Cornell lacrosse at Hobart (thank you, seniors)

[Hillel Hoffmann]

Much has been made of Cornell lax's class of '05, with good reason. But the class of '06 just did 'em one better: four Ivy League titles, outright or shared. That hasn't happened in 23 years.

You can make a good case that the class of '06 is the most improved class in the history of Cornell lacrosse -- maybe even in the history of Cornell sports. As Tambroni said in Wednesday's Sun, "If someone told me that [the members of this year's senior class] were going to win four Ivy League championships and they were going to leave the team the way they're leaving it right now, I would have had a hard time believing that after their freshman year."

Back in the spring of 2003, the class of '06's best attackman and best short-stick defensive midfielder were both unpromising walk-ons (Derek Haswell and Dave Bush, respectively). Defenseman Mike Pisco was a high-school All America, but he looked overmatched as an underclassman. Short-stick defensive middie Cam Marchant was largely invisible. Goalie Kyle Miller, a sophomore at the time, had recently been diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer and wasn't playing. Even Teewaraton candidate Joe Boulukos, one of the most touted high school players to arrive at Cornell since the Moran era, struggled to find himself as a freshman. Boulukos is such a beast now that it's easy to forget he won the team's award for Most Improved Player after his sophomore season.

Here's another way to look at it: The combined point and ground ball production of this year's freshmen -- contributed by eight different players -- is likely to nearly quadruple the combined freshman output in 2003 (all of which, save one GB by Marchant, was contributed by Boulukos).

Talk about a turnaround. Now the class '06 is gonna go down as a watershed class -- the guys who led Cornell back where we belong.

So the next time you see these guys play, whether it's tonight in Geneva or in the playoffs, take a second to shout a thank you.

[Al DeFlorio]

Late first period; shots 12-1

[billhoward]

Those with a long history tracking Cornell-Hobart games know that no matter how matter how bad Hobart's record is, this is never a guaranteed-win night. Still, 7-0 in the second period seems comfortable.

[billhoward]

Tough luck for Hobart.

[Al DeFlorio]

Hope they can keep this up.  Sounds like the Cornell team of earlier in the season that just blew opponents out.

[Redscore]

11-0

[Redscore]

Red emptying the bench in the 3rd.  Cornell 11 Hobart 0

[Redscore]

Mitchell now 4-2=6 #40 on the season makes it 12-1

[Redscore]

Kyle Miller in at Goal - Yay!

[Redscore]

14-3 Cornell

[billhoward]

Tambroni gives everyone a chance to play. Hobart gets a couple goals off Kyle Miller. Good ending.

[Redscore]

15-6 Cornell Final
Annoying 4th period with Red Bench playing vs Bart 1st team.
Still - a complete and thorough beating!