The No. 13 men’s lacrosse team (5-3, 3-0 Ivy) will look to keep its league record perfect when it heads to Hanover to take on the Green of Dartmouth (7-1, 1-0). Dartmouth’s 7-1 record matches its best start, and secures its first winning season, since 1995.
“It’s the best Dartmouth team that we have faced in the last six years that I have been a coach here at Cornell,” said head coach Jeff Tambroni. “I think their coaches have done a great job of building their program, understanding who they are and what they need to do to be successful.”
Coming off of Tuesday’s loss to Syracuse at the Carrier Dome, the Red will need to rebound and play well against a strong team that is riding high after a 21-14 decision over Penn on Sunday. It was the team’s first victory over the Quakers since 1996.
The Green is led by two young guns, including freshman attacker Jamie Coffin who has 17 goals and 18 assists. Joining Coffin as Dartmouth’s top threat is Ben Grinnell who was named to the Ivy League Honor Roll this week after scoring three goals in the game against Penn on Sunday. Last year’s leading scorer, he currently has 18 goals and four assists.
“Jaime Coffin has had an unbelievable freshman year all over the field,” said Tambroni. “We’re just going to know where he is at all times and make sure that we got a stick on him because he can make plays off the feed and off the dodge. If he’s carrying the ball to the goal we have to make sure that we get slides to him. If he looks like he wants to feed we just have to make sure we get a stick on his hands.”
Tambroni later added, “He certainly doesn’t play like a freshman and Grinnell certainly doesn’t play like a sophomore. Both those guys play like they’re junior, seniors. So it’s going to be a big part of our game plan to shut those guys down or just try to contain them as much as possible.”
On the defensive end senior Wes Lippman and sophomore Pat Keeley will be forces in protecting sophomore Andrew Goldsten in net. Goldstein currently has a .662 save percentage.
To beat Goldstein, Cornell will need to have strong play across the field. Tambroni is looking for senior tri-captain Ryan McClay and junior Tim DeBlois to match up with Dartmouth attackers. On the offensive end, Cornell has been getting production from a variety of players. Currently junior Andrew Collins is leading the Red with 10 goals and 25 assists and sophomore Sean Greenhalgh has 27 goals and 6 assists.
“We’re just going to have to continue to generate the shot selection we’ve been generating,” said Tambroni of his offensive plans this weekend. “This week in practice we needed to be a little more confident when we’re shooting the ball and carry that into the weekend.”
An Ivy League match-up, this game is especially important for the Red.
“During the week when you look at Syracuse and Dartmouth believe it or not, Dartmouth is the more important one because it is in the Ivy League,” explained Tambroni. “Our guys will be excited to go out and face Dartmouth but we also understand that if we are going to compete and we’re going to be successful out there, we’re going to have to play a good game.”
Playing a good complete game will be important for the Red on Saturday. The game is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Scully-Fahey Field.
Archived article by Kristen Haunss