Throwback Thursday: A Defining Game for Men’s Lacrosse

On this day 43 years ago, Schoellkopf Field played host to one of the most thrilling games in college lacrosse history. The epic 5 overtime game against Penn ended with Bruce Arena’s game winner after 79 minutes and 29 seconds of play. The win pushed the Big Red to continue their four-game win streak while the Quakers dropped their first Ivy League game of the year.

Arena’s goal brought the score to 9-8, however, the game was back and forth from the very start. The Quakers jumped out to an early lead of 5 to 1 behind All-American Steve Solow. Yet, after goal from Bob Kilkwoski, the Big Red stormed out in front to take a 7-5 advantage in the fourth quarter. During this time, goalie Mike Emmerich shut out Penn for almost 30 minutes. Unfortunately for Cornell, after a defensive slip up, Penn knotted the score with only 6 seconds remaining to send the game into overtime.

The rules were slightly different at that time in that there were two overtime periods, followed by additional sudden death time if necessary. After trading goals in the first two overtimes, the two Ivy League foes fought through 2 more scoreless periods before the game winner by Arenas. Amidst the chaos of the overtime periods, there were a wealth of opportunities for both sides including shots off the posts and nullified goals.

Although Penn outshot Cornell 5 to 48, Emmerich came up huge with 25 shots to keep the game close. Thus, the stickmen, as they were affectionately called, were able to continue their dominance in the Ivy League with the clutch 9-8 win. The game was back and forth throughout, and is still considered one of the all-time great games in Cornell lacrosse history.