Karly Krasnow | Sun Staff Photographer

The Princeton game was the last collegiate game for senior midfielder Ryan Matthews and the rest of the team's seniors.

May 1, 2016

Men’s Lacrosse Drops Final Game to Princeton, Blames Poor Offensive Execution

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The Cornell men’s lacrosse team (6-7, 1-5 Ivy) finished its season on a disappointing note this Saturday with a 7-6 loss to rival Princeton (5-8, 2-4 Ivy). Although the game had no postseason implications, the Cornell-Princeton rivalry is one of the oldest in collegiate lacrosse and there is always pride riding on the game for the sake of the rivalry regardless of each team’s standings.

Early goals from senior midfielder Ryan Matthews and sophomore midfielder Kason Tarbell left the Red with an early 2-0 lead with 11:26 remaining in the first quarter. However, three late first quarter goals from Princeton junior attack Gavin McBride (and one from junior defenseman Marshall Peters) left the teams tied 3-3 going out of the first quarter. The Tigers outscored the Red 3-1 in the second quarter to send the game to halftime with Princeton leading 6-4.

However, something changed in the second half, and the Red were able to limit the Tigers to just one goal.

Junior midfielder Grant Mahler did not feel like anything in particular caused this second half improvement.

“I don’t think we did anything too crazy team-wise,” he said. “We just were able to get more comfortable with the game.”

It was the Tigers’ senior night and also the last game ever for the Red’s eight seniors, which meant there was a lot of excitement and nerves going into the matchup.

“There were probably a bit of nerves at the beginning,” Mahler said. “But [we] knew that six goals in second half would be too many, and [the defense] was able to come through for us in the second half.”

Head coach Matt Kerwick agreed, adding that the emotional battle of a game like this can be quite difficult..

“I think through the course of the game there’s a lot of emotions when you know it’s your last one,” he said. “So I think the guys battled and really fought to the last whistle.”

The Red’s defense was excellent all game, as senior goalkeeper Brennan Donville picked up 10 saves to accompany his seven allowed goals, and the Red also won 11-17 faceoffs and picked up 33 ground balls (to Princeton’s 28). Mahler won four of seven restarts.

It was on the offensive side that Red struggled most.

“Defense for sure was great, especially in the second half,” Mahler said. “ [But] we were struggling to get the ball in, so just finishing on a few more of those opportunities would have been key for us.”

The Red has faced the problem of failing to finish opportunities all season.

“I thought the effort as usual was very good,” Kerwick said. “We’ll just have to execute at a better level.”

Although the Red outscored Princeton 2-1 in the second half, this was not enough to overcome the Tigers’ early lead.

The game marked the first time since 1988 Cornell and Princeton have played each other with neither team ranked nationally. This season also marks the first time since 1994 that neither Princeton or Cornell has at least finished with a share of the Ivy League title.

It was a difficult year for both teams, but the Red knew going into the year that development over the course of the season would be a process, with such a young team.

However, the Red are not focused on next season just yet.

“Right now, we’re just focusing on what happened on Saturday … and just enjoying the time we have left with our seniors,” Mahler said. “So we haven’t talked too much about goals for next year yet.”

Nevertheless, the Red’s Ivy League championship goal is a constant each season.

“We want to win the Ivy League every year,” Mahler said. “We weren’t able to do that this year, but hopefully we can bounce back and have a successful season next year.”