On Saturday, the women’s lacrosse team went head-to-head with Brown on Schoellkopf Field. At the end of the game, Cornell was up 8–6 on the scoreboard; however, the Red had to fight hard to overcome its own mistakes. While the day was warm and sunny, and a light breeze whispered through the air, the lacrosse on the field was aggressive, physical and messy.
Brown (5–5, 2–2 Ivy) opened the game fast and hard, scoring first a little over three minutes into the game. A lackluster No. 11 Cornell (8-2, 3-2) team came out slow and could not get its offense together. After a lot of dropped balls and poor transition for both teams, the Red managed to even the score with 18:36 remaining. Junior Jamiee Reynolds nailed one in the net on a feed from classmate Lori Wohlschlegel.
The Bears continued to attack Cornell with a tough, bumping defense. The hero for the Red was junior goalkeeper Carrie Giancola, who racked up huge saves throughout the game. Her total count came to eight with two ground balls. Brown did sneak one past her at the 11:55 mark to take back the lead, but she saved the next shot to keep the game close.
“It was way too close for my comfort. I feel like we were a little lucky to win this game today. I guess I am dumbfounded at why my team doesn’t come out with the intensity they need,” head coach Jenny Graap ’86 stated.
Cornell’s freshman Michelle Allen and sophomore Sarah Fischer both had two goals in the Ivy League battle, and five of their teammates contributed offensively to the game.
The Red finally got into its groove, sparked by Fischer’s goal off an assist by Reynolds, at 10:22 left in the half. That tally evened the score. Sophomore Sarah Averson’s shot two minutes later got Cornell its first lead of the game. The Red’s defense held strong and made the Bears look rough and miss a lot of shots. With 5:49 remaining, Allen took the ball to the net for a quick score to give her team a 4–2 lead.
“We were not satisfied with our lackluster play, we talked about picking up the intensity in the second stanza,” Graap said of her halftime speech.
“The whole first half was turnovers, mistakes and blunders,” Graap summarized.
After a lot of dancing around the goal, sophomore Erica Holveck nailed Cornell’s fifth goal at the 24:49 mark. Cornell won the next draw control and looked like it was going to pull away. However, Brown’s goalkeeper, Niki Caggiano, came up with a huge save to halt the Red attack. Her defense set the Bears on fire — Brown netted two goals in the following minute, making the score 5–4.
For almost 14 minutes, neither team could get the ball past the poles. Both teams failed to capitalize on fast breaks, and Brown’s clingy defense was too much for the Red. Finally, junior Ginny Miles broke the standoff with a beautiful shot with 13:11 to go in the game, to make the score 6–4.
Brown answered the goal at the 8:29 mark to bring the Bears within one. Cornell regrouped and freshman Michelle Allen knocked in a goal off a dish from Wohlshlegel. After getting the draw, the Red scored again less than a minute later off an unassisted shot by Fischer. Cornell held on to its 8–5 lead again for less than a minute, when Brown scored from the free position with 3:46 left in the game. The defense was able to hold off the Bears’ attack and the 8–6 score would last until the buzzer.
“Defensively, [sophomore] Sarah Graham held her mark to just two assists on the day while doing an excellent job taking the draws and picking up five ground balls. Reynolds led the team with six groundballs, one check and one interception. Junior Kari Zarzecki played a solid game with two interceptions, two groundballs, and one check. Sophomore Katie Lavin earned one drawn charge, one groundball and one check while classmate Rachel Friedman recorded one check and one groundball. Junior Katie McCorry, senior Sarah McGoey, and junior Beth Calder rounded out a solid defensive effort,” lauded Graap of her defense.
“We were just really flat, which is very frustrating for me. There just is no excuse. We need to get to the bottom of it. We have a lot of important games left. We need to get a grip, we really need to get a grip,” Graap summed up.
The Red heads to Syracuse on Wednesday night to play in the Carrier Dome, and then returns to Ivy action on Saturday with a visit to New Haven, Conn., to play Yale.
Archived article by Cammy Kandiko