Book Chronicles the Resurgence of Big Red Men’s Lacrosse

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Lacrosse Wins the NCAA Title—and Big Red Fans Rejoice

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Book Looks Back at Heady Days of 1970s Big Red Men’s Lacrosse

In an excerpt, a 2022 postseason game—with a Cornell player’s brother on the opposing team—presages the triumphs to come

By Beth Saulnier

In spring 2022, Cornell University Press’s Three Hills imprint published We Showed Baltimore, about the glory days of Big Red lacrosse under legendary coach Richie Moran—when, in a span from 1976–78, the team won 42 games, lost just one, and earned two national championships.

Now, the author of that book, veteran lacrosse reporter Christian Swezey, is back at Three Hills with a study of a much more recent triumph: the NCAA title that the Big Red won in May 2025, its first since Moran’s era.

In the following excerpt adapted from one of the early chapters, he details an NCAA semifinal game against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights on Memorial Day Weekend, three years before the historic win.

It was a dramatic match-up—not only due to the violent weather, but because the older brother of a Big Red player was on the opposing team.

‘Don’t Forget to Play Loose and Relaxed’

Cornell had its eye on Rutgers for much of the 2022 season, though not through any prescience. It was because the Rutgers star goalie was senior Colin Kirst, brother of Cornell attackman CJ Kirst ’25.

Rutgers was in the semifinals for the first time in program history. It entered having beaten a pair of Ivy League teams, Harvard in the NCAA first round and Penn in the quarterfinals. In those games, Colin Kirst made 35 saves and gave up only 18 goals.

On offense, the Scarlet Knights liked to set picks, then hope for a mix-up on the defense to lead to an open shot. Cornell’s defensive plan was to be aggressive on the picks, to not sit back and let Rutgers have a clear moment or two to decide whether to pass or shoot.

The star Scarlet Knight was attackman Ross Scott, 5-feet-9, 175 pounds, a native of West Linn, OR, speedy with a hard outside shot. In the NCAA first-round victory over Harvard, Scott scored eight goals.

Midfielder Joe Bartolotto ’21, BS ’22, recalled overhearing a coaches’ meeting days before the semifinal. One of the coaches brought up jersey number five, meaning Scott. Defensive coordinator Jordan Stevens ’15 gave a quick answer: “I have Gavin [Adler ’22, BS ’23] on him. He’ll be neutralized. Let’s move on.”

Cornell’s defensive plan was to be aggressive on the picks, to not sit back and let Rutgers have a clear moment or two to decide whether to pass or shoot.

Cornell traveled to East Hartford, CT, for a walkthrough practice the day before the game, then headed to its hotel, the Marriott in downtown Hartford on Columbus Boulevard. Around 30 minutes before the team dinner, Buczek asked defenseman Dom Doria ’22 if he wanted to deliver the traditional night-before-the-game speech.

“I mostly talked about the Long Red Line,” Doria says. “About the 2020 class that didn’t get to play again, the opportunity we had that they didn’t get to have. I reminded them of the work we had done to get here, the conditioning with Coach [Tom] Howley. And I also said, ‘Don’t forget to play loose and relaxed. Have fun.’”

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That night, according to Lacrosse Magazine, CJ Kirst did a quick FaceTime call with Colin. The two joked about which color cleats the Ivy League rookie of the year should wear. The brothers did not need reminders about having fun on the field.

On Saturday, the crowd of 21,668 included hundreds of Cornell students, fans, and lacrosse alumni, many of whom reminisced in the grassy tailgate area about the late Moran. One Cornell student brought a sign into the game noting the Kirst family’s divided allegiance: “CJ is the favorite child!”

Trailing 1-0, midfielder Hugh Kelleher ’24, BA ’25, on his typical hard-dodge to the goal, was so forceful he bent the stick of defensive midfielder Brennan Kamish, who raced off the field to get a new one. Another Kelleher dodge later in the quarter knocked a defender clean off his feet.

The crowd of 21,668 included hundreds of Cornell students, fans, and lacrosse alumni, many of whom reminisced in the grassy tailgate area about the late Moran.

By the end of the first quarter, each member of Cornell’s starting attack—John Piatelli ’21, BS ’22, Kirst, and Mikey Long ’23, BS ’25—scored an unassisted goal, and Cornell led 3-1. The goal by Kirst gave him 51 on the season and was his 73rd point, breaking the school record for points by a freshman set by Jeff Teat ’20, BS ’21, in 2017.

The Big Red extended the lead to 8-3 at halftime, at which point dangerous thunderstorms swept into the area, accompanied by 40-mph winds and hail. Resuming play was impossible.

Fans were told, over the loudspeaker and on video boards, to exit the stadium. Cornell and Rutgers remained in their locker rooms. Princeton and Maryland, en route to the stadium for the second semifinal, headed back to their hotels.

The bad weather caused thousands of homes in Connecticut to lose power. Amtrak faced hours of delays after the electrical storms damaged its tracks near New Haven.

The Big Red extended the lead to 8-3 at halftime, at which point dangerous thunderstorms swept into the area, accompanied by 40-mph winds and hail. Resuming play was impossible.

In the Cornell locker room, the coaches and players watched film, stayed hydrated, and examined changes and tweaks for the second half. Howley told the team to trust in its training, trust in each other, and let instinct guide them.

After a delay of three hours and 35 minutes, Cornell and Rutgers resumed their game. Early in the third quarter, Kelleher scored an unassisted goal, then ran into a Rutgers defenseman with such force he bent that stick as well; the goal gave the Big Red a 10-4 lead.

Later in the quarter, a photographer from Lacrosse Magazine snapped a photo of Colin Kirst leading a clearing attempt amid heavy pressure from CJ. Both brothers had huge smiles. (And this was after the three-plus-hour delay.)

The fourth quarter was largely anticlimactic. Cornell won, 17-10, thanks to five goals from Piatelli, four from Long, and three from Kirst and Kelleher. Adler won his matchup as well, holding Scott to one goal and two assists.

As the game ended, the first player to commiserate with Colin Kirst was CJ, giving him a handshake and a hug as a startled Rutgers defender, intending to do the same, took a step backward.

Excerpted from The Long Red Line: Cornell Lacrosse and the Forty-Eight-Year Quest for Glory, by Christian Swezey, a Three Hills book published by Cornell University Press. Copyright © 2026 by Cornell University. Included by permission of the publisher.

(All Rutgers game images by Eldon Lindsay / Cornell Athletics.)

Published May 18, 2026

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