BINGHAMTON – The No. 10 Cornell men's lacrosse team closed the second quarter on a 7-1 run to blow open a tied game and defeat Hobart, 16-8, this afternoon at the Greater Binghamton Sports Complex. The win is Cornell's 11th straight over the Statesmen, the longest in streak by either team in the 136-meeting series.
With the win, the Big Red evens its record at 1-1.
For the second game in a row, Domenic Massimilian dominated in the face-off circle, winning 21-of-27 restarts and picking up 11 ground balls. Short stick defensive midfielder Chris Cook also had an outstanding game with seven ground balls and one goal.
Matt Donovan led the Big Red offense with five goals, while Connor Buczek and John Edmonds each registered hat tricks. Buczek also added a pair of assists to finish with five points and move into the top 10 in Cornell history for career points scored by a midfielder (109). John Hogan was the Big Red's only other mulit-point scorer with two goals and two assists.
Defensively, four Cornell players – Jordan Stevens, John Hogan, Jack Bolen and Marshall Peters – registered a caused turnover, with Peters adding five ground balls.
After a slow start, sophomore goalie Christian Knight finished with nine saves and allowed seven goals in 57:08 before Brennan Donville played the final 2:52 and allowed the Statesmen's last goal of the contest.
Hobart (1-1) was led by Alex Love, who registered four goals to set the new Hobart Division I standard for goals in a career, while Cooper Stefaniak and Matt Opsahl finished with one goal and one assist apiece.
After trading goals to a 3-3 score at the first break, Buczek gave the Big Red its first lead of the game, 4-3, with a goal just 40 seconds into the second quarter. Just over one minute later, Love knotted the game for the final time at 4-4.
The decisive Cornell run began with consecutive goals by Hogan, followed by unassisted tallies from Donovan and Cook to make it an 8-4 contest. Stefaniak temporarily stole the momentum with a goal at the 6:51 mark and neither team managed to score for over four minutes, but the goals for the Big Red came fast and furious in the final 2:19 of the half. Buczek and Bradlee Lord found the back of the net before Donovan cashed in with a buzzer beater to make it 11-5 at the half.
The third quarter saw both teams' defenses step up and Love scored both of Hobart's goals around tallies from Edmonds and Donovan to make it 13-7 at the final break. Cornell's defensive was particularly impressive in the final moments, killing off a two-man Hobart man-up advantage.
A goal by Edmonds with just over 10 minutes to play doubled-up the Statesmen once again, 14-7, and Donovan got the Big Red first man-up goal of the game to make it an eight-goal advantage.
Opsahl and Emmy Poccia then traded goals in the final moments to account for the 16-8 final.
The Big Red is back in action in its home-opener as it takes on Binghamton at Schoellkopf Field on Tuesday, Feb. 24 at 5 p.m.
(Courtesy: Cornell Athletics)
