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Cornell entered Sunday’s game with Towson with a lot more than the anticipation of a No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup. After falling 19-13 to Penn State on Friday night of the Crown Lacrosse Classic, the Big Red walked into another test hoping to avoid a losing streak — especially given a meeting with Yale comes next weekend.

The task? Besting an undefeated Tigers program that had topped Loyola and Johns Hopkins on the young season and ascended to No. 1 in Division I.

If coach Peter Milliman was looking for a strong response from his Cornell program, he got one in a big way in Charlotte, N.C. Clarke Petterson scored eight first-half goals to lead the Big Red to the 18-11 victory.

Towson took the early momentum with a 5-3 first quarter which included two goals from LSM Koby Smith. The strong start did not carry over, however, as the Big Red started to find holes in the Tigers defense and took advantage.

In total, Cornell put together a nine-goal run to take an 11-5 lead with 5:42 left in the second quarter. Petterson had eight goals in the first half on nine shots, leading to a 12-6 Cornell lead despite Towson’s Alex Woodall winning 15 of 19 faceoffs.

Woodall continued his dominance throughout the second half, and the Tigers outshot the Big Red 27-11 in that timeframe. However, Towson turned the ball over 23 times and went 9-for-16 on clears, hurting any chance of a comeback.

Towson cut the deficit to 16-10 with 7:25 remaining in the game, but John Piatelli responded with his fourth goal to seal the major victory for Cornell. Jeff Teat also contributed four assists to the winning effort.

Luke Fromert led the Towson offense with two goals and two assists. Starting goalie Tyler Canto, who was big in the win over Loyola, was relieved at halftime in favor of Shane Brennan. 

Chayse Ierlan made 11 saves for Cornell in his first career start.

Kraus the Hero for Virginia

Michael Kraus provided the late-game heroics and Alex Rode stood tall in between the pipes to help Virginia win another thriller on Sunday afternoon. Kraus dropped seven points on five goals, including the overtime game-winner, to help the Cavaliers down Brown 14-13 in Charlottesville. Rode finished with 19 saves.

The win is Virginia's third straight in overtime, with Ian Laviano winning it against Princeton, Mikey Herring getting the game-winner against Syracuse and Kraus doing the honors against Brown. Lars Tiffany picks up a victory against the team he led for 10 seasons.

Kraus and Laviano had two goals in a tight first half that saw the game tied 4-4 through 15 minutes. The teams traded tallies before Brown went on a four-goal rally that spanned over halftime. Jackson Newsome, George Grell, Luke McCaleb and Darian Cook contributed to the run.

McCaleb and Grell added goals to help Brown lead 11-8 entering the fourth quarter. With the Bears leading 13-10 with 6:52 left, Virginia mounted a comeback. Laviano, Matt Moore and Kraus helped tie the game at 13-13 with 3:21 left.

Both teams had chances to win it in regulation, but neither could get a quality chance off. After two Brown turnovers in overtime, Herring found Kraus, who fired home the game-winner with 1:02 left in the period. 

Laviano finished with four goals to help the Virginia cause. Phil Goss had 15 saves for Brown.

Ament, Arceri Set School Records

Penn State completed the Crown Lacrosse Classic weekend sweep with a commanding win over a tough Jacksonville team on Sunday afternoon. Grant Ament continued his record-breaking season with two goals and eight assists in a 24-11 victory over the Dolphins.

Both Ament and faceoff man Gerard Arceri broke school records in the process of throttling Jacksonville. Ament picked up his 45th assist on the young season, passing the single-season program assists record (it’s March). Arceri won 15 more faceoffs, allowing him to pass Greg Gurenlian for first in program history in career faceoff wins.

The Nittany Lions burst out of the gates with nine goals in the first quarter. Ament, to his effort, had a goal and six assists in the opening frame alone. T.J. Malone also had a pair of goals in the first quarter.

Penn State dropped another eight goals in the second quarter to put the game virally out of reach, leading 17-7 at halftime. TJ Malone added another of his team-high seven goals in the 8-4 quarter. Malone, a freshman, had three points in his previous three games before breaking out.

Jake Glatz won 13 of 17 faceoffs for Penn State, helping keep Jacksonville at bay throughout the second half. 

Dragons Slay Wildcats

The Philly 4 Lacrosse Classic got another jolt of energy on Sunday afternoon, when Drexel took down No. 13 Villanova 15-10 at Vidas Field.

Collin Mailman scored four goals to lead the Dragons to the upset victory — including two goals during an eight-goal run over the course of the second and third quarter. Ross Blumenthal had 13 saves to stifle the Wildcats offense.

Connor Kirst had a first-quarter hat trick to pull Villanova out to a 5-3 lead after the first quarter. He added another to start the second quarter, but that started a drought of almost 25 minutes without a goal. Drexel responded with eight straight goals to take a commanding 11-6 lead with 10:15 left in the third quarter. 

Eric Overbay had two second-half goals for Villanova, which couldn’t cut the deficit to lower than four goals. Mailman provided the dagger with 39 seconds left to clinch the upset win.

Yale Dominates Michigan

Yale used a mid-game run to make it three straight victories, dominating Michigan 17-11 at Atlanta’s College Lacrosse Classic. Brian Tevlin had four goals and six points, while TD Ierlan went 18-for-22 at the faceoff x, to fuel the victory.

The Bulldogs jumped out to an early 4-1 lead, eventually putting up 20 shots in the first quarter. Decker Curran scored to start the second quarter, helping the Wolverines tie the game at 4-4. However, Yale answered with five out of six goals to take a 9-5 lead into halftime.

Yale continued to pour on the goals, with five more in the third quarter. Kevin Mack had two goals for Michigan, but the Wolverines trailed 14-7. 

Tevlin had two fourth-quarter goals to keep Yale ahead and seal the 17-11 victory. Michigan goalie Tommy Heidi had 19 first-half saves and 23 for the game — two short of the program record.

Penn Sweeps Philly

Adam Goldner scored four goals to lead Penn to its second win at the Philly 4 Lacrosse Classic. The Quakers dominated Saint Joseph’s 13-6 to complete the sweep.

Simon Mathias and Goldner combined for five first-half goals, allowing Penn to jump out to an insurmountable 9-2 lead at the break. Reed Junkin made 14 saves to keep the Quakers comfortably in front throughout the game.

NIKE/US LACROSSE
DIVISION I MEN’S
TOP 20 SCOREBOARD

No. 2 Cornell 18, No. 1 Towson 11
No. 3 Yale 17, Michigan 11
No. 6 Penn State 24, Jacksonville 11
No. 12 Virginia 14, Brown 13 (OT)
Drexel 15, No. 13 Villanova 10

Other Scores

Penn 13, St. Joseph's 6