NEW YORK – The Columbia lacrosse team fought hard but fell short in a high-scoring affair against the Cornell Big Red, 19-13, on Sunday afternoon at Rocco B. Commisso Soccer Stadium.
 
With the loss Columbia drops to 3-6 on the season, with an 0-2 record in Ivy League games. Meanwhile, Cornell improves to 7-2 and remains perfect in conference play at 2-0.
 
After Cornell scored an early goal to take the lead, Columbia responded with two goals courtesy of Maddie Brogan and Cordelia Flemming to take a 2-1 lead. Cornell answered with two straight goals of their own in the span of a minute to retake the lead. Anna Becker scored the last goal of the first quarter with 1:43 remaining to tie the game at 3-3 at the end of the first quarter.
 
The Big Red went on a run to start the second quarter, scoring the first five goals of the period to take an 8-3 lead. Cecelia Messner scored her first goal of the game to stop the Cornell run and to trim the deficit to 8-4. Cornell, however, scored the next three goals and took an 11-4 lead into halftime.
 
Serena Hong opened up the scoring in the third quarter with her second goal on the season to make it an 11-5 ballgame. After Cornell answered with a goal of its own, Becker and Brogan each scored their second goal of the afternoon to cut the Big Red lead to 12-7. Cornell scored four straight goals after that to make it 16-7 before Flemming scored her second goal of the game with a bit over a minute remaining in the third quarter, making it a 16-8 game heading into the fourth.
 
The Lions scored the first two goals of the fourth quarter, with Messner scoring her second goal and Ellie Taylor scoring her first to cut into the lead. Cornell responded with two straight goals to retake an eight goal lead, 18-10. Brogan then scored two straight goals for the Lions to give her a career-high four goals on the day. Becker followed it up with a goal of her own to make it 18-13. Cornell scored with 22 seconds remaining to make it a 19-13 final score.
 
Brogan led the way for the Lions offense with her career day, scoring four goals and tallying five points. Becker added a hat trick, and had four points on the day. Messner had three points, with two of them being goals. Flemming and Taylor each had two points, and so did Michelle Zhai, who had two assists.
 
On the defensive end, goalie Simone Koryszewski started her fourth consecutive game and accumulated seven saves. Ava Kimche also appeared in goal and added three saves of her own. Maddy Goger led the team with two caused turnovers, and added a ground ball. Julie Griswold and Koryszewski were tied for the team lead with four ground balls each. Dani Falcone led the team with seven draw controls, and Taylor and Flemming each had four draw controls as well.
 
It was a highly competitive battle in the draw control circle, with Cornell leading that category 22-15. Cornell also led in total shots by a small margin, 35-32, and shots-on-goal, 29-25. The Lions turned it over more times than Cornell, 13-10. Columbia also led in ground balls, 19-13.
 
Next up, the Lions will continue Ivy League play in search of their first conference win in a home game against Penn. First draw is set for Saturday, March 29 at 1:00 p.m. at Kraft Field.
 
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