BALTIMORE – The No. 12 Cornell men's lacrosse team has had its arsenal of offensive weapons on display in the opening games of the 2020 season, and that was no different today. Led by Jeff Teat and John Piatelli, who both reached milestone career point totals on Sunday, nine different Big Red players scored in Cornell's convincing 21-11 victory over High Point at Calvert Hall High School in Baltimore. With the win, the Big Red improves to 3-0 on the season.

Teat was one of two Cornell student-athletes to score seven points in Sunday's contest, scoring three goals and dishing out four assists. With his seven points, Teat reached the 250-point plateau for his career, becoming only the fourth player in Big Red men's lacrosse history to accomplish this feat. His 255 career points makes him only two away from surpassing Eamon McEneaney '77 (256 points) and moving into third all-time in the Cornell record books. Teat is also climbing up the Ivy League record books, now ranking seventh all-time in conference history in career points and eighth all-time in career assists (145).

While Teat's performance on Sunday was undoubtedly impressive, John Piatelli was just as exhilarating to watch on offense, as the junior scored a career-high six goals. His six goals included a string of three-consecutive, unanswered goals for Cornell in the third quarter over a span of 3:20, securing a natural hat trick for Piatelli. The Big Red has now notched a natural hat trick in every game this season, as Cooper Telesco posted one at UAlbany and Michael Long did so Friday against Towson. With Piatelli's six goals, he has now surpassed the 100-point milestone for his career, currently sitting at 103 career points.  

Speaking of Long, the freshman is truly starting to find his rhythm, putting together another solid performance on Sunday. He joined Jeff Teat in leading the Big Red with seven points, scoring three goals and handing out four assists. Jonathan Donville and Billy Coyle also scored multiple goals for Cornell, netting two apiece. Donville has been just as lethal of a passing threat as he has a scoring threat over the past several games, notching three assists on Sunday for a total of five points. Telesco recorded two assists of his own, also scoring a goal and finishing the contest with three points.

Paul Rasimowicz and Angelo Petrakis were the not-so-secret weapons in the face-off circle that powered the Big Red offense, especially in the first half. Cornell held a 13-6 advantage over High Point at halftime, and Rasimowicz and Petrakis combined to win 17 of the 20 face-offs in the first 30 minutes of play. This created ample opportunities for the Big Red to score, and boy did it take advantage of it.

After High Point scored the first goal of the game, the Big Red offense came alive, scoring seven of the next eight goals to take a 7-2 lead over the Panthers. With an 8-4 lead at the end of the first quarter, Cornell went on a scoring streak to open the second, netting five-straight goals to claim a 13-4 advantage. The fourth goal of this series was scored by freshman Aiden Blake, marking his first collegiate goal.

In a game of scoring runs for the Big Red, Cornell once again put together a string of four unanswered goals to start the third quarter, three of which were Piatelli's natural hat trick. This gave the Big Red a 17-6 advantage that was impossible for High Point to recover from, as Cornell went on to the 21-11 victory.

As for High Point, the Panthers only scored six, six-on-six goals for the entire contest. Cornell did struggle with penalties over the course of the game, being called for 10 penalties that resulted in 9:30 of man-up time for High Point. This is when the Panthers had its greatest offensive production, but Cornell still managed to hold High Point to 5-of-10 on man-up opportunities. The Big Red capitalized in man-up situations on Sunday, scoring four goals on six man-up chances.

After completely ruling the face-off circle in the first half, the Big Red won the face-off battle for the third time in just as many games. Cornell finished the game 24-of-35 in face-offs, led by Rasimowicz (12-of-20) and Petrakis (9-of-12).

In addition to showing great strength in the face-off circle, Cornell showed its selflessness on offense, notching 14 assists on its 21 goals. The Big Red was also precise in its shots, with 76.7% of its shots coming on goal as compared to just 52.5% for High Point.

This can be attributed to the Big Red defense, who frustrated the Panthers in limiting its ability to score. Brandon Salvatore and Gavin Adler were tough on defense, forcing two turnovers apiece. Cornell also dominated the ground ball battle for the third-straight game, picking up 46 in comparison to High Point's 21. Rasimowicz led the team on the ground with seven ground balls, while Salvatore and Adler each had four.

Chayse Ierlan recorded his third victory of the season in goal, making 10 saves for the second time in three games.

The No. 12 Cornell men's lacrosse team will face its first ranked opponent of the season when it travels to Columbus, Ohio to take on No. 19 Ohio State on Sunday, March 1 at 12 p.m. The game will be broadcasted on ESPNU.