What a year it has been so far for the Cornell lacrosse program. Coming into the season, there certainly were high expectations for what this team could accomplish in 2025. As it stands today, Cornell is heading back to Championship Weekend as clear front-runner favorites to win it all. The Big Red have excelled everywhere on the field all season long, making it difficult to root against them. Despite their dominance this year, the road to get here was not easy. Let’s take a quick moment to reflect on the Cornell season so far to help better understand how exactly they made it to Championship Weekend.
As they head to Boston for the semifinals, the Cornell Big Red currently boast a record of 16–1. Only having one loss on your resume is extremely impressive; however, the quality of their victories may take the cake. With big wins over Denver, Richmond, Princeton, Syracuse, and Harvard, Cornell has been very much battle-tested up to this point. In those five games, the Big Red are winning by an average of 5.8 goals—absolutely unheard of against quality opponents. They have handled their business everywhere else this year, except for an early season slip-up against Penn State. That overtime loss did not deter the team; if anything, it brought them closer together, as they have not lost a game since.
As the Ivy League regular season champions, the Cornell lacrosse program entered the Ivy League tournament with a ton of confidence—and rightfully so. A 21–14 win over Yale followed up by a 20–15 win over Princeton was the icing on the cake heading into the NCAA tournament. That game against Princeton was always going to be tough, as the Tigers were itching for revenge to take claim of the Ivy League over Cornell, and they had the talent to do so. At the end of the day, Cornell was just better—and that got them ready for the NCAA tournament.
The first round of the tournament was a breeze for the number one-seeded Cornell Big Red. A 15–6 dominant win over Albany didn’t mean much to the program, with their true test on the horizon. The closest regular season game they played all year was against the Richmond Spiders, and they had to square up against them again in the NCAA quarterfinals. This game came down to the absolute wire, with many believing Richmond was going to pull off one of the biggest upsets in NCAA tournament history. However, a battle-tested Cornell team was too much for the Spiders to handle, as the Big Red came out on top 13–12, which advanced them to Championship Weekend.
As the Big Red look to take on the Nittany Lions on Saturday, they have just about every advantage. Their 16 goals per game currently lead the country in scoring, and while their defense may be ranked 27th, allowing 10.3 goals per game, their scoring margin of +5.8 puts them at number two in the NCAA. If the defense has a slow day, you can almost be certain the offense is going to carry the weight. It will be an interesting matchup, considering Penn State was able to go blow-for-blow with Cornell the first time around. In games like this, it always comes down to how well a team can clear and face off. That shouldn’t be a problem for the Big Red, as they are clearing at an 89% rate and winning face-offs 58.5% of the time.
The main difference-maker for Cornell is their overall talent. CJ Kirst is almost certainly winning the Tewaaraton, averaging 6.35 points per game, which is number one in the country. The pure bucket-getter has 108 points on the year, made up of 76 goals and 32 assists. The crazier part is that if the senior is having an off day, sophomore Ryan Goldstein is able to step up consistently as well. Goldstein currently has 88 points on the year, averaging 5.18 points per game, which puts him at 4th in the country. Oh, and don’t worry—if the two of them are struggling to get anything going, they have Michael Long, who has 67 points on the year, to also help distribute the offense.
On paper, this is the year the Cornell lacrosse program has been waiting for. There is no reason they shouldn’t make a run to win the whole thing, but it is interesting considering they have to go up against Penn State yet again—their only loss from the year. Even though the Big Red have made the journey here look easy, it has been well-earned, but it will mean nothing in the long run if they don’t come out on top when it’s all said and done.
