Brown Lacrosse Gets Sixth Win by Upsetting Cornell, 10-9

Ithaca, New York – The Brown men's lacrosse team stunned third-ranked Cornell Saturday afternoon at Schoellkopf Field when sophomore Sam Hurster (St. Louis, MO) scored on a pass from senior Parker Brown (San Francisco, CA) with four seconds remaining to lift the Bears to a 10-9 win over the Big Red and keep Brown in contention for the Ivy League Playoffs.

The Bears are now 6-7 overall and 2-3 in the Ivy League, tied with Harvard for the fourth spot in the Ivy standings. Cornell had its six-game winning streak snapped by the Bears and is now 9-2 overall and 4-1 in the Ivy League, dropping to second place. The top four teams in the Ivy League qualify for the Ivy Playoffs.

With one game remaining in the regular season, Brown must beat Dartmouth next Saturday at Stevenson Field, and will need a Harvard loss at Yale to gain the final Ivy Playoff sport.

In a sea-saw battle, Brown grabbed a 9-8 lead on sophomore Stephen Chmil's second goal of the game with 5:05 left in regulation. Cornell's Max Van Bourgondien scored his third goal of the game and tied the game, 9-9, with 58 seconds remaining.

Sophomore Tommy Capone won the ensuing face-off to give the Bears possession. Following a time-out with 23 seconds remaining, Hurster took Parker Brown's pass and found the back of the net with four seconds remaining to give Brown the upset victory.

Hurster had three goals and an assist to lead the Bears, and registered a hat-trick in his fifth consecutive game. Freshman Nick Piroli and sophomore Stephen Chmil each netted two goals for Brown.

Bears' sophomore goalie Will Round made 14 saves in the Brown net, while Cornell's Andrew West made 9 saves for the Big Red,

Cornell out-shot the Bears by a 44-30 margin, and captured 16 of 23 face-offs.

Cornell opened up an early 2-0 lead, but the Bears came storming back to grab a 3-2 lead after one quarter on goals by Parker Brown, Chmil and sophomore defenseman Phil Pierce with just two seconds left on the clock.

Piroli gave the Bears a two-goal advantage, 4-2, when he scored with 9:54 left in the second quarter.

The Big Red came back with a goal by Steve Mock at the 6:52 mark of the second quarter, but Piroli scored again for the Bears with 20 seconds left in the half to extend Brown's lead to 5-3 at intermission.

The two teams exchanged goals with Connor English scoring for the Big Red and junior Shane McHugh scoring for the Bears to keep Brown up by two goals, 6-4, with 6:52 left in the third quarter. Goals by Cornell's Van Bourgondien and Mock, with 3:37 to go in the quarter, tied the score, 6-6.

Brown kept up the pressure and grabbed a 7-6 lead after three quarters on Hurster's goal with 1:02 remaining.

A goal by Cornell's Chris Laugton tied the game, 7-7, early in the fourth quarter.

Brown answered once again on Hurster's second goal with 12:28 left to play, but Van Bourgodien scored again for the Big Red to tie the game, 8-8.

Brown will battle Dartmouth for the final Ivy Playoff berth next Saturday, April 28 at Stevenson Field. It's Senior Day for the Bears and all the action starts at 3:00 p.m.