Men’s Lacrosse Can’t Overcome Slow Start in Loss at No. 5 Cornell
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History { element.remove(); }); } else{ let elementsToRemove = document.querySelectorAll(‘.postgame_3_nextgame’); elementsToRemove.forEach(element => { element.remove(); }); } ]]> ITHACA, N.Y. – No. 5 Cornell won the game’s first six faceoffs and scored on 10 of its first 12 shots of the afternoon, which proved too much for the Dartmouth men’s lacrosse team to overcome, as the Big Red were victorious, 22-11 on Saturday afternoon. After Dartmouth trailed 10-1, the Big Green settled in, but it wasn’t enough as the closest they would come the rest of the way was nine. Sophomore Colin McGill led the Big Green offense with two goals and two assists.
“A lot of credit goes to Cornell today,” said Dartmouth head coach Brendan Callahan. “I thought they came out ready to play and we didn’t. It took us a little while to get going and you can’t do that against a team like that. Three goals in the first minute, I thought we needed to fight harder on the groundballs. They were winning all the 50-50 groundballs to come out… and they shot the ball incredibly well.”
With the loss, Dartmouth falls to 6-2 overall, 1-1 in the Ivy League. Cornell improves ot 7-1 and 3-0 in the league.
With McGill’s four points, he reached 35 points on the season in eight games, already more than his 33 in 13 games as a freshman. Junior Tommy Rogan added two goals and an assist while classmate Henry Bonnie scored twice to tie a career high. Junior Peter Lapina also recorded a goal and assist, as did sophomore Quinn Moore. All six of Dartmouth’s starting midfielders and attackmen scored a goal.
For the second straight week, fifth-year Peter Rizzotti and freshman Thomas Goguen each caused two turnovers to lead the defense. After losing his first six faceoffs of the afternoon, senior Mitchell Myers bounced back to win 14 of his final 24 with four groundballs.
“There’s a lot for us to learn from today,” said Callahan. “That’s, in my opinion, one of the better teams we’re going to see all season. If we want to compete at that level, we need to up our game. We’re excited to go back to work this week; there are some very tangible things for us to attack. The first one is we must start faster and play better out of the gates.”
Hear from head coach Brendan Callahan following today’s defeat at No. 5 Cornell.#TheWoods | #GoBigGreen pic.twitter.com/LBbxSArI82
— Dartmouth Men’s Lacrosse (@DartmouthMLax) April 1, 2023
The Big Red jumped out to a quick lead, making it 3-0 just 1:04 into the contest. Cornell made it 6-0 before Dartmouth’s first score of the contest – from sophomore Brandon Ventarola – at 7:16 of the first quarter.
After the Cornell lead reached 10-1, the Big Green scored two of the next three goals – from Moore and McGill – to pull within 11-3 early in the second quarter.
Blink and it’s by you
Quinn Moore’s goal today had some 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔 velocity.#TheWoods | #GoBigGreen pic.twitter.com/mOt7p2g8jp
— Dartmouth Men’s Lacrosse (@DartmouthMLax) April 1, 2023
Trailing 14-3, the Big Green scored the final goal of the first half (from Bonnie) and first of the second (from Rogan) to pull within 14-5 with 13:42 on the third-quarter clock.
Halftime: Cornell 14, Dartmouth 4. Henry Bonnie wraps up the first-half scoring with this goal. Big Green have struggled in faceoffs (7-20) and have just four saves.
: @ESPNPlus: https://t.co/NNZQOEBsAv
: https://t.co/ZldXpzKP02#TheWoods| #GoBigGreen pic.twitter.com/K1xTlDWLLC— Dartmouth Men’s Lacrosse (@DartmouthMLax) April 1, 2023
CJ Kirst’s third goal of the game put the Big Red ahead, 16-5 in the third quarter, but Dartmouth came back with four of the next seven goals and six of the next 11. Those six goals were scored by six different goal scorers, the final coming from Bonnie with 5:12 left in the fourth.
Final shots were 44-39 in favor of Cornell while the Big Red held a 44-25 edge in groundballs. Dartmouth was 16-of-19 on clears compared to Cornell’s 19-of-24. Freshman goaltender Sam Cooper entered in relief to make 11 saves (allowing 16 goals). Cornell starting goalie Chayse Ierlan stopped 10-of-19 shots sent his way.
“We dug ourselves a big hole today,” said Callahan. “I am really proud of the way that we fought and kept playing. The game was much more even after the point of their initial surge, but obviously, it wasn’t enough for us to come back and make it a tighter game.”
The Big Green will return to action next Saturday at No. 20 Yale. Opening faceoff is set for 1 p.m. on ESPN+.
