Maryland falls to Cornell, 13-10, in NCAA lacrosse championship game
The Maryland Terrapins' spectacular season ended with a 13-10 loss to Cornell in the NCAA lacrosse championship game on Monday in Foxborough, Mass.
Maryland (14-4), the No. 2 seed, fell short of winning its first national title since 2022. The Terps have also played for the national championship four out of the past five seasons.
Eric Spanos, Braden Erksa and Zach Whittier each netted two goals for the Terps, while Bryce Ford, Daniel Kelly, Jack Schultz, and Elijah Stobaugh all chipped in a goal.
CJ Kirst scored six goals, Ryan Goldstein added four, and Cornell ended a 48-year drought and claimed its fourth national championship.
Kirst scored the final goal into an empty net with 50 seconds to go. It was his 82nd of the season, allowing the NCAA's all-time leading scorer (247) to tie the single-season record of 82.
"We knew if (No.) 15 got going we were going home with hardware and by god if he didn't find it and find it in a big way," Cornell coach Connor Buczek said. "He pulls the best out of everyone around him."
A game, a matchup of the teams from the first NCAA championship, the Big Red won 12-6 in 1971, was tight throughout. Second-seeded Maryland (14-4) never led, but top-seeded Cornell (18-1) never led by more than three.
Kirst, who was scoreless for the first time in his career in the semifinals, didn't connect until inside the two-minute mark of the first half, which ended with the Big Red on top 6-5.
"Just playing off my teammates," Kirst said. "Semifinal game game I didn't have my best performance but man did my teammates step up. That's what this year's been all about. ... And Ryan Goldstein didn't have too bad of day too, huh?"
Maryland, now 4-14 in title games, went down 10-7 early in the fourth quarter, but the Terps scored consecutive goals for the first time. Erksa and Stobaugh made it a one-goal game with 9:23 to play.
Two unforced turnovers at midfield led to Kirst and Goldstein goals to regain the three-goal lead at 12-9 with 4:08 left.
