Cornell University Athletics

HEAD COACH MATT KERWICK OPENING REMARKS
Congratulations to Albany. I thought they played outstanding today. They showed what they can do when they handle the ball as well as they do and finish their chances. We started exactly as we wanted to. We had good chances and were up 2-0 and felt pretty good about it and then they went on a string of a lot of good ones ... They run their transition game really well. I thought we got watching Lyle Thompson a little bit and he picked us apart with some great feeds.
 
I just want to thank this senior class. This is one of the best classes to ever come through Cornell. I told the group in the locker room. It’s not about the wins or the losses, and they certainly won more than they loss, its more about the way they carry themselves and represent Cornell. The way they do things is exemplary and they’re passing that on to the guys below them. So it’s a tremendous group and we’re going to miss them but they left their mark in a positive way on Cornell.  
 
COACH KERWICK ON THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TODAY’S GAME AND THE FIRST GAME IN DALLAS
They’re playing really well. In the first game there were some turnovers that maybe we caused, but they turned it over a bit more than they did today. I think defensively they kind of have found their identity. They play very aggressively on defense and you can’t really try and slow it down. You have to run by them and can your shots and I thought we did a good job of getting to good spots and we just didn’t score. They’re playing at a really high level right now and that’s what you want to do at this time of year.
 
COACH KERWICK ON THE PLAN TO DEFEND LYLE THOMPSON
You try and help Jordan [Stevens] as much as you can but he’s one of the best ever. You try and go at the right times and in the right spots and I think at times we got caught ball watching when it wasn’t necessarily the guy that was going to go support Jordan. And he just threw it in there. They have a lot of confidence in each other and they throw it into guys that were maybe a step away from being defended. They don’t care. They throw it in there and they handle it and they shot it well. We were there on a lot of them. We just weren’t on the hands or on the gloves.
 
JORDAN STEVENS ON DEFNDING LYLE THOMPSON
He’s going to get his points. We knew that coming in. He is as good as it gets but they’ve got a lot of talent. I’m proud of our guys. Myself, I wasn’t perfect, but I think I did a decent job. Christian [Knight] was strong in net and bailed us out a couple times. A few bounces didn’t go our way, but we fought back and I’m really proud of our younger guys.
 
CONNOR BUCZEK ON CORNELL’S LACK OF OFFENSE
We knew we could create opportunities. We knew we could get shots when we wanted to. We had to be more patient. We weren’t as patient as we wanted to be. The game plan was to have a longer possession, hold onto the ball, wear them down a little bit and then take a great shot instead of a good shot, and we ended up settling for the good shot too often today and that came back to bite us once Blaze [Riorden] got hot.
  
JORDAN STEVENS ON PLAYING ON SCHOELLKOPF
It was important to play again here. Obviously we wanted to go out with a better taste in our mouth. But in the locker room, I wouldn’t trade what we have within those walls for anything. I wouldn’t trade what we have for a win today.
 
CONNOR BUCZEK ON PLAYING ON SCHOELLKOPF
This is a special place. We call it George’s House. It’s a sacred space … To have one more game here was an honor.
 
COACH KERWICK ON HIS THOUGHTS ABOUT THE SEASON
It was a bit of a roller-coaster for us this year. I thought we battled through and kept competing and as a coach that is what you want to do. You want to be a competitive group every day, and you want to do it right off the field as well, and these guys certainly did that. We would have liked to have won the Ivy Tournament last week. We would have liked to have won this one, so we have a little bit of a bad taste in our mouth for sure, but I’m proud of this group. It’s the way we do things and how we represent Cornell University and this group was outstanding in those areas. That’s what I’m going to remember from this team.