Cornell lacrosse 2025

It's starting right now (11:30)

Cornell coming out strong. Good ball movement.

3-0 Good guys, first quarter, time out

It looks like Denver might change goalies.

Bozzi let the Denver midfielder get topside. He needs to shade the ballcarrier and push him down the lane.

3-1 Cornell.

Cornell 6-1 at the end of the first.

Cascadden is winning faceoffs. Goldstein playing really well at the X, fearlessly passing around the field. CJ is playing unselfishly and keeping the offense humming.

Pretty much a beat down so far, Denver has had 2 goalie changes and the second quarter has barely started

9-1 Good guys.

Great team play and great individual play. Charlie Box made a miraculous play to keep the ball from going out of bounds on the clear. CJ and Firth both scored unbelievable goals.

Great team effort by the defense.

Does anyone know the story on Barry Leonard? I really miss him on the call.

10-1 Cornell. Halftime.

Cornell 10, Denver 1 at the half. Yowza!

Pretty clear that Denver isn’t actually a top 20 team but a 10-1 lead over anyone is great.

11-3 Cornell. Timeout. Alex Holmes went down with a non-contact injury. It looks bad.

Defensive mistakes are allowing goals. On the last one, Rayhill decided to take himself out of position on the double team, leaving his man wide open from 15 right in front of the goal.

11-4 Cornell, 5:45 in the third.

This time Walker Wallace left his guy wide open topside. Easy shot from 15 yards.

11-5 Cornell.

11-5 Cornell, end of the third.

15-5 now. CJ Kirst running wild on the Denver defense

CJ is on fire. Stopped a Denver run by flat beating a long stick and hitting a very narrow opening. Great shots from the wing. And now a bounce shot from top left. Wow.

Game.

15-5 Cornell.

After last year, this one feels pretty good.

the one non contact injury is a bummer

I thought Denver was a powerhouse. What happened to them?

mike1960
Does anyone know the story on Barry Leonard? I really miss him on the call.

He was said to be out with an illness last season. His twitter bio now says "Former Radio/TV announcer for Cornell Athletics." No posts since last May. [x.com]

upprdeck
the one non contact injury is a bummer

Who is that?

CU77

upprdeck
the one non contact injury is a bummer

Who is that?

Alex Holmes, senior, 2nd line middie. He pulled up from a leg injury and crumbled to the ground, stick and ball flying out of his hand. He was helped off and couldn't put weight on one leg. I fear the worst.

mike1960
... Rayhill ...

i know i could look this up but... related to Jimmy?

Trotsky
I thought Denver was a powerhouse. What happened to them?

It was a Red freight train.

ugarte

mike1960
... Rayhill ...

i know i could look this up but... related to Jimmy?

Brothers.

ugarte

mike1960
... Rayhill ...

i know i could look this up but... related to Jimmy?

Brother

mike1960

CU77

upprdeck
the one non contact injury is a bummer

Who is that?

Alex Holmes, senior, 2nd line middie. He pulled up from a leg injury and crumbled to the ground, stick and ball flying out of his hand. He was helped off and couldn't put weight on one leg. I fear the worst.

Ouch, sorry to hear it.

Harvard beat Syracuse 15-14 in a thriller.

Trotsky
I thought Denver was a powerhouse. What happened to them?

No help from the refs this time

CJ beat Denver this year -- Kirst 6 Denver 5. Looking at the stats he was 6 for 6 -- every shot was a goal! How often does that happen with a player who scores multiple goals?

dag14
CJ beat Denver this year -- Kirst 6 Denver 5. Looking at the stats he was 6 for 6 -- every shot was a goal! How often does that happen with a player who scores multiple goals?

Keeping Denver to 5 goals is very impressive. I notice we brought the double almost every time the ballcarrier was near the 5x5. We weren't going to get beat there. Lots of sticks on the shooting gloves/arms and some good trail checks. Very well done.

I don't know if the two long pole defensive mistakes that led to goals were player mistakes. If the two long poles were hot, then I think it's a coaching mistake to double from the topside. Correct me if I'm wrong.

