W. Lax’s Farrell Reaches Milestones in Win

Things did not look good for the Red early in its faceoff with the Rutgers Scarlet Knights yesterday. Less than seven minutes into the game, Cornell was down 3-0, and Rutgers’ junior Michelle Poole was on a tear with two early goals and one assist.
Despite the grim outlook, the Red was able to hold off the Knights’ offensive onslaught and went into the intermission down 4-3. Head coach Jenny Graap ’86 had some inspirational words of wisdom for her players in the locker room.
“[Graap] was smart at halftime,” said junior midfielder Jessica Wiegand. “We were down 3-4 and she knew that we had a lot of time to turn the game around. She told us to just play our game, and that whoever had the most heart would come out winners.”
Apparently the Red had the most heart, as it came away from the contest with the win by a final score of 10-6.
“We played very well in the second half,” Graap said. “We had excellent leadership on the field and composure. I’m very proud of the effort.”
One of those leaders, senior attacker Courtney Farrell, reached some career milestones in the win. Farrell accumulated three goals and three assists for six points. With her last assist Farrell reached 71 for her career — which broke Alison Schindler’s ’06 record. She also became the 11th player to score 100 goals for the Red.[img_assist|nid=28452|title=Fearsome Farrell|desc=Senior attacker Courtney Farrell broke the school record for career assist’s in the Red’s comeback victory over Rutgers.|link=node|align=left|width=|height=0]
[Courtney] was a smart shooter because a lot of people were shooting high today, and she placed her shots,” Wiegand said. “I think the Rutgers goalie had a good game, but Courtney was very smart with her placement.”
Wiegand was correct in her assessment of the Knights’ goaltender — junior Sandra Abel notched 13 saves to keep the score respectable.
Other standout performers for the Red included senior midfielder Noelle Dowd, who scored four goals, including three in a span of six minutes, and junior defender Kelly Hansen, who caused two turnovers.
“Kelly Hansen had an exceptional game for us in the backfield,” Graap said, “and of course Noelle Dowd [played well] with four goals. Very impressive.”