Cornell now boasts a 2-1 (1-0 Ivy) record.
PHILADELPHIA – In a rematch of the 2016 Ivy League Tournament championship game, the #15/16 women's lacrosse team used scoring runs in both halves and held #10/13 Penn scoreless in the second to earn a 10-4 Ivy League win on Saturday afternoon at Franklin Field.
The win moved Cornell to 2-1 (1-0 Ivy) while Penn took its first loss of the season to move to 3-1 (0-1 Ivy).
It marks the first time Cornell has earned back-to-back wins over Penn since the 2005 and 2006 seasons and the first time since a March 20, 2011 game against Notre Dame that Cornell did not allow an opponent to score in a half.
WLAX| CORNELL VICTORIOUS! Cornell uses scoring runs of four and six goals - and holds Penn without a goal in the second half - to win 10-4!
— CornellSportsGameday (@CUBigRedGameday) March 4, 2017
Cornell controlled the opening draw but Penn almost immediately forced a turnover in the midfield and found the back of the net less than 90 seconds into the game. Penn then jumped up 2-0 when Alex Condon fired the ball into the top left corner.
Junior Taylor Reed pulled Cornell back 10:54 into the half with Cornell's first of the game when she converted a free-position shot to make it 2-1. Four minutes later, Cornell took advantage of an extra-player opportunity due to a Penn yellow card to make it 2-2 when senior Amie Dickson threaded a pass to sophomore Sarah Phillips for a finish at the left post.
Penn then took the lead again with a low bouncer inside the post but Cornell won the ensuing draw and fought right back down the field to tie it back up at 3-3 with the first of four-straight unanswered goals. In between free-position conversions from senior Kristy Gilbert and Dickson, Phillips was able to get her stick on a ball that had rebounded out after a hard shot from sophomore Tomasina Leska. The four-straight unanswered goals gave Cornell the 6-3 lead with 5:15 to play in the first half.
Penn added a goal with 3:23 remaining in the first half, ending Cornell's scoring run, but the 6-4 lead was the second-straight and second time in the past 10 meetings that the Big Red led the Quakers at the half.
Gilbert scored her second of the game – and extended Cornell's lead to 7-4 – when Phillips fed her the ball from behind the net for a high finish past Britt Brown. Leska then extended the Big Red's lead when she drove from behind the net, into the crease and fired a hard shot.
After more than a 15 minute respite in the game's scoring, Ellis tacked on her second of the game with 10:44 remaining in the game when she back down a defender and took a slick backhanded shot around the body for the 9-4 lead. Reed tacked on a 10th goal off of a pass from Phillips with 2:46 to play.
Ellis (2g, 1a), Dickson (1g, 2a) and Phillips (2g, 1a) all finished with three points while Reed and Gilbert each added two goals for the Big Red. Senior tri-captain Catie Smith lead the staunch defense with four caused turnovers and also had two draw controls while Cait Callahan added three ground balls and three caused turnovers to the defensive effort. Senior Renee Poullott finished with three saves for Cornell.
As a team, the Big Red had 15 ground balls to Penn's 13 and had the edge in draw controls, 9-7.