It felt really cold when we finally got to the start of the Denver game, a half-hour late or a half-hour early, take your pick on the orignal noon or modified 11 am start time. Temps got to the mid-30s in the second half and it seems warmer when you're putting together a lacrosse clinic and a beatdown on the school the kept us from the Frozen Four.

Senior CJ Kirst was amazing. He's so good we should start panicking about the 2026 season. (#TheCornellWay) The defense esp. goalie Wyatt Knust was really good. Knust's save percentage (13x18) was 72%. I'm not sure how much statistics are meaningful here when it's 5-1 and 10-1 after the first two quarters.

I thought last week's opener and the 18-10 winning margin at Lehigh was okay-to-good, not great against a team with 2 games already played (Lehigh lost 9-8 to Richmond today; we play at Richmond Sunday March 2). Cornell against Denver was a level of performance that makes us a possible to be thought of as a final four team. I suspect teams that had a stop-Jeff-Teat defense will try to think of something to slow down Kirst. It's got to be a different defense: Teat was 5-foot-7; Kirst is 6-foot-2 and 210 pounds, same as Ed Marinaro.

Photos: CJ Kirst. 6G, 2A. Yowzah.
Cornell defense (in white) (yeah, it was confusing)
644 fans and a whole lot of snow:

Great pics, thanks!

Polls 2/24/25 has Cornell 2nd (USILA / coaches) and 3rd (media)

USILA poll: [corrected]
1. Notre Dame
2. Maryland
3. Cornell
4. UNC
5. Duke

Media poll: [www.insidelacrosse.com]
1. ND
2. Maryland
3. Cornell
4. NC
5. Army

There seems to be considerably variance, such as Army 14th in the USILA poll and 5th in the coaches poll. I almost thought I was looking at one poll from 2025 and one from 2024

billhoward

3. Syracuse (3-2 record and the only first-place vote ND didn't get)

You should lose your voting privileges for giving a 2-loss team a first-place vote in February.

How would anyone even vote SU in the top 5? two losses

Maryland is 4-0 and beat them, Harvard is 19th in that same poll

Almost like half those people are not even changing votes from the preaseason

IL screwed up, that has to be results from some other year. Here is the real USILA poll: [usila.org]

1. Notre Dame
2. Maryland
3. Cornell
4. UNC
5. Duke

ugarte

billhoward

3. Syracuse (3-2 record and the only first-place vote ND didn't get)

You should lose your voting privileges for giving a 2-loss team a first-place vote in February.

That's crazy. But polls are meaningless until they are not.

Edit: Happy to see the corrected polls.

There is a game today.

Warmest game of the year so far

upprdeck
There is a game today.

Warmest game of the year so far

The oldest lacrosse rivalry. Free online!

Game stream is here:

[hwsathletics.com]

1 -1

Nice to see Chris Davis playing

2-1 Hobart.

The Hobart goalie has 4 saves already, two or three of them quality saves.

Hobart are playing well. We'll need step it up.

mike1960
1 -1

Nice to see Chris Davis playing

Nope. That was Long with the goal. Davis is injured.

That was Long with the goal, not Davis.

Four three goals by Hobart from the right 5x5.

5-3 Hobart ahead.

jjanow99
That was Long with the goal, not Davis.

Thanks!

Red not looking like the #3 team in the country ...

Cascaden only 2/8, not looking good

5-3 Hobart end of the 1st.

Hobart is winning faceoffs and shooting on goal. They are playing hard and well. Some turnovers.

Cornell is getting shots but so far the goalie is keeping them in check.

The Hobart announcer is kind of judgey about things.

jjanow99
Cascaden only 2/8, not looking good

Maybe give Ricci a go.

Better turn faceoffs around.

Wyatt is having a tough day.

Night and day from Saturday

Nightmare start.

Hobart playing with great confidence.

walker Wallace on the turnover and fast break. Needed that one.

7-4 Hobart.

Cascadden faceoff win and goal.

7-6 Hobart

CJ whips from side left. Five in a row for Cornell.

