BETHLEHEM, Pa. -- The third-ranked Cornell men's lacrosse team shook the rust off from a long offseason, looking at times to be a dominant unit in an 18-10 victory at Lehigh on Saturday afternoon at the Ulrich Sports Complex. The Big Red improved to 1-0, while the Mountain Hawks slipped to 0-3.

Seniors Michael Long (three goals, four assists) and CJ Kirst (six goals) combined for 11 points for a unit that assisted on 15 of its 18 goals and had seven players with multi-point efforts. Long joined the school's top 10 list in career points, upping his total to 175 to match Jon Levine '76 for ninth. Cornell dominated in all phases, outshooting the home team 54-40, winning the ground ball battle 37-23 and winning 20-of-32 face-offs. Cornell's defense caused seven turnovers and Wyatt Knust made 14 saves in the cage for Cornell. The Big Red cashed in on all three extra-man opportunities, including two by Willem Firth, who scored four times. Ryan Goldstein added a goal and four assists in the victory.

Kasey Heath made 20 saves in a strong effort in goal for the home team, keeping the damage to a minimum. Luke Winkler and Dakota Eierman each had two goals and an assist, while Andrew Kelly scored a pair of goals. Richard Checo caused a pair of turnovers and won two ground balls for Lehigh. The Mountain Hawks scored on 4-of-6 extra-man opportunities.

Cornell led 10-5 at the break despite showing some signs of rust from a long offseason. Despite that, the Big Red still peppered the Mountain Hawks with 22 shots on goal, was perfect in the clear game (8-for-8) and dominated faceoffs (11-of-17) and on the ground (17-9). Five players had already recorded multi-point efforts by the break and Knust turned away eight shots.

Lehigh got on the board just 49 seconds in after the Big Red won the opening face-off and threw it away. Eierman's stinger got the Mountain Hawks on the board in an otherwise quiet first six minutes. Luke Gilmartin scored in transition to even the game 6:45 in. The visitors took the lead on its first man-up opportunity with a crisp effort that ended in a Caddigan shot that was saved into a rebound for Firth. The sophomore buried it to make it 2-1 with 5:36 left in the quarter. 

Kirst got his first of the year less than 45 seconds later and the Big Red was off and running. It was 5-3 at the end of the first and 5-2 in the second to take a five-goal advantage into the break. It was 16-8 heading into the fourth. Lehigh got within two goals at 7-5 in the second, but an 8-1 run that spanned the second and third quarters effectively ended any chance the Mountain Hawks had of getting back in the game. 

UP NEXT
• The Big Red opens its home season when it welcomes Denver to Schoellkopf Field on Saturday, Feb. 22 at 11 a.m.
• The contest will be broadcast live on ESPN+.
• Cornell leads the the all-time series 2-1, though this will be the first-ever meeting in Ithaca.
• The Pioneers rallied in the fourth quarter to pick up a 17-16 victory last February.
• Cornell earned wins in 2008 and 2012 at neutral sites, with the 2012 coming in OT.