ITHACA, N.Y. -- After 15 minutes of action, it looked as though No. 6 Cornell and No. 11 Harvard were in for a defensive showdown on a rainy Saturday afternoon at Schoellkopf Field. Once it started raining goals, however, it never stopped.

The Big Red scored nine unanswered over the span of 11:45 of game time and Cornell ran past the Crimson 17-9 on Saturday afternoon.The home team improved to 9-1 (3-1 Ivy), while Harvard slipped to 7-2 (2-1).

Michael Long had three goals and four assists and CJ Kirst had three of each for a six-point night as the Cornell offense scored 16 goals over the final three quarters. John Piatelli scored four goals for the Big Red, moving into the school's top 10 career list. Chayse Ierlan made 10 saves in goal and Angelo Petrakis controlled the battle at the faceoff "x" all afternoon, winning 17-of-27.
 

Kyle Mullin was a brick wall for the Crimson early, stopping nine of the first 10 shots he faced and ending the afternoon with 14 total stops while also winning a team-best five ground balls. Miles Botkiss, Austin Madronic and Andrew Perry had two goals apiece and Hayden Cheek was credited with a goal and an assist.

Cornell held a narrow 40-38 edge in total shots, but Cornell put 31 of its attempts on target. The Big Red also held advantages in face-offs (18-11) and ground balls (43-33).

At the end of 15 minutes, Cornell and Harvard were knotted at 1-1, with John Piatelli scoring the lone Big Red goal and Madronic tallying for the Crimson late in the period to tie the score. The visitors wouldn't get back on the board for another 21:34, and at that point Cornell led 10-2.

Billy Coyle assisted on a Hugh Kelleher goal and Spencer Wirtheim notched his third goal of the year 90 seconds later to build a 3-1 edge. Michael Long then went to work. The xxx assisted on consecutive goals, then after CJ Kirst scored and assisted on goals a minute between, circled from behind the net for three straight scores - posting a natural hat trick in just 2:36 of the third quarter. Cornell led 7-1 at the break.

Harvard's only real run of the game came after trailing 10-1. The Crimson put some pressure on Cornell with four consecutive goals - including two in the span of 10 seconds to end the run - to make it 10-5 midway through the third, but consecutive Big Red scores to end the third made it 12-5 entering the final 15 minutes.

After the Crimson opened the fourth with a goal, Cornell scored four in a row with Piatelli finding the back of the net twice, with Kirst connecting on a rocket shot with 11 minutes remaining to extend the lead to 10 (16-6).

Cornell will have a quick turnaround with a non-conference matchup with Central New York rival Syracuse on Monday, April 11 at 7 p.m. at the Carrier Dome. The contest will be broadcast on the ACC Network.