ITHACA, N.Y. -- In their final tuneup before next week's Field Tournament and to help celebrate the induction of Peter Orthwein into the Cornell Athletics Hall of Fame, the men's polo took on an experienced Gardnertown squad on Saturday afternoon at Oxley Equestrian Center. The Big Red hoped to build on its second half against UConn from last week and did just that, taking a 21-8 victory to improve to 3-2 on the year.

Nick Stieg, Brandon Van Loon and Nik Feldman started off by scoring the first two goals. Their opponent quickly tied the game at 2-2 only to see Cornell run off the next five goals to take a 7-2 lead after the first chukker. The Big Red continued its surge into the second by adding four more goals before Gardnertown would tally again. By the half, Cornell had built a 12-4 edge.

The half saw a salute by both teams to honor Peter Orthwein, who came out to accept a generous thank you from players and crowd. After mingling with the players and expressing his admiration for their abilities, the teams got back to it with Connor Pardell taking Nick Stieg's place. The Big Red continued to play well in the third and built its lead to 19-5 heading into the fourth. Stieg replaced Feldman in the fourth and Cornell cruised to the 21-8 victory. Feldman led the team with eight goals, Stieg had six and Van Loon and Pardell each added two. There were also three penalty and pony goals.