As the women’s lacrosse regular season comes to a close, the Red has been fighting hard to maintain a spot in the Ivy League playoff tournament. Pressure hovered over Stevenson Field in Providence, R.I., where Cornell played Brown on Friday. But despite the pressure, Cornell managed to scrape out a 10-9 victory over the Bears, scoring the winning goal in the last minute of the game. Having lost to Dartmouth, 9-6, last Saturday, the Red knew that a victory over the Bears was necessary. The team spent the week leading up to the game preparing for this Ivy League matchup, focusing specifically on beating Brown’s unique defensive style. Senior captain Libby Johnson explained that the team had also been working on improving its communication. Twenty minutes into the game, Brown (7-5, 2-4 Ivy) jumped out to a 3-1 lead over the Red (4-7, 3-3 Ivy). But the Red came back with three goals in a row within a four-minute span, bringing the score up to 4-3 in favor of the visiting team. Johnson tied the game at 3-3 with 7:36 left in the half, and sophomore Shannon McHugh scored on a free position shot to put the Red in front after 30 minutes of play. Cornell remained in the lead for almost the entire second half, with McHugh contributing another goal, and classmate Jessi Steinberg scoring a hatrick. Steinberg scored once more and senior Kate Dewey scored her second goal of the season. But the Bears did not go down without a fight. Brown’s Kaela McGilloway scored twice within the span of a minute and Brown trailed the Red, 9-8, with 6:12 remaining in the contest. McGilloway scored once more with 1:13 remaining to tie up the game. “Both we and Brown played extremely hard and it felt like there was a lot of importance behind each play,” Johnson said. “We took a couple of three-goal leads in the second half, and Brown never gave up which made the pressure even greater at the end of the game.” With time running out, Cornell and Brown stepped up the level of play to maximum intensity, as it looked as though the game would go into overtime. But with two seconds on the clock, Dewey scored her second goal of the game on a free-position shot, bringing home the victory for the Red. “The team erupted once Dewey scored,” McHugh said. “We were all so happy for Dewey and for the team as a whole.” The win keeps the Red in contention for a spot in the Ivy League Tournament. Dartmouth and Penn have already clinched spots in the playoffs and the last two spots are still yet to be determined. Cornell went into the game knowing that it had to win in order to stay in the running. “There was definitely more pressure knowing that we had to beat Dartmouth in order to keep our goal of making the tournament alive,” Johnson said. Next on the schedule for the Red is No. 8 Syracuse. The game will take place this Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Schoellkopf Field. According to Johnson, the Red will prepare for the game by working on its draw and having less unforced turnovers in hopes of another Cornell victory. “The team is really excited going into the game on Wednesday,” McHugh said. “Syracuse is a great team and the local rivalry makes it even more exciting.”
Original Author: Katie Schubauer