ITHACA, N.Y. – The No. 10 Big Red men's lacrosse team used a dominant team effort to defeat Hofstra 14-5 in its final non-conference game this afternoon on Schoellkopf Field. Offensively, Connor Buczek scored twice to break Max Seibald's school record for career points by a midfielder (142), while Matt Donovan finished with four points to become just the 10th player in Cornell history to register 50 points in consecutive seasons (51). Defensively, Cornell held the Pride to just one even-strength goal, and blanked the visitors for the final 27:05 of the contest.
 
"We've been searching and seeking for a sixty minute effort and I think we did that today," said Matt Kerwick, the Richard M. Moran Head Coach of Lacrosse. "The guys were focused and competing right from the start. I thought we handled the ball well today and hopefully that's a good sign for things to come. I thought defensively we really played outstanding against a very good offensive six. I thought offensively we were good working the ball and looking for the best shot, not the first shot."
 
Seven Big Red players registered at least two points on the day as Dan Lintner led Cornell with five goals and John Edmonds matched a career-high with five points (two goals, three assists), while John Hogan matched a career-high with four assists.  Bradlee Lord (two goals) and Chris Cook (two assists) also had multi-point games, while short stick defensive midfielder Tim LaBeau registered a goal for the second consecutive game.
 
In a battle between two of the top face-off men in the nation, Domenic Massimilian had the 13-21 advantage in the circle and picked up nine ground balls to give the Big Red offense plenty of extra opportunities.
 
When the Pride's Kris Clarke managed to win the restart, the Cornell defense was up to the task, causing 11 turnovers on the day, thanks in large part to Marshall Peters, who registered a career-high five caused turnovers to go with six ground balls. Jordan Stevens and Cook also finished with two caused turnovers.
 
Cornell (9-3) held the edge in shots (42-16), shots on goal (23-7), and ground balls (32-17). The Big Red was also a perfect 14-of-14 on clears and turned the ball over just 10 times. The Pride had 17 miscues and cleared the ball successfully just 13-of-16 times.
 
Hofstra's best asset was its man-up unit that went 4-of-7 and accounted for all but one of the visitors goals. Cornell converted 2-of-3 man-up chances.    
 
The Pride was led by Sam Linares' three points on one goal and two assists, while Mike Malave had one goal and one assist.
 
After surrendering back-to-back man-up goals to dig itself into a 2-0 hole, the Big Red rattled off four consecutive goals, including two-straight from Lintner to take a 4-2 lead at the first break.  Hofsta's lone even-strength goal of the game ended the Cornell run as both teams netted two goals to make it a 6-4 Cornell lead at the half.
 
Lintner opened the scoring in the third quarter just 11 seconds in off a great pass from Donovan but Hofstra's Mike Malave answered with another man-up tally at the 12:05 mark.
 
That would be the Pride's final goal of the game as Cornell scored the final seven goals, beginning just 33 seconds later with a goal by Edmonds, followed by consecutive goals by Buczek to tie and then break the record held by Seibald. From there the Big Red cruised to the 14-5 victory. 
 
"I'm pleased that Connor broke it today in a game we needed and against a tough defense," said Kerwick. "He's what we try to be at Cornell. He plays hard all the time. He competes. He's a leader off the field … He beat one of the all-time greats today in Max and we still have a lot of games to go hopefully. I'm very proud of Connor and he's earned it with his effort.  And considering he barely played at all his freshman year it's astonishing that he broke Max's record."
 
Cornell returns to Ivy play next weekend as it travels to Brown for a pivotal matchup with the Bears on Saturday, April 18 at 3 p.m.