Box Score ITHACA, N.Y. – Freshman forward Trevor Yates scored his first collegiate goal and the Cornell men's hockey team largely improved from its first game to its next, but still ended up on the short side of a 2-1 score Saturday night at Lynah Rink.
 
Freshman goaltender Hayden Stewart made 21 saves in his first collegiate start, perhaps none bigger than a blocker save on Justin Parizek's breakaway chance 7 minutes, 51 seconds into the game. Cornell (0-1-1) had a spectacular opening two shifts of the game, firing four shots on goal in the first minute. But the rest of the frame was largely sloppy, illustrated by goals produced by broken line rushes.
 
Omaha (4-1-1) struck first with Avery Peterson's goal 1:59 before the first intermission. Dominic Zombo entered the zone and lost control of the puck, but the Cornell defensemen never got assertive touches on the puck to clear. Peterson followed the play through the slot and eventually slid a shot under Stewart's left pad.
 
But Cornell struck back 71 seconds later. After Cornell's choppy zone entry on the right wing, Jeff Kubiak won a battle along the boards and Yates chipped the puck away from a Mavericks defenseman toward the top of the circle. He got off an attempted shot that was blocked by Omaha's other defenseman, but Kubiak came streaking through the slot to pick up the loose puck and deked to his backhand around Massa. Kubiak's angle quickly disappeared, but Yates converted from the right side of the crease.

As it turned out, that would be the only shot to elude Massa. The Omaha goalie remains undefeated on the season, making 32 saves on Saturday to improve his goals-against average to 1.38 and save percentage to .952.

The winning goal came from Austin Ortega, who also assisted on the Mavericks' first strike. From center ice, Luc Snuggerud fired a puck in the general direction of the Big Red goal that took a funny bounce off the glass behind the net. That allowed Tanner Lane to get off a shot from the left circle that Stewart saved. Will Ortega then looped around from behind the net to take a couple of whacks at the rebound, with the second one sneaking inside the near post.
 
Cornell will play its only true road games in the 2014 portion of its schedule when it opens ECAC Hockey play at 7 p.m. Friday at Princeton, followed by a 7 p.m. Saturday date at Quinnipiac.