Coming off of a week with no classes, No. 1 Cornell (9-1, 4-0 Ivy) did not look as sharp as expected but still managed to come out on top against Brown University (3-7, 0-3 Ivy).
In a year where the Cornell offense has been its calling card, senior goalkeeper Wyatt Knust and the defense were leaned on today, with the wet conditions making the game a low scoring affair.
Even in a game where the offense did not stand out, senior attackman CJ Kirst put up his obligatory four goals and five points. However, only six of his 13 shots were on net and he turned the ball over four times.
Inexplicably, coming into a game against the number one team in the country, Brown trotted out its scout team to start the game. The Bears’ regular starters watched from the sideline as Cornell promptly forced a turnover and scored less than thirty seconds into the game.
Brown then brought on its starters, imposing itself with a one goal handicap to start the game.
The Bears did not give up after this start though, and answered to even the score. Senior midfielder Hugh Kelleher put Cornell back on top with a lefty jump shot. It did not take long for Brown to retaliate with another score, coming from Ben Scandone.
The back-and-forth scoring continued when junior faceoff Jack Cascadden — left completely alone by the Brown defense — managed to send the ball to the back of the net out of his crooked faceoff head. Brown again responded quickly and the first quarter ended at 3-3.
It was Kirst to open the second quarter, skipping one by the Brown goalkeeper. Again, Brown was quick to fire back a goal of its own. Senior attackman Michael Long scored a bounce shot of his own before Brown rattled off two straight, taking its first lead of the game with the score at 6-5.
Cornell was able to find a scoring run of its own before the half ended. To start the run for the Red, senior long stick midfielder Walker Wallace was given room by the Brown defense and stepped down into a shot which found the back of the net. Kirst followed this by taking advantage of Brown’s reluctance to switch a short stick on to him, getting separation from his defender and sneaking a goal through.
Before halftime, Knust came up with a big save, giving Cornell the final scoring chance of the half which was converted by senior midfielder Andrew Dalton. This put the Red up 8-6 at the break.
Brown outscored Cornell 2-1 in the third quarter. The only goal for the Red came from Kelleher after he put his shoulder into his defender and stepped down into his shot.
To open the fourth quarter, Brown scored the equalizer bringing the game to a score of 9-9. With its No.1 ranking on the line, Cornell hunkered down on defense and scored four straight to close the game.
First, Kirst scored from atop the crease to break the tie. He was followed by sophomore midfielder Willem Firth, who, coming from behind the cage, scored a jump shot. It was Kirst again to bring the lead to three, and Firth iced it with a question mark dodge from X.
The horn sounded to finalize a 13-9 lead for Cornell, though the game was tightly contested by Brown until the final minutes.
Unsurprisingly, Kirst led the way for the offense with five points. Kelleher had a standout day with two goals, two assists and a forced turnover when he got stuck out on defense.
The Cornell defense only allowed 21 shots to reach Knust but managed to finish with an above .500 save percentage with 12 saves in the books.
Cascadden again dominated on faceoffs, securing 15 of 22 draws for an impressive 68 percent faceoff win percentage. Though Cascadden has been tremendous this year for Cornell, the team has struggled with its depth at the position. The backup, freshman Michael Melkonian, was only given three faceoffs today, losing all of them.
The Red will now shift its attention to its very challenging schedule to end the regular season. This begins with Upstate New York rivals Syracuse University as they travel to Long Island to take on the Orange.
The game will take place at 4 p.m. on Saturday April 8 with coverage available on ESPN+.
