ITHACA, N.Y. - The University of Pennsylvania men's lacrosse team made lightning strike twice late Friday night, knocking off Ivy League Tournament host and top seed Cornell at Schoellkopf Field, 13-9.

Friday's win was the 16th-ranked Quakers' second over the seventh-ranked Big Red this season, adding to an 11-10 double-overtime win in the regular season. 

Ben Smith led the way with three goals while James Shipley, Davis Provost and Connell Kumar all scored twice. Leo Hoffman had three points (2g/1a) and Tynan Walsh dished out a pair of assists. At the other end, the Quakers' used a stout defense to hold the Big Red more than six goals below their season average as goalkeeper Emmet Carroll came up with a season-high 19 saves.

Quaker Notemeal

*Sophomore Ryan McLaughlin was dominant on free balls, scooping up a career-high five GBs.

*Defenseman Brendan Lavelle did his job in the battle, holding the Big Red's CJ Kirst to only one point and six shots on goal, with the sole assist being a season-low for the senior attacker.

*Luke DiNola, Hoffman, Kumar, Provost, and Scane all scored their first postseason goals as Quakers.

How It Happened
The semifinal battle was gritty from the start, with the Big Red striking six seconds into the contest to set a pace that both teams would follow for the entire 60 minutes. Junior Kumar notched the game up four minutes later off his first postseason goal wearing the Red and Blue. Sophomore Scane gave Penn its first lead of the night with 7:15 left of the first off his first postseason tally of his Quaker career.

The Big Red tied the game at two less than a minute after Scane's goal to try and keep the quarter even, but the junior connection of Walsh and DiNola gave the Red and Blue a 3-2 lead after the first off a diving play from DiNola.

Cornell opened the second 15 minutes of action with a game-tying goal at three, but senior Shipley and Kumar recorded back-to-back unassisted goals to push Penn ahead 5-3 with ten minutes left of the half. The Big Red's Danny Caddigan capitalized on a man-up advantage to cut the lead to one with six minutes on the clock, but a two-goal run from freshman Hoffman and junior Smith bumped the deficit to 7-4 after the first 30 minutes of play.

North Carolina native Shipley kept the offense alive coming out of the break, netting his 13th goal of the year about two minutes in to increase the Quakers' run to three goals and the lead to four. Both teams exchanged goals a minute later, with Smith scoring his second of the night to put the game at 9-5.

The Big Red went on a two-tally run that stretched from 11:11-6:41, with Hugh Kelleher recording two points to close the gap to two goals. The Ivy foes once again scored within a minute of each other to close out the third, with Penn up 10-8 thanks to Hoffman's second and final of the battle.

The final 15 minutes were relatively quiet for the offenses till junior Smith scored his fourth hat trick of the year off a feed from Hoffman at the 7:52 mark to lengthen the lead to four. Cornell scored its final goal of the Ivy League tournament less than ten seconds later, but fortunately for the Quakers, freshman Provost scored back-to-back unassisted goals to end the game and Cornell's run in the Ivy postseason.

Up Next
With the win, Penn (9-5) advances to Sunday's final where the Quakers will meet second-seeded Princeton, a 14-12 winner over third-seeded Yale in Friday's first semi. The championship game starts at 1 p.m. and will air live on ESPNU, and the winner will receive the league's automatic bid into the NCAA Championship field.