Notre Dame goalie occupies Cornell
Cornell ranks 15th in Division I in scoring this season, averaging 11.2 goals per game.
Whether the No. 7 seed Big Red can continue that run against Notre Dame and senior goalkeeper Scott Rodgers in a NCAA Tournament semifinal on Saturday at 4 p.m. at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore is another matter.
At 6-foot-4 and 254 pounds, Rodgers is an intimidating presence in the cage. IN the Fighting Irish’s 7-5 upset of No. 3 seed Maryland in the quarterfinals on Saturday, it appeared at times that the Terps hesitated to take shots out of fear that Rodgers would stop them. Maryland landed just 13 of 33 shots on net.
Cornell coach Jeff Tambroni said one of his priorities this week has been to encourage his offensive players to test Rodgers.
"It’s an extremely fine line," Tambroni said. "You have to be confident. We try to eliminate the fear of failure with our guys, especially when it comes to shooting. … We’ve played [Princeton sophomore Tyler] Fiorito, [junior Matt] Chriss from Brown, Fiorito again, [junior Jake] Hagelin from Loyola and [junior Tom] Palesky from Army and now Rodgers from Notre Dame. You’re talking about probably five of the premier goalies in the country. You don’t want them coming off the field after the goalie makes a save not feeling like they’re not going to be able to score the next one. So we’ve really tried hard to provide some tendencies, but not cross that line to get our guys thinking too much about where they need to place the ball. I think when a guy gets the ball in the proper shooting area and he feels like he’s got an opportunity to take advantage of that shooting space, we want our guys to think nothing about where he needs to put it, but to just kind of shoot based on his preparation throughout the week."
Other notes:
*The Big Red’s return to the Final Four has surprised even the players and coaches, who knew they had the arduous of replacing 16 seniors, including six starters in midfielders Max Seibald, John Glynn and Rocco Romero, attackman Chris Finn, defenseman Matt Moyer and goalkeeper Jake Myers. The pressure was even more palpable for the offense where attackmen Ryan Hurley and Rob Pannell were the only returners with considerable starting experience. "Going into last year’s games and going into a big game like this, you knew that you had Ryan Hurley above you and Max Seibald and John Glynn and Rocco Romero and Chris Finn and guys like that who have been there before and you can count on," Pannell, a sophomore, recalled. "I could kind of just do my thing and go about my business. I knew that if I didn’t necessarily play my best, I had other guys to step up and who were capable of generating offense. This year, it’s been a lot different as far as I’m one of those guys now – along with Ryan – as a veteran on the offensive end. So I guess there’s been a little more pressure going into each game, but I think we’ve been able to handle it throughout the season and we’re becoming more used to handling it and peaking right now as a team and as an offense."
*Pannell leads the country in points per game (4.59) and ranks second in assists per game (2.88). His two-goal, two-assist performance in a 14-5 rout of Army in the quarterfinals convinced Black Knights coach Joe Alberici of Pannell’s talent. "I think Rob Pannell is the best attackman in the country, and it starts there," Alberici said. "When you start game-planning for them, you’ve got to start with him. He’s got a unique ability of making everybody else better, but he doesn’t turn the ball over. He rarely does. So now what you’re relying on is goalie saves, and then you start entering the second part of the equation with them, which is they’re not going to shoot the ball from very far. They’re going to have good, quality opportunities. … The saves your goalie has to make tend to be a little bit tougher because they’re coming off of feeds and passes from behind the goal. So you’re turning them. In the past, we’ve been better with him than what we showed today."
