Both lacrosse teams fall in NCAA quarterfinals

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Photo by Dan Hayes-Patterson

Freshman goalie Tyler Fiorito embraces Cornell goalie Jake Myers after the Tigers' 6-4 loss Saturday afternoon. In the low-scoring game, Fiorito made six saves while Myers made five.

Purchase this photo

Photo by Dan Hayes-Patterson

Men's lacrosse head coach Bill Tierney, seen here after the Tigers' loss to Cornell in the quarterfinals of this year's NCAA tournament, announced June 8 he was resigning to become head coach at the University of Denver.

The men’s lacrosse team, the fourth seed in the NCAA tournament, fell 6-4 to Cornell, the fifth seed, in their quarterfinal matchup at Hofstra University on Saturday. Princeton was the top-ranked squad in the April 13 Nike/Inside Lacrosse Media Poll with a 10-1 record and victories over perennial powerhouses Johns Hopkins and Syracuse. But the Tigers fell to No. 5 by the start of the tournament last weekend, posting a loss to Cornell and wins over Dartmouth and Brown in the last three regular-season games.

Cornell, an Ivy League co-champion with Princeton, moves on to a Final Four match next week in Foxboro, Mass., against first-seeded Virginia, which cruised past eighth-seeded Johns Hopkins 19-8 on Sunday.

The eighth-seeded women’s lacrosse team also lost its NCAA quarterfinal game on Saturday, falling 16-9 to first-seeded Northwestern in Evanston, Ill. The team ends its 2009 campaign with an 14-4 record, while 21-0 Northwestern moves on to a Final Four date with fourth-seeded Penn next Friday.

Click here to read the blow-by-blow of the men's lacrosse game against Cornell on Sideline Dispatches.

More to come...