Men’s Lacrosse Off to the Final Four, Outlasts Richmond 13-12
HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. — In a game that saw the Big Red dominate off the ground, it was fitting that the Cornell men’s lacrosse team earned its 15th appearance in the NCAA Final Four by running out the clock by mucking up a loose ball as the top-seed ran out the clock on Richmond, 13-12. The Big Red tied its single-season record for wins in improving to 16-1 while the Spiders’ season ended at 14-4.
Senior Andrew Dalton finished off a hat trick with his game-winning goal with 5:28 remaining, but Richmond’s final possessions ended in a shot clock violation, a caused turnover by senior CJ Kirst on a rideback and a fire drill ground ball with 10 seconds that the Big Red kept on the ground until the clock expired. It may have been the biggest loose ball in a game where the top seed had a 51-27 edge over the Spiders.
Kirst had two goals and two assists, but it was his career highs of 10 ground balls and three caused turnovers that proved to be the difference in a different type of showcase by the nation’s top player. He won two ground balls in the final two minutes to help the Big Red retain possession and run more clock. Cornell forced Richmond, the top team in the country in clearing entering the NCAA Tournament, into a miserable 20-of-27 afternoon. Cornell, meanwhile, was a perfect 12-of-12.
FINAL: @CornellLacrosse 13, @SpiderMLAX 12. Richmond doesn’t get a shot off on the final possession. Cornell mucks the GB. Goldstein led the way with 4g, 2a. Kirst with 2 and 2 pic.twitter.com/j8cRy359Is
— Upstream Lacrosse (@upstreamlax) May 17, 2025
Sophomore Ryan Goldstein had four goals and two assists along with a pair of caused turnovers on the ride, with Dalton scoring three times and Michael Long assisting on four goals. In all, Cornell assisted on 11 of its 13 scores against a fierce Spiders’ defense. Junior Jack Cascadden won 17-of-25 faceoffs in the victory with defender Matt Dooley winning four ground balls and holding Richmond’s Lucas Littlejohn, a 40-goal scorer, to no goals and just one shot.
Max Merklinger scored three goals and assisted on a fourth for a Richmond team that featured nine different goal scorers. Zach Vigue made 14 saves to keep the Spiders in the game despite being out-shot 50-31 and also benefited from six Cornell shots that hit the post.
Much like the regular season matchup that saw the Big Red defense hold the Spiders scoreless over the final 10:48 and score the final four goals of the contest to come from behind, this time the Big Red went the final 6:47 to close the contest.
Richmond took a 12-11 lead, its final one of the contest, with 6:47 left when Sheridan scored his second goal in just over a minute. That’s when Kirst went to work.
The first-team All-American answered 45 seconds later to knot the game at 12-12. He caused a key turnover with two minutes left, then won a contested ground ball with 56 seconds left to allow the Big Red to run another 17 seconds off the clock – key seconds as it turned out.
Richmond led by as many as three goals in the second half at 8-5 less than two minutes into the second half, but the Big Red kept chipping away despite having one goal disallowed on a crease violation and hitting the post several times, including one shot that hit both posts before bouncing out.
A nearly four minute possession late in the third quarter seemed to take some of the wind out of Richmond despite holding the Big Red off the scoreboard, and Cornell’s 6-of-7 faceoff wins in the final 15 minutes allowed Cornell to keep an exhausted Spiders’ defense on the field for a majority of the period.
Willem Firth had a goal and an assist during a fourth quarter run spearheaded by the midfield. The unit combined for three goals and an assist in the fourth, including Dalton’s game winner.
Cornell extended its win streak to 12 games with the win and improved to 2-0 against an opponent for the fourth time this year (Yale, Princeton, UAlbany, Richmond). It also served as head coach Connor Buczek‘s 50th career victory (50-15). Kirst broke the school’s single-season points record, ending the day with 108 – surpassing Mike French’s legendary 1976 season that featured 105 points (65 goals, 40 assists). The 108 points ranks tied for 15th all-time in a season in Division I history. His 76 goals remains six away from the single-season NCAA record in Division I.
Cascadden, whose dominance at the faceoff X was so important, broke the Big Red’s single-season mark for wins (260), surpassing Domenic Massimillian’s 249 during the 2015 season. Wyatt Knust not only won his 16th contest in goal this season, but became the eighth player in Cornell history to surpass 200 saves in one campaign.
NEXT UP
• Cornell is into the national semifinals for the 15th time in program history and the first time since 2022.
• The Big Red will play on Saturday, May 24 at either 12 or 2:30 p.m. against the winner of Sunday’s Penn State-Notre Dame game.
