The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Bulldogs denied a fourth straight Ivy title
NEW YORK — Yale would’ve preferred to enter the NCAA tournament on the heels of a fourth successive Ivy League championship.
Instead, it’ll be forced to regroup after its least inspiring performance of the season.
The Bulldogs, ranked No. 1 in the nation, were listless for the final three quarters of a 14-8 loss to Cornell in the Ivy League championship game Sunday afternoon at Columbia’s Lawrence A. Wien Stadium.
Cornell (12-4) trailed 5-3 early in the second before rolling off nine of the next 10 goals to snap Yale’s stranglehold on the Ivy League title. It was also the first loss for the Bulldogs this season that didn’t require overtime.
The loss wasn’t expected to hurt much in terms of NCAA seeding. Yale (13-3) will still play host to a firstround game. Pairings were announced late Sunday.
“It didn’t feel like us today, and I kind of let them have it at halftime,” Yale coach Andy Shay said. “I hate to say that because that takes away something from Cornell’s performance. We have a lot of respect for their program. It didn’t feel like we had it; not like it’s felt the last few weeks. Hopefully it’s just one of those days. We’ll see.”
Cornell goalie Christian Knight was the difference. He made 16 saves against Yale and set an Ivy tournament record with 35 in the two games to earn most outstanding player honors.
Perhaps the most deflating of Knight’s saves came in the early moments of the fourth quarter, with Yale trailing 9-6 and still very much in the game. Jackson Morrill’s shot from pointblank range was turned aside with ease. Cornell would score three more times to put the game away.
“He was incredible,” Shay said of Knight. “He was a huge difference-maker.”
Yale’s lone bright spot was its captain and All-American Ben Reeves, who scored five goals and added the school record for career goals to his resume.
Reeves, already the career scoring leader at Yale, entered the game needing four goals to tie the Yale record of 162, set in 1990 by Jon Reese. He needed a bit over 18 minutes to equal the mark, scoring three times in the first quarter and notching his fourth at 3:05 of the second, which gave the Bulldogs a 5-3 lead.
But Yale wouldn’t score again in the half. Cornell scored three unanswered goals to take a 6-5 lead into halftime, making the most of every shot. Yale goalie Jack Starr made just one save in the half while his counterpart, Knight, stopped nine.
Reeves’ fifth goal of the game — which broke Reese’s record — tied the score at 6-6 with 12:42 remaining in the third quarter. But it would be another extended scoring drought for Yale, while the Big Red added two goals to take an 8-6 lead after three, only the second time all season the Bulldogs trailed heading into the fourth quarter.
But a goal from behind the midfield line by Cornell defender Jake Pulver, his first of the season, was followed by Knight’s brilliant save on Morrill that crushed Yale’s collective psyche. The Big Red scored three more times to make it a 12-6 game.
“We talked about not generating a lot of friction on defense in the first quarter,” Shay said. “The second half, our possessions were more limited and they had some big saves down the stretch. Hopefully we can sharpen our swords [for next week].”