This post has been updated.
A year after knocking off Yale to capture an Ivy League championship, No. 9 Cornell men’s lacrosse fell to the No. 2 Bulldogs, 15-10, in the 2019 league semifinals.
And a year after advancing to the national quarterfinals, Cornell’s season will end prematurely — the Red was left out of the NCAA Tournament, whose 16-team field was announced on Sunday night.
Cornell, the No. 3 seed in the tournament, trailed 8-4 heading into halftime before a four-goal Yale run to start the third quarter put the game out of reach in New York City on Friday night.
Despite occupying a top-10 spot in the national rankings entering the Ivy League Tournament, Cornell did not earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Red ends its season with a 10-5 overall record and a 4-3 mark in conference play.
Cornell’s Ivy League foes Penn and Yale — which earned the top two seeds in the Ivy tournament and were in the top five of the most recent national rankings — will host NCAA Tournament games as the Nos. 4 and 5 seeds, respectively.
Four unanswered Cornell goals in the fourth quarter made things interesting, cutting Yale’s lead to 13-9 with 6:28 to play, before time ran out on the Red’s Ivy season.
Freshman goaltender Chayse Ierlan’s 17 saves and junior attack Jeff Teat’s five goals weren’t enough for the Red. Yale outplayed Cornell in nearly every statistical category: Yale won 21 of 28 faceoffs and had 32 shots on goal to the Red’s 22.
Teat’s — and Cornell’s — first goal of the game gave the two-time All-Ivy first team attackman 100 goals for his career. Teat is the seventh player in Ivy League history — and third Cornellian — to reach the century mark in both goals and assists. He is the fourth Cornell player to reach 100 career goals as a junior.
Teat, a Tewaaraton Award finalist, scored Cornell’s first three goals of the game to cut the Bulldogs’ lead to 5-3 early in the second quarter. A 7-1 Yale run — finally ended by a Teat goal — proved the difference-maker.
Ierlan’s 17 saves tied a career high. The freshman has made double-digit saves in every game this season in which he’s seen double-digit shots.
But Chayse Ierlan’s strong play in goal was outshined by his brother TD Ierlan’s dominance at the faceoff X for Yale. The Ivy League Player of the Year won 21 of his 27 faceoffs and scooped up 16 ground balls.
Yale went on to lose to top-seeded Penn, 12-11, in the Ivy championship game on Sunday.