Women’s lacrosse (6-2, 2-0 Ivy) faced rival Binghamton (6-4, 1-0 American East) on Wednesday, March 15 at Schoellkopf Field in a game that went down to the wire.
The Bearcats started strong, winning the draw and scoring within the first 50 seconds of the game. Keeping up momentum, the team followed up with another goal at 13:31.
The Red found its footing a little later in the quarter, with sophomore midfielder Kylie Gelabert scoring off of a free point shot. Binghamton responded with another ball finding the net, but Cornell didn’t back down. The Red scored two goals back to back, tying up the game, 3-3.
“Our defense shifted pretty quickly into zone, which I think helped slow them down and disrupt what they wanted to do,” said senior attacker Katie Castiello.
The Bearcats closed out the quarter up by one, with a last-second goal.
The second quarter started with Binghamton winning the draw and followed by another goal. The Red quickly fired back, scoring two goals back-to-back.
With 6:20 left in the half, sophomore goalkeeper Ellie Horner saved a free position shot. Following Binghamton’s attempt, the Red was awarded a free position shot and Castiello found the back of the net, gaining Cornell the lead, 6-5.
Both teams each scored another goal before the end of the half, with the Red going into the locker room up, 7-6.
The third quarter was more difficult for the Red with the Bearcats scoring in the first 40 seconds.
“[Binghamton’s] defense did a really nice job shutting us down,” Castiello said. “They threw in a bit of zone and man and I think that took us by surprise a little bit. We couldn’t really figure out what worked well around it and it was a bit of a struggle.”
Cornell was able to find some momentum at the end of the third quarter, with Castiello scoring her eighteenth goal of the season. Despite this, the Red were still trailing Binghamton 12-10 going into the fourth quarter.
The Bearcats scored a goal at the start of the fourth quarter, but the Red’s defense kept them from scoring again. Cornell tried to come back in that final quarter, scoring two additional goals, but it was just short of overcoming Binghamton.
The Red lost against the Bearcats, 13-12.
“When we were down, it kind of took us by surprise,” Gelabert said. “It shifted our mindset from ‘oh this will be an easy game,’ to ‘oh we actually have to work now.’ It was hard to get out of that mindset.”
In another close game, Cornell faced the University of Connecticut on Saturday, March 18.
Despite the slow start against Binghamton, Cornell came out ready to play on Saturday, scoring a goal within the first 25 seconds of play. In the first quarter alone, the Red had nine shots on goal, compared to UConn’s two.
By the end of the first quarter, Cornell had a good lead on UConn, 5-2.
The Huskies gained some momentum in the second quarter, winning five of the eight draws and scoring four goals.
The team was able to tie up the game at six apiece halfway through the quarter with a goal off of a turnover. However, the Red fought to get the lead back, scoring two more goals. Horner prevented UConn from finding the net with a clutch save.
Cornell closed out the half up, 8-6.
UConn came into the third quarter with a newfound intensity, with two balls finding the net within the first two minutes of play. The game was tied again.
Castiello was able to score off of a free position shot. Soon after, though, UConn was a man-up after a yellow card on senior midfielder Shannon Brazier. The Huskies capitalized on this advantage and scored.
Cornell was able to score one additional goal during the third quarter, but UConn responded with three more scores, ending the quarter with Cornell down, 11-10.
“They won that quarter,” Gelabert said. “Knowing that they had an edge meant that we needed to stay composed and I think we were able to do that.”
The Red rallied for the final quarter against UConn, bringing an impressive offensive push.
“This season, we’ve embraced the motto, ‘find a way’, whether it was coming up with ground balls, draw controls, defensive stops or just answering back to their goals with a goal of our own, just not letting off the gas and finding a way to win,” Castiello said.
Cornell scored the first two goals of the quarter, but UConn was able to slip one into the net off of a free position shot. The Red rattled off four consecutive goals, growing their lead to 16-12 with just one minute left in the game.
UConn was able to score one final goal from a ground ball pick up with 11 seconds left, but this was not enough to beat the Red.
Cornell beat UConn, 16-13.
“We did really great on draw controls, defense and offense,” Castiello said. “It was one of the first games of the season that we felt very proud of our efforts all across the board for the full 60 minutes.”
The team’s next game is on Saturday, March 25 at 1 p.m. at Schoellkopf Field against No. 17 Princeton.
“We want to harness the same energy against [UConn] and take down Princeton, who we haven’t beat in a while,” Castiello said.