ITHACA, N.Y. -- The offense was rolling through the snow squalls for the Big Red on Saturday afternoon, when Cornell beat Lehigh, 17-13, on Schoellkopf Field in the season opener. The win gave the Big Red its fifth-consecutive season-opening victory. Cornell improves to 1-0 on the year, while Lehigh drops to 1-2.

The Cornell attack was led by Michael Long. A senior who missed over half of last season due to injury, Long tallied seven points, including a hat trick, in the debut of his final season. Freshman Willem Firth followed, netting a team-best four goals on just five shots in his collegiate debut. 2023 Tewaaraton finalist CJ Kirst tallied a hat trick and added an assist for four points. The senior also caused three turnovers and scooped four groundballs. Junior Danny Caddigan netted a career-high three goals and added an assist for four points. Spencer Witheim rounded out the Big Red's multi-point scorers with a goal and an assist. Sophomore Jack Cascadden went 21-for-28 in faceoffs, scooping a game-best 11 groundballs. In his first career start, Wyatt Knust made 14 saves.

Lehigh was led by captain Scott Cole, who had a game-high six goals and an assist for seven points. Andrew Kelly tallied a goal and an assist for two points, while Grant Rodny and Dakota Eierman each notched two goals to round out the multi-point scorers for the Mountain Hawks. Sean Dow was Lehigh's best faceoff man, winning 11-of-32 attempts. Nick Pecora had 11 saves in the outing.

FIRST QUARTER

• Cornell got the scoring started early when Michael Long scored on the Big Red's first possession. A feed from CJ Kirst found the senior wide-open in the lane to put the Big Red on the boards, 1-0, just 46 seconds into the game.
• Lehigh answered over four minutes later, but a feed from freshman Luke Gilmartin to Michael Long in transition sparked a 3-0 Cornell run that included Willem Firth's first collegiate goal.
• With just over a minute left in the quarter, Lehigh's Scott Cole tallied his first goal of the day to cut the Cornell lead to 4-2.

SECOND QUARTER

• Cornell opened the second on a 4-0 run. The final two goals in the run were scored five seconds apart when after junior Danny Caddigan's second goal of the afternoon, Jack Cascadden took the faceoff right to goal to push the Big Red lead to 8-2.
• Lehigh responded with a 3-2 run to cut into the Cornell lead, but the Big Red held a 10-5 advantage at halftime.

THIRD QUARTER

• The Mountain Hawks carried the momentum into the third, opening with a 4-0 run to cut Cornell's lead to one.
• CJ Kirst righted the ship with an unassisted goal at the 5:48 mark, the first of three goals in a Cornell run to close out the third, 13-9.

FOURTH QUARTER

• Ryan Sheehan kept things rolling, netting his first goal of the season with 10:47 remaining.
• The Big Red and Lehigh traded pairs of goals before Danny Caddigan completed his hat trick, pushing Cornell's lead to five.
• The Mountain Hawks tallied the last goal of the day, but the Big Red were already out of reach, and Cornell began the season with a win.

BIG RED NOTABLES

• Willem Firth tallied four goals in his first collegiate action, the most in a Big Red collegiate debut since CJ Kirst scored four against UAlbany on Feb. 19, 2022.
• Michael Long tallied his most points in a game (7) since he had eight against Princeton in the season finale on April 30, 2022.
• Long's goals extend his game-scoring streak to 18, the eighth-longest in the country.
• Wyatt Knust made a career-high 14 saves in his first collegiate start. He posted a .519 save percentage.
• Jack Cascadden's 11 groundballs and 21 won faceoffs each mark career-highs for the sophomore.
• The 21 wins are tied for third-most in a single game in Cornell history.