Cornell Shows Poise, Patience in 11-9 NCAA Semifinal Win Over Penn State

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — A Big Red restoration is one victory away.

Hugh Kelleher scored three goals and Michael Long had two goals and three assists as top-seeded Cornell used a dominant third quarter to create some separation, then fended off fifth-seeded Penn State 11-9 in the NCAA tournament semifinals at Gillette Stadium in front of an announced crowd of 31,524.

The Big Red (17-1) established a program record for victories in a season while advancing to its ninth NCAA final and first since 2022. Cornell is seeking its first national title since 1977.

“For us, it was about waiting for that explosion, waiting for that opportunity,” Cornell coach Connor Buczek said. “This is a poised group, a group that’s been through a lot. There’s a lot of leadership that allows you to keep going and trust that at some point, it’s going to open up for you. When it did, we were able to cash in.”

Presumptive Tewaaraton Award favorite CJ Kirst was held without a point for the first time in his 66-game career and without a goal for only the fourth time. The senior took a team-high seven shots while being defended largely by the Nittany Lions’ Alex Ross.

Liam Matthews had four goals for Penn State (12-5), which fell to 0-3 in semifinals — all since 2019.

“If you want to be a blueblood, you have to get over the hump and get into the championship game, you’re going to have to win one or two of these to put yourself in that landscape,” Penn State coach Jeff Tambroni said. “But we have a lot of respect for those who have done it and recognize that tradition is not built in a day and does not go away in a day, but we’re getting closer to the expectation that when the season starts, this is where we should be.”

Cornell’s lone blemish this season was a 13-12 overtime loss at home against the Nittany Lions on March 8, and it was clear Penn State was prepared to deal with the Big Red’s potent offense from the start. Cornell put only two shots on goalie Jack Fracyon (eight saves) in the first quarter, with Willem Firth finally scoring the game’s first goal with 9.9 seconds left in the period.

It was a short-lived lead, and Penn State scraped ahead by two at one point before taking a 5-4 lead into the break. Not only was Kirst shut out in the 30 minutes, so was fellow attackman Ryan Goldstein.

“Everyone was just saying, ‘This is our game, we believe in each other and we’ll be able to get this done,’” Kirst said. “Similar to last week, being down, playing from behind, we had that trust. Everyone had that look in their eye that we were going to get it done.”

It didn’t take long. Defenseman Brendan Staub scored in transition 82 seconds in, then pretended to tuck his stick into a pretend scabbard like it was a sword. That seemed to energize the Big Red, and even though Penn State scored the next goal, the Cornell offense began burbling up at long last.

Kelleher, whose physicality was a headache for Penn State, knotted it at 6. Ryan Waldman deposited a Ryan Sheehan pass to get the second midfield on the board. And then Staub delivered again, precisely dropping a pass to Goldstein on the doorstep for Cornell’s first two-goal lead of the day.

“When our defenders, short-stick middies are scoring goals and getting points, we know it's going to help our team out a lot and it really made a difference in the game today,” said Cornell goalie Wyatt Knust, who made nine saves.

Cornell wasn’t finished with the run, getting goals from Brian Luzzi and Long to bump the lead to 10-6.

“I thought we did a good job with our matchups, as well as with helping, in that first half,” Penn State defenseman Kevin Parnham said. “We got away from that a little bit in the second half, just being great teammates and helping out, and I thought that’s when they went on their little run in the third quarter.”

Tambroni said limiting transition was a week-long priority for the Nittany Lions, a task that’s much easier to consider on a theoretical level. Also an issue: Cornell faceoff man Jack Cascadden, who won 10 of 13 draws in the second half and 15 of 23 for the game.

As much as Penn State wanted to support and recover, there were moments it couldn’t. And Cornell was more than capable of exploiting them repeatedly.

“When it did happen, they just made the most of each of the situations, shot the ball really well and probably in the seven- or eight-minute period really avalanched into that lead which became insurmountable,” Tambroni said. “Certainly would have been correctable. Just disappointed we couldn’t do it a little bit sooner.”

Even down four, Penn State’s memories of rallying from a six-goal deficit in Sunday’s quarterfinal comeback were fresh. And while the Nittany Lions closed within a goal, Kelleher completed his hat trick to provide a late cushion.

That booked Cornell’s ticket to the final day of the season. It’s a place the Big Red has sought to return to since its current senior class were freshmen in 2022 and dropped a 9-7 decision to Maryland on Memorial Day. Cornell fell in the first round the following year against Michigan, then missed the postseason outright a year ago after Kirst was held scoreless in an Ivy League semifinal loss to Penn.

That was the last time before Saturday that Division I’s career goals leader didn’t add to his total. This time, he and the Big Red have a tomorrow — well, a day after tomorrow — they’ve looked forward to for the last three years.

“We’re here for Monday,” Kirst said. “All eyes to Monday, and we’re excited for the opportunity to compete for a national championship.”