Delaware scored goals in a pair of spurts on Sunday afternoon in the NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Tournament quarterfinals.
The Blue Hens needed a third that never came.
Three fourth-quarter Cornell goals spelled the difference as the Big Red dashed Delaware’s postseason dreams with a 10-8 victory at Ohio Stadium in Columbus.
“Possession deficit really hurt us,” said fifth-year UD coach Ben DeLuca, who played and coached at Cornell. “We fought back and tied it at 7 and then I’m not sure we saw the ball again for quite a while.
BOX SCORE: Cornell 10, Delaware 8
“I think our offense did a good job of generating opportunities and maybe not capitalizing as much as we have in the past, but it was anyone’s game there for quite a while.”
Unseeded and unranked Delaware (13-6) had won seven in a row, including stunning No. 2-seeded Georgetown 10-9 last Sunday night in a first-round matchup.
But No. 7-seeded Cornell (13-4) advanced to Saturday’s NCAA semifinals against No. 6 Rutgers at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Connecticut. Delaware was hoping to repeat the performance of its 2007 team by making the Final Four.
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It appeared possible after Delaware attackman Tye Kurtz scored three straight goals in the final six minutes of the third period to tie it 7-7 entering the fourth.
But Delaware couldn’t score until Kurtz’s fifth goal with 39 seconds left, which could pull the Blue Hens only within two.
"We went on a little bit of a streak there at the end of the third and I was fortunate the shots were falling." Kurtz said. "We really emphasize on our team not too high, not too low and I don't think we got too high on that . . . I’d just say on those last possessions we had a couple of opportunities and the Cornell defense played very well, made a couple big stops."
Cornell led 2-0 midway through the first period before goals by Kurtz, Clay Miller’s pair and All-American defender Owen Grant’s long-stick deposit put the Blue Hens up 4-2. Cornell did score again before the first quarter closed.
But the Blue Hens were blanked in the second period, as Big Red face-off man Angelo Petrakis scored his first goal of the season off the opening duel and attackman C.J. Kirst’s 50th of the year made it 5-4 at halftime.
Delaware then fell behind 7-4 in the third period before, with the Hens having now gone scoreless for 26 minutes, Kurtz scored three times in the final 6:00, sending the teams into the final period deadlocked at 7-7.
But Cornell turned a pair of Delaware turnovers into fourth-quarter goals to go up 9-7before Billy Coyle whipped in another to make it 10-7 with 5:39 left.
"We made some mistakes," DeLuca said. "I think there were three failed clears which really hurt us and wore down our defense a little bit and allowed them to take advantage and capitalize."
Petrakis won 16 of the 22 face-offs to key the Cornell win. Delaware outshot Cornell 37-36 but couldn’t convert enough. Delaware goalie Matt Kilkeary had 12 saves to 15 for Cornell’s Chayse Ierlan.
“It’s very hard to continue momentum when their defense is making some big stops and we’re not getting the ball as much as we’re used to," Kurtz said. "I credit their defense a lot. They had a pretty good game plan and their goalie stood on his head.’’
The quarterfinal appearance was Delaware’s fourth in seven NCAA Tournament appearances, though it was just an 8-team bracket when the Blue Hensqualified for the first time in 1984. Delaware fell to Virginia in the 1999 quarterfinals after a first-round win over UMBC.
In 2007, Delaware stunned No. 2 seed Virginia 14-8 in the first round then upended UMBC 10-6 at Navy for its only previous quarterfinal triumph. Delaware then lost on championship weekend 8-3 to Johns Hopkins in the semifinals at Baltimore’s M&T Bank Stadium.
While the Blue Hens couldn't equal that accomplishment, they were pleased with their effort, DeLuca said.
"This is something that will be very memorable for our young men for quite a long time," he said. "They have a ton to be proud of."
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