WEST POINT, N.Y. – Cornell, the No. 3 team in the country, scored 12 seconds in the game and never relinquished the lead and beat Army, 7-4, Saturday afternoon in college lacrosse in front of more than 1,000 fans at Michie Stadium.
Cornell improved to 4-0 while Army dropped to 4-1.
The Black Knights, ranked ninth, were nearly even in every statistical category with Cornell, except the final score.
Each team had 31 shots on goal, Cornell had 35 ground balls and Army 33, Cornell won eight of 15 face-offs and each team cleared 12 of 15 opportunities.
David Mitchell and Brian Clayton each scored twice for the Big Red, who was averaging 16 goals per game, while Eric Pittard, Max Seibald and John Espey also scored.
Ryan Chase led Army with a pair of goals while Brooks Korvin and Hunter Wakeland also scored. Goalie Adam Fullerton made eight saves.
Army was within one goal four times, including with eight minutes left in the game when Chase scored his second goal to make it 5-4. Cornell answered with two goals in the last three minutes of the game for the three-score lead.
“Cornell has a great team and they are extremely well coached,” Army head coach Joe Alberici said. “Give them a lot of credit, they play hard. We played hard and all the statistics were even with the number three team in the country and I’m proud of our guys.”
Cornell won the opening faceoff and Pittard scored off a Tommy Schmiker pass to make it 1-0 with the clock showing 14:48. Espey scored three minutes later for an early 2-0 advantage.
Chase got the Black Knights on the board with an unassisted goal early in the second quarter. Cornell, though, went back ahead by two at halftime, 3-1.
Korvin scored his fifth goal of the season, with an assist from Alex Morse, to get Army within one with eight minutes remaining in the third quarter. It was the first career point for Morse, a junior attack.
“I don’t think we could have played harder,” Alberici said. “I was just so proud of our guys and their effort all the way through. The effort and intensity was outstanding. Maybe Cornell forced us into some mistakes that we normally don’t make or have been making but we played hard.”
Mitchell scored his second goal to keep the Cornell lead at two before Wakeland scored his third goal of the season off a Justin Bokmeyer pass, 97 seconds later.
Seibald’s goal with 21 seconds remaining in the quarter kept the Cornell advantage at two.
Chase had his second two-goal game of the season when he scored off a Kevin LoRusso assist to get Army within one for the final time with 8:13 remaining.
Clayton scored both of his goals in the last three minutes to keep the Cornell lead.
Army will continue its non-league slate with a game at Rutgers, Friday night at 7 p.m. in New Brunswick, N.J.
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