It’s almost poetic. The last team standing in the way of the Red and the National Collegiate Athletic Association championship is the only one it couldn’t best in the regular season: Penn State.

With everything on the line, No. 1 Cornell (16-1, 6-0 Ivy) travels to Foxborough, Massachusetts this weekend, facing No. 5 Penn State (12-4, 3-2 Big Ten) in Saturday’s semifinals and fighting for the chance to play in the final on Memorial Day.

“We’re excited for the opportunity to hopefully right a huge wrong,” said head coach Connor Buczek ’15 MBA ’17. “We have a huge test in front of us. Their team is well-coached, tough and talented, so they’re going to push us.”

The Nittany Lions knocked out preseason favorite Notre Dame in the quarterfinals with a shocking last-quarter comeback, while Cornell barely scraped a win against Richmond after keeping the score tight for 60 minutes. Neither team has had an easy postseason run, but both have made it to the final four.

The Red hopes to return to its roots after struggling to get its footing against Richmond and Penn State. Though Cornell didn’t get started with its scoring against Albany until 10 minutes had passed in the second round game, it strung together several of its signature scoring runs to eventually take a 15-6 win.

The Red had a harder time against Richmond, trailing by one or keeping the score tied for the majority of the game before pulling ahead in the final minutes. Both Albany and Richmond were teams Cornell had beaten earlier in the season — Penn State, its fifth consecutive rematch of the postseason, will be the only opportunity it has to overturn March 8’s result.

“You learn lessons the hard way. Those are the ones that stick,” Buczek said. “Obviously, it was a disappointing outcome back in March. Kudos to [Penn State] for making the plays down the stretch and finishing that game as well as you possibly can. On the flip side, we didn’t make the plays, we made some mistakes, and we allowed them to hang in that thing and have the opportunity.”

A two-minute nonreleasable penalty in the final two minutes of the game made the difference for Cornell in its only loss of 2025 so far. Though the Red was up by three goals, the Nittany Lions were able to tie it up and capitalize in overtime.

Penn State also had a fourth-quarter victory in the quarterfinals against Notre Dame, and Penn State head coach Jeff Tambroni credits the Red for giving the team the confidence to take advantage of moments of opportunity.

“Looking back now, the Cornell scenario really helped,” Tambroni said. “We’ve tried to focus on the little things that built up to those opportunities. Some of it was fortune. We were just fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time against really good teams.”

Penn State has another thing that makes the matchup personal: Tambroni was a member of the Red’s coaching staff for 13 seasons, including serving as head coach from 2001 to 2011. Now, he is in his 15th year leading the Nittany Lions.

“[Tambroni] had an incredible impact that truly brought [the program] back from a place that was not up to the standard at a place like Cornell,” Buzcek said. “He laid the foundation and really helped build this place. We’re trying to uphold that tradition and continue to make those guys proud.”

The Nittany Lions’ opportunistic style has allowed them to come out on top against fierce contenders when it counts. Cornell has thrived off of momentum and overwhelming offensive power, but its centerpiece attackman didn’t bring his usual punch against Richmond.

Senior attackman CJ Kirst, who averages 4.47 goals per game and is now six goals away from the NCAA single-season record of 82, scored just two in the quarterfinal match. Luckily, sophomore attackman Ryan Goldstein and senior midfielder Andrew Dalton netted four and three respectively in a showcase of the team’s flexibility and depth. The Red’s longest run against Richmond was just three goals – still, it finished when it counts.

Junior faceoff Jack Cascadden played an essential part in the victory, taking 17 of 25 faceoffs and granting crucial possession time to the team. The leadership of players like Kirst, Dalton and Cascadden are heralded by teammates, but the team’s success is also a reflection of its coaching staff.

The semifinal appearance marks Buczek’s second in four seasons as head coach.

“I don’t know if I, in my wildest dreams, would have thought we’d be this successful [this soon after becoming head coach], but it’s an outcome of having incredible people on our staff and on our team,” Buczek said. “Everything that we’ve accomplished is from the tradition and culture that has been laid before us, and moving forward, it’s about how we’re living up to that standard every single day.”

If the Red is able to defeat the Nittany Lions, it will advance to the championship final on Monday, May 26th. On the other side of the bracket is No. 2 Maryland and No. 6 Syracuse, who will play after Cornell and Penn State on Saturday.

The semifinal and championship matches will be played in Gillette Stadium, home of the New England Patriots, with capacity for over 65,000 spectators. Faceoff between Cornell and Penn State is set for noon, with live coverage provided by ESPNU.