9-7 Good Guys

4:30 left in the firth half.

Goldstein around the back of the net, slam dunk.

10-7 Cornell

Kelleher has missed the net like four five times.

Caddigan top left from 15 yards on the EMO.

11-7 Cornell, end of the first half.

Better defense, better on faceoffs, and better goalie play. I didn't see as many free hands shots from Hobart during the Cornell run.

11-7 Red at half

Did Singer get back in the game? He limped off at the end of the first quarter.

jjanow99
Did Singer get back in the game? He limped off at the end of the first quarter.

He's back in there.

Cornell 12-7.

Hobart goal, side right. Our long pole turned his back on the shot.

13-8 Cornell.

Sweet give and go, CJ to Bartolotto.

16-8 Cornell

17-9 Cornell, end of the third.

Nice pass from CJ to Dalton at the doorstep.

mike1960

jjanow99
Cascaden only 2/8, not looking good

Maybe give Ricci a go.

Ricci 0-4

CJ scores, and no one celebrates.

18-9 Cornell.

After getting hit in the mouth, Cornell finds its legs.

22-9 Final.

Red wake up and end with a 15-2 run.

I'd like to see the starters pulled sooner than 5 min to go. Watching CJ selling out on the ride when up by a zillion is scary ...

I couldn’t watch but Jesus Kirst is ridiculous.

I suspect that if it wasn't the 2nd game of the season the starters would have been pulled earlier.

chimpfood
I couldn’t watch but Jesus Kirst is ridiculous.

Jesus Kirst.

mike1960

chimpfood
I couldn’t watch but Jesus Kirst is ridiculous.

Jesus Kirst.

Sounds right.

mike1960

chimpfood
I couldn’t watch but Jesus Kirst is ridiculous.

Jesus Kirst.

So that's what the J is short for!

Hobart led 3-1 and [edit add] 7-3 but went down 11-7 at the half and Cornell won the secnd half 11-2 ...

Cornell	3	8	6	5  —	22
Hobart	5	2	2	0  —	 9

CJ Kirst, 6G, 6A — 12 points today. Started the season at Lehigh with 6-0—6 then 6-2—8 in the home opener against Denver. Kirst has 18 of Cornell's 55 goals and is on a theoretical pace to finish with 113 points in the regular season. Scoring comes harder once we see top 20 and top 10 competition.

Wyatt Knust and (last 3 minutes) Matthew Tully combined for a .667 save percentage.

On to Richmond for a 1 pm Sunday game. (Be on ESPN+). Them home against Penn State 12 noon Saturday, March 8, same weekend as women likely hosting the ECAC hockey semifinals/finals and the men likely hosting a first-round game.

billhoward
Hobart led 3-1 but then ...

Actually, Hobart led 7-3 early in the second quarter.

dag14
I suspect that if it wasn't the 2nd game of the season the starters would have been pulled earlier.

It was the third, but who's counting?

CU77

dag14
I suspect that if it wasn't the 2nd game of the season the starters would have been pulled earlier.

It was the third, but who's counting?

I actually knew that but sort of forgot about Lehigh after the Denver delight. Same thought after 3 games. Look at the rough start against Hobart -- every minute playing with your line against outside competition is helpful.

Al DeFlorio

mike1960

chimpfood
I couldn’t watch but Jesus Kirst is ridiculous.

Jesus Kirst.

So that's what the J is short for!

I hope the band can start attending lacrosse games. And when they do, they should play the opening chords of "Superstar" from Jesus Christ Superstar whenever Kirst scores.

Swampy

Al DeFlorio

mike1960

chimpfood
I couldn’t watch but Jesus Kirst is ridiculous.

Jesus Kirst.

So that's what the J is short for!

I hope the band can start attending lacrosse games. And when they do, they should play the opening chords of "Superstar" from Jesus Christ Superstar whenever Kirst scores.

"How many goals have you scored so far?"

RichH

Swampy

Al DeFlorio

mike1960

chimpfood
I couldn’t watch but Jesus Kirst is ridiculous.

