmug.com/School/2025-Cornell-Lacrosse-Championship/n-DSs6xK

At the tailgate, evidently there is a recent (?) tradition of passing out shots of Fireball (I'm guessing it's that since it's Red) and then a booster/alumni (could be both?) makes a toast to the team and the crowd.  It was really cool.

[scoop85]

Celebration on campus today around 4:45 the email says. One sad thing about LAX is winning after all the kids for most colleges have gone home.

I suspect we will see recognition at a hockey game perhaps this fall.

I'll be at reunion in a couple of weeks. I hope Connor is around to present a talk about the season.

[scoop85]

Link to an excellent (in my opinion) condensed version of the game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39dWUW_r6tA&ab_channel=CuseCreaseHighlights

If you want to watch such for other Cornell games from this season, I recommend checking that channel, Cuse Crease Highlights, first to see if they did a version. There's another YouTube channel, College Lacrosse, that does them and gets a lot more views, but their versions have inferior video quality, an annoying watermark, and I don't think their editing choices are as good (way too many replays of a goal using slo mo, at least in their later efforts). One reason that they probably get more views is that they were exceptionally quick in posting after a game completed where as the Cuse Crease channel could take a day or two.

An interesting, classy postgame press conference by Maryland's Coach Tillman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ph-TTQ3CVas&ab_channel=wayneterp

Tillman is all class and an easy guy to root for when they are not playing us!

[scoop85]

For those who weren't there, I've put some photos from the tailgate party and the post-game celebration on a photo-sharing website:
https://chris-h-stuff.smugmug.com/School/2025-Cornell-Lacrosse-Championship/n-DSs6xK

At the tailgate, evidently there is a recent (?) tradition of passing out shots of Fireball (I'm guessing it's that since it's Red) and then a booster/alumni (could be both?) makes a toast to the team and the crowd.  It was really cool.

Thanks so much for sharing. I wasn't able to be there yesterday, but your photos and videos helps me almost feel as if I were!

[BearLover]

An interesting, classy postgame press conference by Maryland's Coach Tillman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ph-TTQ3CVas&ab_channel=wayneterp

I don't spend much time listening to Tillman and I agree he was classy here. But I think he came off a bit flustered in this press conference, rambling a lot about tangentially related topics in his responses. It's understandable given all the emotions, the strangest of all probably being that his alma mater finally won for the first time in 48 years by beating his own team.

[ugarte]

That was fantastic.  I drove my graduate home today, avoided the score and watched the game tonight. Almost as good as if it were hockey!  Added bonus was that at the Government department graduation ceremony the Dean mispronounced Knust. Wyatt wasn't there of course but a reminder of priorities.  I feel very happy for the graduation and the lacrosse just makes it better.  I'd love them to win it again so for selfish reasons I can completely focus.

i didn't have a graduate with me in 2009, i had a kid approaching his first birthday, so i had to watch *that* game on tape delay. glad you had a better experience!

To be clear, I was not at the game.  My wife and O were bringing our graduate home and we watched the game together at home later.

i know! i was saying i was distracted by a different event and it was worse to watch them fall apart all alone, hours after everyone else had the bad news.

[Al DeFlorio]

I just re-watched the 4th quarter. MD kind of self destructed. Highly unusual for a Tillman team. 2 failed clears. An offsides. An offensive hold. That's four possessions lost when they desperately needed them.

I would give Cornell more credit. All year long they've had an incredible ride and outlasted teams in the second half. Maryland had trouble with Cornell's pressure and they were probably exhausted at this point.

I hope that pointing out MD's uncharacteristic errors is not giving our team less credit. I agree that pressure from Cornell was part of the reason for MD's turnovers. And also Cornell was not overwhelmed by the pressure on the biggest stage, the mark of a great championship team. In fact, unlike the PSU game, the team moved the ball quickly and cleanly from the opening whistle. They were ready and they were fearless. I also like what djk26 wrote about unassisted goals. This year, this team won playing beautiful lacrosse, they sometimes won ugly, and on championship day they won out of character. They found a weakness in MD's on ball defense and took advantage. Great teams find a way to win.

No expert, but it seemed to me that Tillman limited slides to force our guys to beat their covers one-on-one rather than find the guy left open by a slide.  And CJ and Ryan did.  Ergo, few assists.

[mike1960]

I just re-watched the 4th quarter. MD kind of self destructed. Highly unusual for a Tillman team. 2 failed clears. An offsides. An offensive hold. That's four possessions lost when they desperately needed them.

I would give Cornell more credit. All year long they've had an incredible ride and outlasted teams in the second half. Maryland had trouble with Cornell's pressure and they were probably exhausted at this point.

I hope that pointing out MD's uncharacteristic errors is not giving our team less credit. I agree that pressure from Cornell was part of the reason for MD's turnovers. And also Cornell was not overwhelmed by the pressure on the biggest stage, the mark of a great championship team. In fact, unlike the PSU game, the team moved the ball quickly and cleanly from the opening whistle. They were ready and they were fearless. I also like what djk26 wrote about unassisted goals. This year, this team won playing beautiful lacrosse, they sometimes won ugly, and on championship day they won out of character. They found a weakness in MD's on ball defense and took advantage. Great teams find a way to win.

No expert, but it seemed to me that Tillman limited slides to force our guys to beat their covers one-on-one rather than find the guy left open by a slide.  And CJ and Ryan did.  Ergo, few assists.

