Cornell beats Army in NCAA lacrosse playoffs at LaValle Stadium

It took Cornell three overtime periods to defeat Loyola in last week's NCAA Tournament opener. It took less than one period for the Big Red to turn yesterday's quarterfinal game into the Big Easy.

Cornell made sure it would not become Army's second straight upset victim, scoring the game's first four goals and rolling to a 14-5 victory in the opener at Stony Brook's LaValle Stadium.

There was a definite Long Island flavor to the victory, which launched Cornell (12-5) into Saturday's semifinal against Notre Dame at the Final Four in Baltimore. Sophomore attack Rob Pannell of Smithtown West had two goals and two assists, freshman Steve Mock of Huntington had a hat trick and middie David Lau of Cold Spring Harbor scored two goals. The Big Red was led by attack Ryan Hurley with four goals and one assist.

"Rob Pannell is the best attack man in the country and it starts there," said Army coach Joe Alberici, whose team upset two-time defending national champion Syracuse last week. "He has a unique ability to make everyone else better and he doesn't turn the ball over."

Pannell kept the ball moving but didn't get involved in the early scoring flurry. Instead, it was Lau who scored the game's first goal unassisted early in the first quarter. Hurley, Mock and Hurley again hit the back of the net before Army star Jeremy Boltus scored early in the second period. Mock and Hurley answered and helped the Big Red to an 8-3 halftime lead.

"When we got the lead, they didn't have a choice but to play catch-up," Pannell said. "Maybe they took some shots they didn't want to take and we increased the lead."

Pannell had a direct hand in blowing it open. Tyler Oates scored a man-up goal with 9:06 left in the third quarter to make it 8-4. Pannell scored twice as Cornell closed out the third quarter with an 11-4 lead.

"Any time we were able to get one and say, 'Now it's only four,' they answered right back," Alberici said.

Thank the local lacrosse talent for that. "I couldn't have scripted it any better," Mock said. "I have a bunch of friends and family in the crowd and it's like a dream come true. I couldn't picture it any better than this - making the Final Four and playing the quarterfinals on Long Island."