A strong offensive game was enough for the No. 14 Cornell women’s lacrosse team to defeat Colgate at home last night, 14-11. Red freshman Courtney Farrell scored five goals, while sophomore Lindsey Moore added another four.
However, Cornell (4-2, 1-0 Ivy) did have some defensive trouble against its Patriot League foe, and the Red struggled on draw controls. The Raiders (7-4, 2-0 Patriot) won the draw control battle, 16-11.
“I think that Colgate definitely played very well tonight,” said head coach Jenny Graap ’86 said. “I’m certainly impressed with some of their offense. I think they challenged us, and they took really good shots on the net.”
Farrell opened the scoring less than two minutes into the game, when she netted her first goal of the night. Colgate’s Kelly Winning responded moments later, but soon, Farrell scored again with 19:05 remaining in the half. Moore and senior Kristen Smith would then add two more goals for the Red.
But the Raiders would keep pace with Cornell, and the game remained close, 4-3, with 9:19 remaining in the half.
However, Farrell would score another two goals before the half ended, and Moore added another goal off an assist from sophomore Margaux Viola.
The Red went into halftime with a 7-4 lead. Four of the Red’s first half goals were scored by Farrell.
Indeed, Farrell has played very well since the season began. She netted four goals combined last week against No. 13 Penn and No. 15 Ohio State, and she scored two goals in the Red’s opening day win over Notre Dame.
“I think she’s been very impressive,” Graap said. “She certainly doesn’t look like a freshman out there on the field. She’s very poised on the offensive end.”
The teams would trade goals early in the second half, before Cornell went on a 5-0 run. During the run, Smith, Farrell, and Viola netted one goal each, and Moore added two goals. Junior Allison Schindler assisted on two of the scores.
Smith has now scored a team-high 14 goals.
“I think our offense is really starting to gel, and get into synch,” Graap said. “I think that’s going to be huge as we go forward.”
Cornell led 13-5, but the Raiders would not give up, and closed out the game with a 6-1 run. Red freshman Katherine Simmons scored Cornell’s only goal in the game’s last 15 minutes. “I think that, defensively, I’d like us to be a little bit more aggressive at times,” Graap said. “When we did take risks — when we double-teamed the ball and put a lot of pressure on them — we actually came up with [possession]. And other times, when we were just kind of sagging off, and not really looking all that aggressive, I think that’s when we get scored on.”
Cornell will now play three very difficult games against ranked opponents. The Red will welcome No. 4 Princeton to Ithaca on Saturday. Next Tuesday, the Red will travel to meet No. 17 Syracuse, before taking on No. 6 Dartmouth, in Hanover, N.H., on April 9.
Archived article by Ted Nyman
Sun Staff Writer