It felt like CJ got a lot more attention earlier in the game. RG received some double teams as well. Teams have two days to prepare, so they probably have to rely heavily on their base defenses to get the job done. I wonder if part of the problem is that the MD defense was just gassed as the game approached the fourth quarter. Once CJ realized he could get a step on the pole and put him on his back, he started having lots of success. Even the dive attempt, though blocked by the great MD goalie, proved that CJ could get there.

One thing that Tillman noted in his interview was the Cornell substitution game. For those of us living far away and unable to see the games in person, we don't get a chance to see how Cornell puts pressure on defenses using the midline and sub box. Clearly, the Cornell coaches put a lot of thought into this phase of the game and use it effectively.

[RichH]

I just re-watched the 4th quarter. MD kind of self destructed. Highly unusual for a Tillman team. 2 failed clears. An offsides. An offensive hold. That's four possessions lost when they desperately needed them.

I would give Cornell more credit. All year long they've had an incredible ride and outlasted teams in the second half. Maryland had trouble with Cornell's pressure and they were probably exhausted at this point.

I hope that pointing out MD's uncharacteristic errors is not giving our team less credit. I agree that pressure from Cornell was part of the reason for MD's turnovers. And also Cornell was not overwhelmed by the pressure on the biggest stage, the mark of a great championship team. In fact, unlike the PSU game, the team moved the ball quickly and cleanly from the opening whistle. They were ready and they were fearless. I also like what djk26 wrote about unassisted goals. This year, this team won playing beautiful lacrosse, they sometimes won ugly, and on championship day they won out of character. They found a weakness in MD's on ball defense and took advantage. Great teams find a way to win.

No expert, but it seemed to me that Tillman limited slides to force our guys to beat their covers one-on-one rather than find the guy left open by a slide.  And CJ and Ryan did.  Ergo, few assists.

It felt like CJ got a lot more attention earlier in the game. RG received some double teams as well. Teams have two days to prepare, so they probably have to rely heavily on their base defenses to get the job done. I wonder if part of the problem is that the MD defense was just gassed as the game approached the fourth quarter. Once CJ realized he could get a step on the pole and put him on his back, he started having lots of success. Even the dive attempt, though blocked by the great MD goalie, proved that CJ could get there.

One thing that Tillman noted in his interview was the Cornell substitution game. For those of us living far away and unable to see the games in person, we don't get a chance to see how Cornell puts pressure on defenses using the midline and sub box. Clearly, the Cornell coaches put a lot of thought into this phase of the game and use it effectively.

The one thing that gave me pause in the 4th was the time of possession. I almost convinced myself that Maryland's deliberate style and TOP was forcing our excellent D to work more than they are used to and had US more tired than we thought.

I also thought that EVERY questionable or borderline call went against us (or in favor of MD). Even with that, we overcame. Just an exceptional performance by the entire team in all
aspects. So so proud.

It feels SO OUTRAGEOUSLY GOOD to hold our heads up high and not have to swallow moral victories this year. We are the celebrating and celebrated for once. More later, but damn this feeling is better than my dreams for all those years.

[marty]

I just re-watched the 4th quarter. MD kind of self destructed. Highly unusual for a Tillman team. 2 failed clears. An offsides. An offensive hold. That's four possessions lost when they desperately needed them.

I would give Cornell more credit. All year long they've had an incredible ride and outlasted teams in the second half. Maryland had trouble with Cornell's pressure and they were probably exhausted at this point.

I hope that pointing out MD's uncharacteristic errors is not giving our team less credit. I agree that pressure from Cornell was part of the reason for MD's turnovers. And also Cornell was not overwhelmed by the pressure on the biggest stage, the mark of a great championship team. In fact, unlike the PSU game, the team moved the ball quickly and cleanly from the opening whistle. They were ready and they were fearless. I also like what djk26 wrote about unassisted goals. This year, this team won playing beautiful lacrosse, they sometimes won ugly, and on championship day they won out of character. They found a weakness in MD's on ball defense and took advantage. Great teams find a way to win.

No expert, but it seemed to me that Tillman limited slides to force our guys to beat their covers one-on-one rather than find the guy left open by a slide.  And CJ and Ryan did.  Ergo, few assists.

It felt like CJ got a lot more attention earlier in the game. RG received some double teams as well. Teams have two days to prepare, so they probably have to rely heavily on their base defenses to get the job done. I wonder if part of the problem is that the MD defense was just gassed as the game approached the fourth quarter. Once CJ realized he could get a step on the pole and put him on his back, he started having lots of success. Even the dive attempt, though blocked by the great MD goalie, proved that CJ could get there.

One thing that Tillman noted in his interview was the Cornell substitution game. For those of us living far away and unable to see the games in person, we don't get a chance to see how Cornell puts pressure on defenses using the midline and sub box. Clearly, the Cornell coaches put a lot of thought into this phase of the game and use it effectively.

It was nice to see a full field view from the goal at times during the game, but I didn't get a chance to see substitutions during those shots and I have the feeling I'll never get the hang of the dynamics of the game.  RPI season tickets for hockey are a no brainer, but U Albany games for lacrosse are only interesting if Cornell makes a visit.

[stereax]

Welcome to eLynah. We just won a national championship - the first time since my parents were born, almost - and before the day is done we're already complaining about the merch for the national champions. XD

You made me laugh out loud.  I also realized at some point today that while I have seen the FOUR Cornell national championship games, my two sons -- class of 2004 and 2009-- were not even alive for the first three.  Forty-eight years is literally a lifetime....

But the merch is bad! Hahahah. 48 years is a LONG time. Man. I'm so proud of this team.

stereax you are not allowed to tell everyone here that we are older than your parents. it's unseemly.

Mea culpa. :`-(