(Photo Courtesy of Cornell Athletics)
In what was the 140th meeting between the two rivals, the Cornell Big Red defeated the Hobart Statesmen 17-8 to move to 3-0 on the season.
With the win, Cornell now leads the all-time series 89-47-7 and has won each of the past four meetings. Cornell’s last loss to Hobart came in 2017 and is one of just two losses for the Big Red in the series since 2000.
CJ Kirst led the way for the Big Red in the victory, turning in a career-best, 11-point outing off seven goals and four assists. Aiden Blake (2G/1A), Brian Piatelli (2G/1A), and JJ Lombardi (1G/2A) each tallied three points on the day.
Chayse Ierlan anchored the Cornell with 16 saves and a 69.6% save percentage. The Big Red went 13-for-28 (46%) at the faceoff dot as a team. Angelo Petrakis went 5-for-14 while freshman Jack Cascadden has the best day of his career thus far, going 7-for-11 (63%). Three of those wins came consecutively in the third quarter, where the Big Red were really able to pull after Hobart cut it to four multiple times in the second frame.
David Peterkin got Hobart on the board first but it wouldn’t be long until Cornell had control of the game. A Kirst score off a Lombardi feed at the 10:08 mark of the opening quarter sparked what would become an eight-goal Cornell run to pull them ahead by seven (8-1) early in the second quarter. That run saw Kirst score four times; three of which came consecutively. He assisted on two straight following those scores.
While a 4-1, half-ending Hobart run make it an 9-5 game at the break, the Statesmen were never able to pull any closer than four goals for the remainder of the contest.
A six-goal Cornell run from late in the third through the middle of the fourth ended with three consecutive Kirst scores, including a man-up goal, and helped put the final nail in the coffin.
John Jude Considine led Hobart with a hat trick. Adam Shea went 15-for-27 (55%) at the faceoff dot.
Cornell moves to face Ohio State in a high-profile road contest on Saturday. Hobart will travel to Robert Morris on the same day to open up its March slate.
Loyola 12, Towson 11
With 2:39 in the overtime period, Adam Poitras came off the pick from behind the cage, got his hands free, and put home the overtime game-winner to send Loyola past arch-rival Towson 12-11 in a Wednesday night thriller.
A minute earlier on the opposite end, Luke Staudt stopped the Josh Webber shot to record his 12th save of the night and help gain the Greyhounds what would be the final possession of the contest.
The Greyhounds had pulled out to their biggest lead of the night, 11-9, with 6:10 remaining in regulation after a three-goal run that saw Evan James (3G) score two in a row before Matthew Minicus (2G/2A) got his second of the day. However, Towson would be able to answer, turning a pair of defensive stops into scores on the other end. The second of those goals came from stick of Nicholas DeMaio. The score would earn DeMaio a hat trick on the night and be the eventual overtime-forcing score.
Matt Constantinides (18-for-27, 66%) won the ensuing faceoff and took it down the middle for the score but it was blocked. DeMaio grabbed the ground ball to retain Towson possession and Kyle Berkeley would hit the crossbar seconds later. Loyola would get the rebound and clear it up field for what became the final possession of regulation.
Loyola had two shots blocked and one saved before both teams took timeouts in the final seconds before a last-ditch heave from Towson towards the other end as the final buzzer of regulation sounded.
Towson took an early 3-0 lead and would stay ahead until Henry Haberman put Loyola up 7-6 at the half. The Greyhounds fourth-quarter run would be the only other time in which they led until Poitras’ game-winner in overtime.
Loyola moves to face Lafayette at home on Saturday in what will be their Patriot League opener. Towson faces UMBC on the road on Saturday.
Rutgers, 20, St. John’s 6
A man-up score from Luke Mangan off the Brian Kelly feed with 3:49 left in the first half not only completed a three-goal run for the Red Storm but also cut the Rutgers lead to just one (6-5). However, St. John’s would only find the back of the net one more time in the contest and it would come a full two quarters later.
Following the leading being trimmed to a single score, Rutgers kicked it into high gear and ratted off 12 consecutive scores that would make it an 18-5 game early in the fourth quarter. The Scarlet Knights added two more late in the contest to ensure the 20-6 victory over the Red Storm.
Ross Scott (5G/2A) led the way for Rutgers with seven points on the day while Jack Aimone had a career-high four-goal outing in the win. Brian Cameron (2G/4A) and Dante Kulas (2G/2A) were also major contributors, tallying six and four points apiece.
Jonathan Dugenio went 14-for-19 (73%) at the faceoff dot. Kyle Mullin made nine saves in the action he saw as the starting goalie.
Brian Kelly led St. John’s with four points off two goals and two assists.
Rutgers next welcomed in Utah on Saturday. St. John’s visits Binghamton on Saturday as it continues to look for its first program win under Justin Turri.
Monmouth 9, Wagner 4
The Monmouth Hawks earned their third consecutive victory on Tuesday night, defeating the Wagner Seahawks 9-4 on the road.
Monmouth scored four straight in the first quarter to pull ahead 4-1 and helped them go into the half up 5-3. Wagner made it a 5-4 game, but the Hawks pulled away in the second half as they scored each of the final four goals to earn the five-goal victory.
Ty Cafarelli had four goals for the Hawks while Cade Stratton had a hat trick. Andrew Kuhlman made 12 saves to anchor the Hawks’ defense.
Danny Brady made 17 saves with a 65% save percentage for Wagner, helping to keep the Seahawks in the contest for the majority of the night.
Monmouth will play Delaware next while Wagner has a date with NJIT.
Note: This article will be updates after Wednesday’s game.
Lacrosse Bucket 