Michelle Parke

2012 National Collegiate Club Championship Schedule & Results

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Brie Reid (Sr., Northbrook, Ill.) scored five times to pick up Player of the Game honors as Cornell University made history by claiming the program's first-ever victory at the National Collegiate Club Championship thanks to holding off Wellesley College 10-8 to tie for 13th at the 2012 Championship hosted by Florida State University.

Cornell, which previously tied for 15th at the 2005, 2006 and 2011 National Collegiate Club Championships and had never won a game in three previous trips to the championship, finish in a tie with Florida State University for 13th place in the final 16-team championship standings as the 13th and 15th place positions in the field are not played out due to pool availability.

North Atlantic Division runner-up Wellesley, which advanced to the championship field when division champion Bowdoin College declined to attend for financial reasons, finishes 15th in its first appearance at the championship as The Blue are the equal of No. 12-nationally ranked the University of Oregon which fell to Florida State 8-7 in the other 13th/15th place game in the field.

Cornell never trailed in the game and opened up a 2-0 lead prior to Wellesley getting on the board in the opening period of the game.

Reid opened the scoring for the Big Red as she swept in a shot at 6:33 on a man-up opportunity.  Mallory Matsumoto (Sr., Charlottesville, Va.) followed at the five minute mark to push the margin to 2-0 before Alexandra Simas (Sr., Bellevue, Wash.) put The Blue on the board at 4:25.

Cornell closed the period with a 3-0 run as Michelle Parke (Fr., Honolulu, Hawaii) and Reid put away advantage chances at 3:34 and 3:07, respectively, prior to Ywen Ng (Sr., Singapore) accepting a pass and ripping in the feed at 1:14 to make it 5-1 in favor of the Big Red.

Wellesley pulled closer in the second quarter as Elena Quijano (Jr., Santa Cruz, Calif) scored at the 5:47 and 4:07 marks, while Emma Mrkonic (So., Shawnee Mission, Kansas) arched a ball into the cage on a man-up try with 44 seconds remaining in the first half to comprise a 3-1 scoring advantage in the period. 

Cornell's lone score in the period came from the hand of Reid who accepted the opening sprint of the second quarter and drilled a shot past The Blue netminder Genia Nizkorodov (Jr., Irvine, Calif.) to temporarily give her squad a 6-1 lead before Wellesley's run to shrink the margin down to 6-4 by halftime.

Ng struck again to start the third quarter as she spun around her defender for a goal at 4:59 to make it 7-4 in favor of the Big Red. 

The teams exchanged tallies over the remainder of the quarter as Megan Lambert (So., Upland, Calif.) broke loose to tip in a shot at 2:31 for Wellesley and Reid netted her fourth goal of the evening at the 2:04 mark to keep Cornell in front by three at 8-5.

Wellesley refused to go silently into the night, however, as The Blue responded to a scoring blast by Ng on a man-up chance to complete a hat-trick by racking up three consecutive scores to turn the heat up on the Big Red.

Lambert started the comeback bid with a goal at the three minute mark prior to Simas sticking in shots at 1:10 and 35 seconds to move The Blue within 9-8.

Needing a goal to keep Wellesley at bay, Reid stepped to the forefront once again tacking on her fifth marker of the contest as an ejection expired to preserve the victory and lead the Big Red to a historic win.

Wellesley Goals: Alexandra Simas (3); Elena Quijano (2); Megan Lambert (2); Emma Mrkonic

Cornell Goals: Brie Reid (5); Ywen Ng (3); Mallory Matsumoto; Michelle Parke 

Saves: Wellesley -  Genia Nizkorodov (10) ; Cornell - Karen Swetland (9)

Exclusions: Wellesley - 9 ; Cornell - 7

Advantage Opportunities: Wellesley - -for-7 ; Cornell - -for-9

Sprints: Wellesley - 2-for-4 (Second, Third) ; Cornell - 2-for-4 (First, Fourth)

Officials: Vern Heimbigner, Kristin Stanford 

Wellesley College's Genia Nizkorodov makes a save against Cornell University