Coming off of a sweep of No. 12/11 Duke (8-3,0-2 ACC) and RV/NR High Point (6-6, 5-0 A-10), men’s lacrosse is now down to its final two regular season games of the year: Dartmouth (4-7, 0-4 Ivy) and Harvard (9-2, 3-1 Ivy). This past weekend, the Red showed what head coach Connor Buczek ’15 MBA ’17 has been looking for all year – consistency.
All year, Cornell has struggled to string together complete performances, the problem epitomized by a road win over No. 3 Princeton (9-2, 3-1 Ivy) being followed by a home loss to RV/RV Yale (7-4, 3-2 Ivy). Finally, Cornell was able to put together two complete games of lacrosse despite a challenging rest and travel schedule.
“It’s a big challenge to travel to Long Island, play Duke on Saturday, turn around and have a good High Point team at home on Monday,” Buczek said. “I thought the team managed it well. I thought we competed for nearly the entirety of both games.
Buczek cited the defense as a large part of Cornell’s recent success, after an impressive performance holding Duke to just seven goals, and none in the fourth quarter to close out the win.
“I thought we did a really nice job matching that urgency that they were playing with to try to claw back into it again,” Buczek said. “It felt like May lacrosse. It was a great atmosphere, a great opponent [and] was a high level game.”
A big piece of the defense, senior defender Brendan Staub, was drafted in the third round of the PLL draft this week. Staub was drafted by the Philadelphia Waterdogs and will join attackman CJ Kirst ’25 and defender Gavin Adler ’23.
Backstopping the defense this year has been junior goalkeeper Matt Tully. Tully began his career in a hotly contested goalie battle with Wyatt Knust ’25. Knust ultimately won out, playing down the stretch in 2024 and nearly the entire season in 2025 en route to the national championship.
Now the starting goalie, Tully has been a force for the Red. He has shown tremendous shot stopping ability, playing a big part in the Red’s clear game and defensive cohesion that have been so impressive in recent weeks.
“In a position that only one plays, it's hard sometimes to make those decisions,” Buczek said of Tully's time on the bench in previous seasons. “We trust him an incredibly high amount, just because of what we've seen over the two years even when he was not starting every game.”
Perhaps it is not a coincidence that another Cornell star also did not start his career in his current spot. Junior attackman Willem Firth has a similar story, playing midfield in his first two years with the Red, before slotting into his spot on attack this year. Since joining the attack unit, Firth has been fantastic, leading the team with 35 goals and 57 points.
“He learned from one of the best to ever do it, that was playing on that left wing and was able to take some cues from what CJ [Kirst] did well and how he operated within our offense,” Buczek said. “And the nice part is, now down at attack, he's able to help a lot of the younger midfielders on the field as they learn what it's supposed to look like.”
Cornell now sits in a good spot to make the NCAA tournament, eighth in the RPI with notable wins over Princeton, Duke and No. 15 Penn (5-6, 2-3 Ivy). Should the Red close out the regular season and Ivy League tournament strong, it will secure a spot and be in the mix for a first round home game.
“In an RPI system with 13 opportunities, everything is paramount and it doesn't matter who you're playing,” Buczek said. “It's an opportunity to improve your resume and make sure that you're a resume worthy of playing into May.”
This week, Cornell will travel to Hanover, New Hampshire, to play Dartmouth. On paper, the Big Green are a weak team, but have given some other Ivy League teams trouble this year. Despite a 4-7 record and 0-4 conference record, Dartmouth has played Harvard, Penn and Brown within three goals. This week, the Big Green choked away a late lead against Brown, losing in overtime.
“They're well coached, they play hard, they've got a lot of talented athletes, they play good team defense and offensively they scheme it really well and they're very intelligent,” Buczek said. “So certainly, a lot of things that are going to put pressure on us.”
A win this Saturday would move Cornell one game closer to hosting the Ivy League tournament, which is clinched with two wins.
Cornell and Dartmouth will face off at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday in Hanover, New Hampshire. Coverage will be available on ESPN+.
