Amid the hustle and bustle surrounding Princeton last Saturday, time at the Class of 1952 Stadium seemed to slow. The air stood still as the men's lacrosse team (7-3 overall, 3-1 Ivy League) forced Cornell (7-3, 4-1) into overtime. The ensuing seconds elapsed in an expectant hush as all eyes became fixed on the two players battling their way down the side of the field.
Cornell's Justin Redd was forced to make his way down the sideline as junior short-stick midfield Jared Keating refused to allow him into the middle of the field. Keating's solid defense effectively cut down Redd's shooting angle, and forced him behind the net. Biding his time, Redd circled around the left side and, still covered by Keating, dodged and rolled in order to create the separation necessary to nail in a shot in the lower left corner for the 12-11 Big Red victory.
"There is no way we should have lost that game," senior midfield Drew Casino said. "It's really upsetting that we did because it meant so much."
To get to that point, however, the Tigers had an amazing three-goal rush in the final minutes of regulation play. Down 11-8 with two minutes to go, the Tigers almost redeemed the prior 58 minutes of less-than-stellar play with an amazing rally.
Junior attack Jason Doneger began the surge with a quick, unassisted goal with one minute and 49 seconds left to play. Only 34 seconds later, freshman attack Whitney Hayes threaded the ball to Casino, who tallied his third goal of the game. Senior attack Ryan Boyle netted the game-tying goal with a mere 24 seconds left on the clock, knotting the game at 11 heading into overtime.
"We needed to get it done," Casino said in response to the Tigers' last minute surge. "That three-goal comeback, it shouldn't have had to happen."
The win, Cornell's first at Princeton since 1988, stemmed the Big Red's eight-game losing skid against the Tigers. It also puts Cornell in contention for the Ivy League's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, provided they beat Brown next weekend.
Saturday's loss was a disappointing one for Princeton, especially considering they started strong. The Big Red opened the scoring two minutes into the game, however, after forcing a turnover. Andrew Collins then nailed a shot from eight yards out. Freshman attack Scott Sowanick soon evened things up with help from a great pass by fellow freshman and attack Whitney Hayes.
Cornell then immediately capitalized on a man-up opportunity to pull ahead. The Tigers, however, stepped up the play as Casino tied things up at two. This started a three-goal run for the Orange and Black.
The always reliable Boyle dished out assists to Doneger and sophomore midfield Erik Kudla to boost the score to 4-2 by the close of the first quarter.
The second quarter was back-and-forth, with Cornell's Joe Boulukos finishing a shot from left of the crease to start the stanza. The Tigers replied less than a minute later as sophomore midfield Michael Wenzel's high shot found the back of the net. Cornell closed the gap again with seven minutes left in the first half, but Casino's last-minute goal put the Tigers ahead 6-5 going in at halftime.
The Big Red came out of the break with renewed vigor, scoring three goals and pushing the score to 8-7 at the close of the third. The Tigers' lone third-quarter goal came from freshman attack Peter Trombino who fired a shot from ten yards out, with an assist going to Boyle.
After the Big Red ripped off three goals early in the fourth quarter, the Tigers went on their run. The surge demonstrated the Tigers' immense talent at its best. This time, however, the Tigers' tardiness in showing their true potential was a costly mistake.
"It was tough," Casino said. "I felt like we didn't play nearly as well on defense as we have all season and we waited entirely too long to come back on offense."
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