Petterson's Career Day Propels #3 Men’s Lax Past #1 Towson

Recap, photo courtesy of Cornell

CHARLOTTE – After a slow start saw the No. 3 Cornell men's lacrosse team trailing No. 1 Towson by three goals, the Big Red closed the first and opened the second quarter with nine unanswered tallies, including five from Clarke Petterson, who finished with a career-high eight goals on the day, as the Big Red upset the Tigers, 18-11, at the Crown Lacrosse Classic in Charlotte.

Petterson, who was selected 12th overall by the Boston Cannons in last night's MLL Draft, capped a memorable weekend by becoming just the 10th player in Cornell history to score at least eight goals in a game, and the first since David Mitchell did so vs. Binghamton in 2006.  

Cornell has now defeated the No. 1 team in the nation two seasons in a row after beating No. 1 Yale
in the 2018 Ivy League Men's Lacrosse Tournament.

In addition to Petterson's career day, John Piatelli tallied four goals and two assists, while Jeff Teat finished with four assists to come within one of his 200th career point. The Big Red's midfield also accounted for six goals, with three from Jonathan Donville, two from Jake McCulloch, and one from Zach Ward.

In his first career start, freshman goalie Chayse Ierlan finished with 10 saves, making two crucial ones during the first quarter to keep the Big Red in the contest, and four on Towson man-up opportunities as the Big Red held the Tigers to a 3-of-11 performance overall.

Towson, boasting the third best face-off man in the nation, dominated the circle, winning 26-of-32, but for the second game in a row, the Big Red defense was dominant registering 14 caused turnovers on 23 Tiger miscues. Dom Doria finished with a team-best three caused turnovers.

The Tigers held the edge in shots (44-32) and ground balls (46-33), but Cornell forced them to go just 9-of-16 on clears thanks to a tenacious ride. The Big Red, on the other hand, was 24-of-26 and had nine fewer turnovers (23-14).

Luke Fromert led the Towson offense with two goals and two assists, with both tallies coming in the first six minutes of action as the Tigers built a 4-1 lead. The teams traded goals to get to 5-2 before Petterson's second goal of the day with 1:02 remaining in the opening quarter sparked the Big Red's decisive 9-0 run.

Cornell took an 11-5 lead on a goal from Donville at the 5:42 mark of the second quarter, but Towson won the restart and scored just :06 later to end a scoreless drought of just over 14 minutes. Petterson scored the final goal of the half to send the Big Red into the intermission with the 12-6 lead.

Back-to-back goals from Piatelli and Donville midway through the third quarter gave Cornell its largest lead of the day at eight goals (15-7). The Tigers pulled within six twice down the stretch, but each time the Big Red offense had an answer as it rolled to the 18-11 victory.

The Big Red opens Ivy League play when it travels to No. 4 Yale for a 1 p.m. contest on Saturday, March 16. The game will be broadcast to a nationwide audience on ESPNEWS.