ITHACA, N.Y. – Using a 9-5 push in the final 30 minutes of game action, #5 Cornell was too much to handle en route to an 18-12 victory Sunday afternoon against the #16 University of Pennsylvania men's lacrosse team at Schoellkopf Field.
 
The Quakers fall to 3-4 and 1-1 in Ivy play while the Big Red improve to 6-1 with a conference record of 2-0.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn snaps a two-game win streak over Cornell since 2019 with the defeat. It's the Quakers' first loss in Ithaca since a three-overtime 10-9 final to the Big Red on Mar. 21, 2015.
 
*The Quakers fall to 1-2 against Top 10 teams in 2023.
 
*Sam Handley led the way with three goals and one assist for four points. He slides into 10th in program history in career goals (88), a tie for sixth in assists (77) and sole possession of seventh in points (165), passing Nick Doktor '16 and W. Kelso Morrill '85.
 
*Tynan Walsh, James Shipley and Hugh Mullane each scored a pair for Penn.
 
*Handley, Cam Rubin, Robert Schain and Gabe Furey finished with an assist.
 
*Furey took a team-high eight shots, including four on goal.
 
*Peter Blake clamped down on defense with a team-leading three caused turnovers, while Brendan Lavelle had a team-high six ground balls.
 
*Emmet Carroll made eight saves in net with a percentage of 30.8, his lowest of the season.
 
*Cornell out-shot Penn, 41-32, including 26-24 on shots on goal.
 
*Penn forced 16 Cornell turnovers, committing just 11 through four quarters.
 
*The Quakers were 18-for-20 on clears, while Cornell was 14-for-18.
 
*Cornell led Penn on faceoffs, 24-10, as both Jack Cascadden and Angelo Petrakis were 12-for-16 from the X. Chris Arceri was 10-for-29 at the spot.
 
*CJ Kirst led the Big Red with seven goals on 11 shots. Billy Coyle added three goals with three assists, while Brian Piatelli, Aiden Blake and Michael Bozzi each finished with a pair of tallies. Chayse Ierlan made 12 stops between the pipes.
 
How It Happened
Cornell got on the scoreboard just 10 seconds into the contest with a goal from Brian Piatelli following the opening faceoff to take a 1-0 lead.
 
From there, the Quakers went on an offensive push with four in a row, the first two off the stick of Tynan Walsh. Robert Schain and Cam Rubin answered to extend the Penn lead to 4-1.
 
The Big Red scored the final two goals of the first quarter to bring the score back to 4-3.
 
Starting off the second quarter strong, Cornell ramped its goal-scoring streak to five straight to take a 6-4 lead.
 
Sam Handley scored his first of the game to get the Quakers back in it, trailing 6-5 with 7:53 to play in the second quarter, but the Big Red notched three straight capped by CJ Kirst's fourth to take a 9-5 advantage with 3:59 remaining in the half.
 
That's when Penn started its push back, scoring the final two goals of the first half from James Shipley and Hugh Mullane to trail 9-7 into the locker room.
 
Ben Smith and Mullane scored Penn's first two goals of the second half to tie the game for the first time since the 14:02 mark of the second quarter, making it a 9-9 game.
 
But it was a 7-2 push for the Big Red over the next 13 minutes into the fourth quarter to take a 16-11 lead with just 10:41 to play in regulation.
 
Handley picked up his second hat trick of the year with his third of the game on the unassisted strike to make it 16-12, but Cornell scored the final two goals with under five minutes left to come away with the 18-12 victory.
 
Up Next
Penn returns home to Franklin Field on Saturday to host Yale at noon for Alumni Day. The program will honor the 1983 and 1988 Ivy League Championship teams. The Bulldogs are 0-2 to start Ivy play after back-to-back crushing losses to Cornell and Princeton.