ITHACA, N.Y. -- No. 5 Cornell avenged an early season loss to Southern Methodist to advance through the USPA national quarterfinals on Wednesday afternoon at Oxley Equestrian Center. To get to the finals, it will now have to avenge two earlier losses to No. 1 Virginia to reach the finals for the seventh time since 2004.

The Big Red improved to 11-7 on the season with a decisive 28-19 victory over the Mustangs to flip the script on the visitors, who won a 17-16 battle on Jan. 27 at Oxley. The national runner-up a season ago will square off against the team that beat them in the finals in 2011, the top-seeded Cavaliers, on Friday at 2 p.m.

Cornell took the first lead before the Mustangs quickly tied it at 2-2. Cornell would then take a lead it would never relinquish, and after the first chukker the Big Red led 8-4 behind six goals by Nik Feldman. In the second, the Big Red built on its lead and went into the half with a 15-6 advantage. Though the Mustangs fought back and won the third chukker 7 -6, Cornell still had a comfortable eight-goal bulge heading into the fourth. The home team extended the lead to as many as 13 goals  before cruising home to the 28-19 win. Feldman led Cornel with 15 goals, while Brandon Van Loon had nine and Connor Pardell scored four.