Going on a 9-1 run following a 5-3 lead from Yale near the end of the first half, everything started to go right for the Big Red.
It was a different story than the last time these teams met, when the Bulldogs pulled out the 13-11 win.
“This ranks up as one of the top defensive games we’ve played all year,” Cornell coach Peter Milliman said. “The defense from that game to this one, we just played better on the ball. It was about our help defense, our guys selling out to make plays. Giving [goalie] Christian [Knight] shots that he could see, he’s been making great saves.”
The Big Red also demonstrated depth on offense. It wasn’t just Jeff Teat, who had five assists but scored just one goal in the Big Red’s run to the title. Clarke Petterson had four points, Colton Rupp and Jordan Dowiak each had two goals, and six more Big Red scorers contributed single tallies.
PHOTO BY RICH BARNES
Cornell goalie Christian Knight makes one of his 16 saves, stopping a shot by Yale’s Jack Tigh. Knight finished with 35 saves in two games, setting an Ivy League tournament record.
But it was the man in net who stole the show.
Knight made 16 saves following his 19-stop performance to beat Brown on Friday night and advance to the title game. With six of his saves coming in the second quarter, the Bulldogs were deflated before even taking the field in the third.
“It didn’t feel like us,” Yale coach Andy Shay said. “We kind of let them have it at halftime. I hate to say that, because I feel that takes something away from Cornell’s performance. … For us to say that, it’s probably unfair to them, but we didn’t generate a lot.”
Cornell leapt out to a 2-1 lead following Reeves opening the scoring for Yale, but the Bulldogs tallied three in a row to take a 5-3 advantage.
Three straight goals in the final 3:47 of the opening half had the Big Red back in control with a 6-5 lead, and the start of the third was more of the same. With the Yale offense, sans Reeves, shut down, the Big Red controlled the possession game.
While Knight broke the Ivy League tournament record for saves in a tournament in the third quarter, Starr had just one save going into the fourth quarter.
Jake Pulver made it a three-goal advantage for the Big Red with a 50-yard goal against Yale’s aggressive ride to start the fourth. That was one way to beat the press.
FROM WAY DOWNTOWN. Jake Pulver with a LASER from about 55 yards out to give @CornellLacrosse a 9-6 lead. Now 10-6 with 12:24 left. pic.twitter.com/CB7ltO4FQH
— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) May 6, 2018
“It’s not a real clear cut 10-man [ride],” Milliman said. “We call it a nine-nine because the goalie isn’t all the way out. He’s out far enough. It’s also a zone. It’s a matter of finding guys more open than they look, and know they’re going to have to pressure through some short sticks. The other thing is telling guys if they see an open net, go.”
Once Pulver’s shot hit twine, that seemed to give the Big Red the final push.
“In practice he loves throwing it,” Teats said. “In practice he’s good at it, and he stuck that one. We worked off it, it was a big goal.”
The Big Red continued to roll, and Yale had no answers.
The Bulldogs have been held to eight goals twice before — a win over Fairfield in which they allowed just three tallies and a 9-8 overtime loss against Bucknell. Since that defeat, their lowest goal total was 14, reaching 27 and 21 goals on separate occasions.
Reeves scored five goals Sunday, but the offense around him couldn’t produce much more.
“You can’t really shut him off,” Milliman said. “He’ll still get it. But we also could slide early and turn him into a feeder and take our chances from there.”
Even when the Bulldogs did get chances, they were stymied. When Knight made a point-blank save on Jackson Morrill, the wind seemed taken out of Yale’s sails.
It was just more momentum for the Big Red.
“This is one of the happiest moments of my life,” Knight said. “It’s a really special day to accomplish this with really special people.”
For Milliman, still with the interim tag at the helm for the Big Red, the victory sealed the deal for evidence of what Cornell lacrosse could really be this season.
“I’ve been here for a few years, I feel very close to these guys,” Milliman said. “I’m proud of these guys to achieve something like this. We were selected fifth in the preseason. We weren’t a ranked team. I had conversations in the offseason with people who thought we just weren’t very good. I can understand. We haven’t been very good the past couple of years. … But I thought this was a group that had the ability to compete with the best teams in the country.”