Jesus Kirst.

So that's what the J is short for!

I hope the band can start attending lacrosse games. And when they do, they should play the opening chords of "Superstar" from Jesus Christ Superstar whenever Kirst scores.

"How many goals have you scored so far?"

It took me a while to get this, but you're right: "Jesus, Kirst; superstar! How many goals have you scored so far?"

I am hopeful that the coaching staff is working on building depth for the offensive midfield in light of the injuries to Nikolic and Holmes. Its why you carry a roster of over 50-right? Am hopeful some one will emerge as we don't want to run the 1st midfield into the ground like Tambroni did when he was coach on the Hill.

rss77
I am hopeful that the coaching staff is working on building depth for the offensive midfield in light of the injuries to Nikolic and Holmes. Its why you carry a roster of over 50-right? Am hopeful some one will emerge as we don't want to run the 1st midfield into the ground like Tambroni did when he was coach on the Hill.

I think the fruits of the excellent recruiting by this coaching staff over the past few years is paying off big-time to fill the gap. Ryan Waldman showed right away that he could be more than a placeholder on the 2nd midfield, and then with Holmes going down, a combination of Luzzi, McGovern, Lamb and Bartolotto have all done a fine job when called upon. While it's tough to lose guys, we're in a much better place depth-wise than we would have been in 5 years ago.

22 minutes of highlights of the Hobart game:

[www.youtube.com]

Penn never really in it vs UNC
Tigers takes down Duke

they switch on Sunday

Watching Rudy v. Maryland. We're going to have to play our best to beat these guys, but we are very capable.

Great game, marylands goalie (from Corning) saves the game after letting in a bit of a weak goal.

chimpfood
Great game, marylands goalie (from Corning) saves the game after letting in a bit of a weak goal.

Can't believe the refs didn't call a moving screen on Rudy's 10th goal. Wow. It was such an obvious call.

mike1960

chimpfood
Great game, marylands goalie (from Corning) saves the game after letting in a bit of a weak goal.

Can't believe the refs didn't call a moving screen on Rudy's 10th goal. Wow. It was such an obvious call.

Moving screen or moving pick? I thought moving screens are legal.

Swampy

mike1960

chimpfood
Great game, marylands goalie (from Corning) saves the game after letting in a bit of a weak goal.

Can't believe the refs didn't call a moving screen on Rudy's 10th goal. Wow. It was such an obvious call.

Moving screen or moving pick? I thought moving screens are legal.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought they were the same thing. The screener moved to his right three or four steps to prevent the defensive player from staying with the ball carrier coming over the top. It didn't make any difference in the outcome, but I thought, wow, how can you not call that.

mike1960

Swampy

mike1960

chimpfood
Great game, marylands goalie (from Corning) saves the game after letting in a bit of a weak goal.

Can't believe the refs didn't call a moving screen on Rudy's 10th goal. Wow. It was such an obvious call.

Moving screen or moving pick? I thought moving screens are legal.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought they were the same thing. The screener moved to his right three or four steps to prevent the defensive player from staying with the ball carrier coming over the top. It didn't make any difference in the outcome, but I thought, wow, how can you not call that.

By "screen" I understand an offensive player being in position to make it difficult for the defending GK to see the ball and/or the offensive player handling it. Screening does not necessarily impede the motion of anyone on the defending team. Of course, every player has the right to be in their space, so a screening player may stand still and impede the motion of a defending player.

A moving pick, on the other hand, moves to impede a defending player.

Swampy

mike1960

Swampy

mike1960

chimpfood
Great game, marylands goalie (from Corning) saves the game after letting in a bit of a weak goal.

Can't believe the refs didn't call a moving screen on Rudy's 10th goal. Wow. It was such an obvious call.

Moving screen or moving pick? I thought moving screens are legal.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought they were the same thing. The screener moved to his right three or four steps to prevent the defensive player from staying with the ball carrier coming over the top. It didn't make any difference in the outcome, but I thought, wow, how can you not call that.

