Former Delbarton star C.J. Kirst added another riveting chapter to his personal lacrosse story Monday by erupting for six goals to lead top-ranked Cornell to a 13-10 victory over No. 2 Maryland in the NCAA Division 1 men’s lacrosse final at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, MA.
With those six goals - all scored over the final 32 minutes - Kirst guided Big Red (18-1) to their first NCAA crown since 1977 and he tied a single-season Division 1 record for goals in a season with 82.
The senior is already the all-time scoring king in Division 1 lacrosse, a record he established in April with his 225th in a 10-8 win over Dartmouth.
The fourth of five immensely talented brothers in this sport hit his record-tying goal for the game’s final point with 50 seconds to play. Kirst now shares the mark with Jon Reese of Yale and Miles Thompson of Albany.
Kirst is not the only New Jersey star celebrating Cornell’s championship.
Senior Michael Long, a teammate of Kirst’s at Delbarton, recorded two assists, and sophomore Ryan Waldman of Westfield scored the game’s first goal with 10:38 to go in the first quarter.
Also scoring in the game was former Ridgewood star Jack Schultz, now a freshman at Maryland.
Kirst raised his NCAA-rcord goal total to 241 with his six-goal outburst, and he now has 338 career points. The two-time All-American is a finalist for the Teewaraton Award as the nation’s top college lacrosse player.
Kirst, a 2020 Delbarton grad, and ‘19 graduate Long helped Delbarton win the Tournament of Champions in 2018 and reach the TOC final the next year before falling to Mountain Lakes. Long was a major contributor as a sophomore to the 2017 squad that finished 21-1 and won the TOC.
Mike Kinney can be reached at mkinney@njadvancemedia.com.
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