Blowout Victory Against No. 11 Harvard Earns No. 6 Cornell Opportunity For Back-to-Back Ivy League Tournament Titles

Cooper Davis ‘27, WVBR-FM Sports

The Cornell Big Red Men’s Lacrosse team lined up to face Harvard for the second straight game at Schoellkopf after having previously secured hosting rights to the Ivy League Tournament after an 11-9 victory over the Crimson on April 25th. On Friday, less than a week later, the two teams faced off in a bout that would result in a 17-8 Cornell victory and a chance at a 2026 Ivy League Title with a victory over Princeton, who defeated Yale hours later. 

While Harvard’s Logan Turley opened up scoring in a little over 2 minutes into the game, Cornell responded with 5 straight capitalizations on scoring opportunities, with Ryan Goldstein connecting on his only two of such on the game. 

The Crimson were able to get a goal back with 1:52 remaining in the 1st quarter, but a Cornell response 10 seconds later by Jack Cascadden, who additionally went 75% on faceoffs on the day (18-24), kept the 4-goal deficit heading into the second. 

Harvard began the second strong, as Logan Ip distributed a pair of goals to Jack Speidell and Teddy Malone, resulting in a 4-6 Harvard deficit by the middle of the quarter. However, it was all Cornell after that. The Big Red followed up with six goals unanswered, including a Willem Firth hat trick, Cornell was able to put the game seemingly out of reach a few minutes into the second half. Harvard was only able to muster 4 goals in the second half, while Cornell tacked on 5 of their own for a final score of 17-8.

At the forefront of this victory for the Big Red was their offensive dominance on the field, with Junior William Firth contributing 6 goals and assisting two others. Cornell was dominant on the faceoff, as senior Jack Cascadden went 75% on 24 faceoffs, winning the team extra possessions which allowed them to dominate offensively. That’s not to discount the stellar Big Red defense, spearheaded by junior goalkeeper Matt Tully, who saved 11 out of 18 Crimson shots on goal. 

Following Cornell’s semifinal win, they will head to the championship game against the No 2. Princeton Tigers at 1 p.m. this Sunday at Schoellkopf Field. The game will be streamed on ESPNU.