By "screen" I understand an offensive player being in position to make it difficult for the defending GK to see the ball and/or the offensive player handling it. Screening does not necessarily impede the motion of anyone on the defending team. Of course, every player has the right to be in their space, so a screening player may stand still and impede the motion of a defending player.

A moving pick, on the other hand, moves to impede a defending player.

I see what you're saying - screening the goalie. I think the term can be used in both contexts. I don't recall the rulebook using the term "pick," but we know that that means.

mike1960

Swampy

mike1960

Swampy

mike1960

chimpfood
Great game, marylands goalie (from Corning) saves the game after letting in a bit of a weak goal.

Can't believe the refs didn't call a moving screen on Rudy's 10th goal. Wow. It was such an obvious call.

Moving screen or moving pick? I thought moving screens are legal.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought they were the same thing. The screener moved to his right three or four steps to prevent the defensive player from staying with the ball carrier coming over the top. It didn't make any difference in the outcome, but I thought, wow, how can you not call that.

By "screen" I understand an offensive player being in position to make it difficult for the defending GK to see the ball and/or the offensive player handling it. Screening does not necessarily impede the motion of anyone on the defending team. Of course, every player has the right to be in their space, so a screening player may stand still and impede the motion of a defending player.

A moving pick, on the other hand, moves to impede a defending player.

I see what you're saying - screening the goalie. I think the term can be used in both contexts. I don't recall the rulebook using the term "pick," but we know that that means.

The one thing I would add is that a pick does not have to be used for separating a defensive player from the ball carrier. For example, a play can start with an attackman having the ball behind the other team's goal and a wing middie setting a pick for the defender guarding the center middie; the center middie runs parallel to GLE and turns toward the goal at the pick; once the center middie is free of the defender, thanks to the pick, the attackman passes the ball to the center middie for a quick-stick shot. In general, such picks can be used to free a teammate from their defender so that the teammate can shoot, receive a pass, or otherwise do something a defender could prevent.

Swampy

mike1960

Swampy

mike1960

Swampy

mike1960

chimpfood
Great game, marylands goalie (from Corning) saves the game after letting in a bit of a weak goal.

Can't believe the refs didn't call a moving screen on Rudy's 10th goal. Wow. It was such an obvious call.

Moving screen or moving pick? I thought moving screens are legal.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought they were the same thing. The screener moved to his right three or four steps to prevent the defensive player from staying with the ball carrier coming over the top. It didn't make any difference in the outcome, but I thought, wow, how can you not call that.

By "screen" I understand an offensive player being in position to make it difficult for the defending GK to see the ball and/or the offensive player handling it. Screening does not necessarily impede the motion of anyone on the defending team. Of course, every player has the right to be in their space, so a screening player may stand still and impede the motion of a defending player.

A moving pick, on the other hand, moves to impede a defending player.

I see what you're saying - screening the goalie. I think the term can be used in both contexts. I don't recall the rulebook using the term "pick," but we know that that means.

The one thing I would add is that a pick does not have to be used for separating a defensive player from the ball carrier. For example, a play can start with an attackman having the ball behind the other team's goal and a wing middie setting a pick for the defender guarding the center middie; the center middie runs parallel to GLE and turns toward the goal at the pick; once the center middie is free of the defender, thanks to the pick, the attackman passes the ball to the center middie for a quick-stick shot. In general, such picks can be used to free a teammate from their defender so that the teammate can shoot, receive a pass, or otherwise do something a defender could prevent.

Yes. The same rules apply. The screener has to establish position (can't be moving). If not, it's called interference (not an illegal pick/screen).

They call moving picks way more strict in lacrosse than in basketball or other sports. I definitely could’ve seen one being called on that last goal but yeah good thing it didn’t end up mattering

chimpfood
They call moving picks way more strict in lacrosse than in basketball or other sports. I definitely could’ve seen one being called on that last goal but yeah good thing it didn’t end up mattering

One thing the refs don't call is unnecessary roughness when the defensive player plows through the pick. I know it's a perfect occasion for a flop, but I've seen a few cases where it definitely wasn't a flop, and it wasn't called.