ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Yale men's lacrosse team was the only
Ivy League unbeaten until today. The Bulldogs opened the 2010
league campaign with their toughest road trip of the season and
fell at No. 10 Cornell 18-7. Scott Austin, Chris Langton and Ryan
Hurley each had four goals and prevented the No. 17 Bulldogs from
making any type of comeback at Schoellkopf Field.
First-half face-offs and turnovers were the difference in this
one. Cornell (5-1, 1-0 Ivy), fired up after last week's home
loss to Virginia, won five of the first six face-offs on the way to
a 5-1 lead at the first intermission and never looked back, taking
its 10th straight Ivy opener.
Yale (4-1, 0-1) ended up having fewer turnovers (22-13) and
winning 12 of the 27 face-offs, but the damage had been done in the
first 15 minutes. The Bulldogs finished with more shots (39-35) but
lost the battle of ground balls, 36-31, and were four off their
league-best average.
Senior captain Brendan Gibson and his sophomore brother, Matt,
led Yale with two goals apiece. Gregory Mahony, Matt Fuchs and
Michael Pratt were the other Bulldogs to hit the net, while junior
goalie Johnathan Falcone recorded five saves on the synthetic
surfaced football field.
"I certainly think we could have played a lot better, but
Cornell made us play that way. I think they played with fire and
poise, and when we tried to match both, we couldn't. It shows us we
have a lot of work to do," said Yale head coach Andy Shay.
Senior Yale midfielder Max Rodman, who won 12 of 25 face-offs,
was matched up against Cornell's Austin Boykin (10/17), the No. 4
and 5 ranked players in Division I, respectively. Boykin had enough
early success to keep the ball away from a Bulldog offense that
ranked sixth in the country.
Langton, a midfielder, ran in from left side and slipped one
past Falcone on the game's first possession. Scott
Pennell, who scored twice, came out from behind the net to make it
2-0 in the first minute before the visitors could get a shot.
Matt Gibson, who had five goals and three assists in
Yale's only other game (13-12 win over UMass) against a
nationally ranked team this year fought through three defenders to
score from 12 feet away on the right side and cut the lead in half.
AJ Fiore played the first half and made four saves while giving
up three goals. Mat Martinez got the rest of the work and stopped
nine shots, including five in the final frame.
Recap filed by Steve Conn, Yale Sports Publicity Director
Matt Gibson image by Rich Barnes
