Cornell men’s lacrosse returns to Final Four

Cornell men’s lacrosse is just two wins away from its first national championship in nearly five decades.

On May 17, the Big Red punched its ticket to the NCAA semifinals after narrowly taking down Richmond 13-12 in the quarterfinals at Hofstra University. Cornell was more than familiar with how dangerous the Spiders were, as they also beat them by one goal when they met back on March 2. It was yet another tight affair this time around with neither team leading by more than three goals.

Trailing 12-11 entering the final six minutes, none other than CJ Kirst—the all-time leading scorer in NCAA history—tied the game before his fellow senior Andrew Dalton gave the Big Red the lead with 5:28 remaining. Kirst also came up big on the other side of the ball, causing a turnover in one of Richmond’s final possessions to help the Big Red hang on and advance to its first Final Four appearance since 2022.

“I’m just really proud of this group,” said head coach Connor Buczek after the game. “They stayed the course. They kept fighting. They went further, longer, harder, and made the plays when necessary… We’re excited to have one more week together and take this thing to Boston.”

Top-seeded Cornell will face #5 Penn State in the semifinals on May 24 at Gillette Stadium. The Nittany Lions are coming off a come-from-behind victory over Notre Dame in the quarterfinals and are the only team to defeat the Big Red this season.

If Cornell is victorious over Penn State, it will take on either #6 Syracuse or #2 Maryland on May 26. It will be a guaranteed rematch of a prior national championship, with the Big Red falling to the Orange in 2009 and the Terrapins in 2022.