Box Score

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Riley Nash and Nick D'Agostino had a pair of goals and an assist each as the Cornell men's hockey team scored a 5-1 victory over Harvard in game one of the ECAC Hockey Quarterfinals on Friday night at Lynah Rink. Cornell can close out the series with a win over the Crimson in game two on Saturday night.

Colin Greening added the fifth goal and had an assist for the Big Red (18-8-4), while Mike Devin, Patrick Kennedy, Blake Gallagher and Tyler Roeszler each chipped in an assist. For Harvard (9-20-3), Pier-Olivier Michaud had the lone goal with Conor Morrison and Danny Biega picking up the assists.

Cornell netminder Ben Scrivens stopped 26 shots in earning the victory, while Kyle Richter got the start in goal for Harvard and took the loss, making 21 saves. Richter was pulled with 9:59 to play in the game, with his replacement, Ryan Carroll, making three saves on three shots.

Cornell finished the night 1-for-6 on the power play, while Harvard scored its lone goal on the power play, converting on one of its five chances.

The Big Red got off to the early lead on Greening's goal at the 4:35 mark of the first period, jamming the puck into the goal from the post on Richter's left. Five minutes later, Michaud knotted things up when he scored from the bottom of the faceoff circle to the left of Scrivens, slipping the puck through the senior netminder's legs.

D'Agostino put the Big Red ahead for good with 7:19 to play in the first period when he happened to be in the right place at the right time. With Cornell on the power play following a penalty on Harvard's Luke Greiner, Mike Devin ripped a shot from the center point that Richter stopped, but the rebound came off to D'Agostino between the circle. The freshman then wristed a shot on net, finding the upper right corner of the goal to give Cornell a 2-1 lead after one period.

In the second, D'Agostino scored his second of the night, getting a goal on a 3-on-2 break. Blake Gallagher carried the puck through the neutral zone before giving way to Roeszler, who paused and found D'Agostino streaking in between the circles. Roeszler's pass was perfectly placed on the stick of D'Agostino, and his wrist shot beat Richter for the 3-1 Cornell lead.

Nash added a pair of goals in the third period, first intercepting a pass in the Harvard zone, skating around a Crimson defenseman and firing a forehand wrist shot over the near-side shoulder of Richter at the 5:44 mark of the period. Just over four minutes later, he was alone on the post to follow up a rebound off a shot from Greening between the circles, scoring with 9:59 to play to make the score 5-1 and ending the night for Richter.

The final 10 minutes passed without incident, as the two teams traded power-play opportunities but neither side could find the back of the net and Cornell took the first game of the series.

The two teams will return to action on Saturday night in game two at Lynah Rink. Saturday's game, which will begin at 7 p.m., is sold out.