The wait is finally over for Cornell. After nearly five decades, the Big Red are finally on top of the men’s lacrosse world once again.
Top-seeded Cornell (18-1) defeated No. 2 Maryland 13-10 in front of a Memorial Day crowd of 32,512 at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, to claim its fourth NCAA title and first since 1977. The Terrapins (14-5) won the title in 2022 but had to settle for a runner-up finish for the third time in the last five NCAA tournaments.
Two days after Cornell relied on its supporting cast to survive a semifinal challenge from Penn State, the Big Red’s biggest stars shined brightest in the final. CJ Kirst, who will likely be adding the Tewaaraton Award to his trophy case later this week, notched six goals and an assist, and his fellow attackman Ryan Goldstein found the net four times. Five of Kirst’s six tallies came after halftime as the Big Red asserted control of the game.
The teams traded goals for the first 20 minutes of clock time, with a marker from Maryland’s Eric Spanos knotting the game at 4-4 with 8:38 remaining in the second quarter. But Andrew Dalton gave the Big Red the lead 46 seconds later, and the Terrapins couldn’t draw even the rest of the way. Kirst, held off the score sheet for the first time in his college career in Saturday’s defeat of Penn State in the semifinals, finally got on the board with 1:49 left in the first half. That appeared to break the ice for him as he figured in six of the Big Red’s seven goals following intermission, putting an exclamation point on the day with an empty-net tally in the final minute to seal the victory.
With his six-goal outburst, Kirst brought his season total to 82, matching the Division I record for goals in a single campaign. He finishes his career with an NCAA record 247 career goals. With his 33rd assist, he stretched his already record points total to 115. Spanos paced the Terps with two goals and two assists, with Braden Erksa and Zach Whittier chipping in a pair of goals each. But Wyatt Knust recorded 12 saves behind a solid effort from the Big Red defense.