ITHACA, N.Y. -- The No. 1 team in the country looked the part in every phase of the game, jumping out to a 10-1 halftime lead and cruising to a 15-5 victory over Penn on Saturday afternoon at Schoellkopf Field. The Big Red improved to 7-1 (3-0 Ivy), while the Quakers slipped to 4-6 (1-2 Ivy) with the loss.

Cornell came firing out of the gates against a Penn squad that handed the Big Red two crushing defeats a season ago, opening the game on a 4-0 run and answering Penn's lone goal of the first half with eight consecutive scores to make it 12-1 early in the third. Cornell played complementary lacrosse the rest of the way, getting help from all phases of the game to increase its win streak to three contests.

Senior Michael Long led the Big Red with four goals and two assists, while classmate CJ Kirst notched two goals and three assists as the Big Red offense was credited with 12 assists on 15 scores. Ryan Waldman posted a hat trick, Ryan Goldstein notched two goals and two assists to go along with five ground balls, and Hugh Kelleher, Willem Firth and Ryan Sheehan each were credited with a goal and an assist. Brendan Staub caused a pair of turnovers with four ground balls in front of Wyatt Knust, who made 12 saves, including nine in the second half to protect the Big Red lead. Jack Cascadden won 12-of-19 faceoffs with eight ground balls to give Cornell extra possessions throughout.

Penn got two goals and an assist from Tynan Walsh, while both Ethan Till and Tyler Kuehl had multiple caused turnovers. All-America goalkeeper Emmet Carroll made eight saves in defeat. The Quakers kept space with Cornell in shots (Big Red 38-37) and ground balls (26-24), but most of the shots and possessions came after the game was decided.
 

Willem Firth scored 90 seconds into the game to begin the contest on a 4-0 run, as the Big Red defense held the Quakers off the board for the game's first 10 minutes and to just one score over the first 34:14. The nation's leading scorer, Kirst, didn't score his first until 10:15 left in the third quarter as the senior posted back-to-back goals, but at that time the home team led 10-1. The Quakers scored three straight at one point in the second half to close to within eight, but the Big Red answered right back with three of their own to put it away.

Cornell used a balanced attack that featured eight goal scorers and eight more that were credited with an assist. Long scored three times in the first quarter to help set the tone, including back-to-back scores in the final two minutes to put the home team up 7-1 after the first quarter. Brendan Staub's pole goal just under two minutes into the second half was the dagger, pushing the team's advantage to 12-1 - more goals than the Big Red had scored against the Quakers in either of its 2024 losses. 

Long's six points upped his career total to 196, matching John Piatelli '22 for sixth all-time at Cornell. Kirst's two goals moved him to 204 to match Chris Gray of Boston University/North Carolina for No. 8 all-time in Division I history. Cornell is now 41-2 all-time when ranked No. 1 in the national polls.

NEXT UP
• Cornell will continue its three game home stand when it welcomes UAlbany to Schoellkopf Field on Tuesday, April 1 at 3 p.m.
• The contest will be broadcast live on ESPN+.
• The Big Red leads the all-time series 6-4 and has won four straight contests between the teams.