Another Painful Lacrosse Loss

For a game which tends to be significantly higher-scoring than hockey, lacrosse seems to produce a disproportionately high number of games which go down to the final seconds. Unfortunately, over the last few years, it seems like Cornell is nearly always on the losing side of these affairs.

It wasn't always this way. As recently as the spring of 2007, en route to a 15-0 start, Cornell won a couple of nailbiters. Up in Syracuse, a great inbounds play by then-sophomore Max Seibald put the Big Red up 16-15 with 4 seconds to play. Seibald's game-winning goal landed him on SportsCenter's Top 10. Then, in the NCAA quarterfinal game, Cornell beat Albany, 12-11, after a goal with 4.8 seconds remaining in sudden-death overtime. You can see this exciting finish here.

Quickly thereafter, the tide turned against Cornell. In the Big Red's next game, at the 2007 NCAA final four in Baltimore, Duke scored the game-winning goal with 3 seconds left to win 12-11. This came after the Big Red rallied from a 7-goal deficit with 18 minutes remaining.

After a comparatively uneventful 2008 season, the gods of lacrosse again turned their wrath on Cornell in 2009. The end of the national championship game was one of the most painful things I've ever seen in person. You know the story: Cornell has possession in the final seconds with a one-goal lead, turns over the ball, Syracuse ties the game with 4.5 seconds remaining, and then wins the game in overtime. Goodbye NCAA title.

Finally, this season. Last month, Cornell lost to Syracuse again, this time with less than one second remaining on the clock. (In fact, from the replay, it seems like time may have already expired). Then, yesterday, Cornell blew a four-goal third quarter lead, squandered two opportunities in overtime, and surrendered the game-winning goal in the final seconds of overtime. Another rough way to lose.

What's going on here is anyone's guess. Perhaps Coach Tambroni, an excellent coach overall, needs to do a better job of calming down his players at the end of games. Or maybe this is a cyclical thing, and we'll soon see a few close games with Cornell as the victor.

At 10-5, Cornell is seeded #7 in the NCAA tournament and will host Loyola on Saturday at 2:30. The game will also be on ESPNU. The winner will travel to Princeton for the NCAA quarterfinal game, where they will most likely face Syracuse.