On a snowy day in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, men’s lacrosse opened its season with an 18-10 victory over Lehigh.
Lehigh opened the scoring just 51 seconds into the game, and it took almost six minutes for the Red to answer and tie the game. Sophomore midfielder Luke Gilmartin beat the Lehigh goalkeeper with a low shot.
Cornell took advantage of a Lehigh penalty and earned a lead that it would not relinquish with a man-up goal by sophomore attackman Willem Firth. This was followed by senior attackman CJ Kirst’s first goal of the year when he was left unmarked atop the crease.
Lehigh and Cornell each scored two more goals to close out the first quarter with Cornell ahead 5-3. The goals for the Red came from sophomore attackman Ryan Goldstein and Kirst.
Kirst collected his third goal — securing the hattrick — just over a minute into the second quarter, earning junior defender Brendan Staub the first assist of his career. Firth netted another man-up goal before Lehigh scored two quick goals to cut the lead to 7-5.
Cornell responded with three straight goals before the half, coming from senior midfielder Ryan Sheehan, senior attackman Michael Long, and senior midfielder Andrew Dalton. The Red entered halftime with a 10-5 lead.
Snow was falling and impacting the game in the second half, but it did not slow down either offense.
Cornell continued its run that closed the first half by netting the first two goals, from Firth and Long. Lehigh scored to make it 12-6, but Gilmartin answered just 11 seconds later, scooping up a ground ball off of the faceoff and sending a low, on-the-run shot into the back of the net.
Long scored his third goal of the day on a rip from the perimeter. The goal was assisted by sophomore midfielder TJ Lamb, the first point of his Cornell career. Cornell’s man-up unit tallied another goal with Kirst lasering a shot past the Lehigh keeper.
Lehigh scored to make the score 15-7, but Kirst, once again left alone on top of the crease, answered. Lehigh scored to close the third quarter and again to open the fourth.
Cornell scored twice in the final quarter, with Dalton and Firth bolstering their point totals. Lehigh scored the final goal of the game with five minutes to go to make the score 18-10, which would hold as the final whistle sounded.
The Cornell offense looked formidable in the game with Kirst netting five goals, Long tallying seven points and Firth scoring 4 goals.
The Red went 20/32 at the faceoff dot. Junior faceoff Jack Cascadden led the way, taking 25 faceoffs and winning 68 percent. Sophomore faceoff Sam Ricci took the remaining seven faceoffs.
Senior goalkeeper Wyatt Knust saved 14 of 24 shots on goal, good for a 58 percent save percentage.
On deck for Cornell is its home-opener, facing the University of Denver at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 22, at Schoellkopf Field.
