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Opening day of the 2026 NCAA Division I men's lacrosse season is Jan. 31.
Throughout the month of January, we'll pose three burning questions for each team ranked in the USA Lacrosse Division I Men's Preseason Top 20, presented by CWENCH Hydration, starting with No. 20 Michigan and finishing with No. 1 Maryland.
Join the conversation on social media @USALMag (IG/X/FB). Wrong answers only.
Now what?
Cornell men’s lacrosse spent nearly a half-century chasing a ghost, a quest that ended with the Big Red hoisting the NCAA championship trophy last May. It was Cornell’s first national championship since 1977, a drought that included five losses in the title game (1978, 1987, 1988, 2009, 2022) before they broke through to beat Maryland.
Head coach Connor Buczek, a three-time All-American at Cornell who served as an assistant coach at his alma mater before becoming the head coach in 2020, rightfully relished the special moment. But with the graduation of a generational class — including Tewaaraton Award winner C.J. Kirst — it’s time to turn the page.
“I think we had to go back to foundational pieces again and start building,” Buczek said. “I think we’ve got plenty of talent on this roster, but we’ve got to start building the leadership again and developing from that side. We spent a lot of time working on our leadership and helping those guys get where they need to go, but I feel good about the guys we have on the roster. I think there’s a lot of players that are going to impress and surprise some people after waiting in the wings. Now it’s about getting some experience under their belts.”
Can Cornell win another title? Here are three questions as the Big Red enter the season.
Ryan Goldstein knows all about Cornell’s tradition. His father, Tim, is a National Lacrosse Hall of Fame inductee who led the Big Red to NCAA runner-up finishes in 1987 and 1988. The younger Goldstein is on the way to carving out his own history and will take on a bigger role with the departures of Kirst, Andrew Dalton, Hugh Kelleher, Michael Long and others.
Goldstein ranked sixth in the country with 4.89 points per game, and he led the Ivy League with 50 assists. In basically one and a half seasons, he already has 126 career points.
“He’s going to be a massive piece, obviously, he was last year too, but just a different role a little bit with some of those guys graduating,” Buczek said. “He’s done really good job leading and helping our team take the next step forward.”
Canadian Willem Firth had 32 goals last year and will join Goldstein on the attack. Ryan Waldman (13G, 9A) and Brian Luzzi (9G, 3A) also bring experience to the offense. Goldstein’s leadership will be counted on to bring along several young players.
And no discussion of the Cornell offense can ignore faceoff specialist Jack Cascadden. After missing most of 2024 with an injury, he came back with a vengeance last season. Cascadden won 61 percent of his draws and scored 10 goals.
He’s going to be a massive piece.
Connor Buczek on Ryan Goldstein
Cornell’s No. 1-ranked offense drew the headlines last season, but the defense was more than good enough. Backing the unit was two-year starting goalie Wyatt Knust, but he’s graduated. The heir apparent is junior Matthew Tully.
Tully has played in 13 games over the last two years, including four starts in 2024 when he had double-digit saves in wins over Princeton and Yale.
“I wouldn’t say it’s completely solidified, but certainly you feel good about what we have there,” Buczek aid. “Matty started a few games his freshman year in the middle of the season and did a really good job for us. He’s just a really special competitor, and we’re so excited to see what he looks like over long stretches. He brings a lot to the table in terms of his mentality and his athleticism and how well he tracks the ball.”
The rest of the defense brings some solid experience with Matt Dooley and Brendan Staub returning as starters on close defense and Eddie Rayhill and Walker Schwartz at LSM. Short sticks Anthony Bartolotto, Charlie Box, Luke Gilmartin and T.J. Lamb are also veterans.
Buczek didn’t have a quiet summer after winning a national championship. He got married in August and two weeks later was in Korea as an assistant coach for the U.S. U20 team.
Two of his Cornell players — Rowyn Nurry and Michael Marshall — helped the U.S. win silver and another, Luke Robinson, was Canada’s second-leading goal scorer with 11, helping the Canadians win the world championship.
That experience was crucial for a trio of young players who figure to be among the players getting a shot this year. Robinson played in just five games as a freshman, and Marshall played in just six.
Nurry will be a freshman this year after a stellar high school career at Salesianum (Del.) and then a postgrad year at Loomis-Chaffee. They’re symbolic of the younger players on Cornell’s roster getting a new opportunity following the graduation losses.
Brian Logue has worked at USA Lacrosse since 2000 and is currently the senior director of communications. He saw his first lacrosse game in 1987 - Virginia at Delaware - and fell in love with the sport while working at Washington and Lee University.
