The No. 13 women lacrosse team met No. 17 Syracuse last night, and the evening played out like a classic rivalry game — intense, exciting, and hard-fought.
But one team had to come away with the win — and unfortunately for Cornell (4-4, 1-1 Ivy), it was the Orange who won last night’s battle at the Carrier Dome, 9-8.
“It was definitely a very intense game,” said head coach Jenny Graap ’86. “It was very physical … overall, it was frustrating. I think we particularly struggling with our shot placement. We made their goalie look very good.”
Syracuse (7-2, 1-1 Big East) opened the scoring about seven minutes into the game, when Meghan O’Connell found the net. Cornell would get on the board a few minutes later, when freshman Courtney Farrell scored on a free position shot. Caitlyn Dragon gave Syracuse a 2-1 lead with 12:14 off the clock, but soon Farrell would score again for the Red.
Freshman Amanda Linnertz then scored her second goal of the year, giving Cornell the lead. Syracuse came back with another goal, but Farrell found the net again, putting Cornell up 4-3.
Syracuse closed out the first half with two more goals, and the Orange went into halftime with a 5-4 lead.
Senior Kristen Smith opened the second half with a goal for Cornell. On the very next play, Farrell scored her fourth goal of the night.
Farrell has scored 15 goals this year, good for second highest on the team. Smith leads the Red with 16.
Eight minutes ticked by without a goal, but Syracuse ended the drought and began a four-goal run. With 10:06 off the clock, Jill DePetris found the net off an assist from Melody Agnew. Moments later, O’Connell also scored, giving the Orange a 7-6 lead. Agnew added another goal with 10 minutes remaining, and O’Connell scored again soon after.
Two of the Orange’s goals came in a three-minute span after Cornell senior Annie Berkery was forced to leave the field after her second yellow card.
Cornell mounted a late-game comeback, ignited when freshman Charlotte Schmidlapp scored the first goal of her collegiate career. Sophomore Margaux Viola scored the last goal of the contest with two minutes remaining.
It was a tight game in every aspect, with junior Maggie Fava notching 11 saves for the Red in the net, while Jen Kasel had 12 for Syracuse.
The Orange outshot Cornell, 30-23, and had a 17-12 advantage in ground balls.
The back and forth battle was marked by four red cards, 10 yellow cards, and 34 fouls. Syracuse won the draw control battle, 12-7. The Orange went 7-3 on draw controls in the first half.
“They clearly beat us in the draw control and that was disappointing for us,” Graap said. “When it came down to it they did what they needed to do to win by one goal.”
Syracuse now owns a 5-4 record against Cornell. Last year, the Red defeated the Orange, 13-12, in four overtimes.
Cornell will next be in action on Saturday, when the Red travels to meet No. 7 Dartmouth, in Hanover, N.H.
Archived article by Ted Nyman
Sun Staff Writer