The Cornell men’s lacrosse team takes on Lehigh this weekend in its third to last game of the regular season. The Red (5-5, 1-3 Ivy) has had an up-and-down season and is looking for three more wins in order to hopefully move into the postseason with a solid position.
“I think our goals remain the same going forward,” said senior defender Tony Britton. “Keep winning games.”
Coming off an epic overtime win on Tuesday against Syracuse, the Red has a lot of positive momentum and will try to build off this momentum over the weekend.
“We have been working very hard in practice to make sure that we can continue the momentum and keep our focus after our big win,” said freshman attackman Colton Rupp.
Rupp had his first career assist in the win against Syracuse and remains the team’s leading scorer.
“For the rest of the season, we are going to work as hard as we can, and give all our effort for each other on the team,” he said. “If we do that, the results will take care of themselves.”
With the Syracuse game on Tuesday — the Red’s second mid-week game of the season — the team only has three days of practice to prepare for Lehigh compared to the usual five-day (one week) preparation routine.
Britton mentioned how this shortened time actually helps the Red stay within itself.
“Coming off a mid-week game, we’re kind of just focused on us,” he said. “We’re not focusing on the other team just yet.”
With the postseason approaching fast, teams are working especially hard at this point of the year.
“I think we started the season slow … and to come out on Tuesday night and have a win like we did was huge for our confidence going forward,” Britton said. “We still have a chance to make the postseason, so we’re still looking at that.”
Freshman midfielder Clarke Petterson expanded on the team’s end-of-year goals.
“I think our goal for the end of the year [is] to win the Ivy League Tournament,” he said. “[I’m] confident that we will finish strong and you can never know what might happen. That’s the reason you play the game.”
Petterson, who scored three times in the Syracuse game, emphasized that the Red’s strategies will remain the same going forward in every game.
“Our strategy is going to be the same as it is every game, and that is to make hustle plays all over the field,” he said.
Petterson also mentioned how the idea of giving a “George Boiardi effort” was brought up before the Syracuse game. George Boiardi was a former Cornell lacrosse player who died in a match against Binghamton in 2004, in his senior season when he was also captain of the team.
“George is a huge part of our program and always will be so I think our strategy for this Lehigh game and every game moving forward will be to play like George, and play for George,” Petterson said.
Play begins at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday at the Ulrich Sports Complex in Bethlehem, PA.