ITHACA, N.Y. -- Cornell seniors CJ Kirst and Michael Long both reached career milestones and the top-ranked Big Red rolled to an 18-11 victory over UAlbany on Tuesday afternoon at Schoellkopf Field. The Big Red improved to 8-1 overall, while the Great Danes slipped to 3-8.

Kirst scored six goals, jumping into the top five in Division I history in career goals with 210, while Long's five assists and six points pushed him over 100 assists and 200 points in his Big Red career. Long became just the fourth player in school history with both 100 career goals and 100 career assists, joining Mike French '76, Rob Pannell '13 and Jeff Teat '20, becoming just the sixth player overall to surpass 200 points. The six-point efforts led a Cornell offense that scored 18 goals and manufactured 47 shots in an quick-paced contest.

The Big Red dominated possession in large part due to the efforts of junior Jack Cascadden, who won 19-of-26 faceoffs with 13 ground balls while scoring a goal. In all, the Big Red won 22-of-32 restarts on the day. Ryan Golstein scored two goals and two assists and both Willem Firth and Ryan Waldman scored twice with one assist apiece. Bpth Brendan Staub and Matt Dooley notched three ground balls with a caused turnover. Cornell held a 47-31 edge in shots and a 38-28 advantage in ground balls while successfully clearing the ball on 15-of-16 occasions. 

Silas Richmond led UAlbany with four goals and two assists with Ryan Doherty notching a pair of goals. Brady and Jacob Smith each caused a pair of turnovers, with Jacob winning five ground balls to pace the team. Brady Smith made 11 saves in goal.

Cornell led 7-1 after the first quarter and was never really threatened, though the Big Red also struggled ot pull away in a midweek, mid-afternoon contest in the midst of spring break on campus. Four different goal scorers got the Big Red humming in the first 4:36 of the contest, and it was 8-1 early in the second. Kirst scored four times in the first 30 minutes as the home team lead 12-4, and despite a four-goal run that got the visitors within 13-8 late in the third, Goldstein, Kirst and Firth answered with a 3-0 run of their own to put the game back out of reach. Much of the fourth quarter saw the reserves get some time as the Big Red closed out its four consecutive victory.
 

NEXT UP
• The Big Red begins a pivotal three-game road swing when it visits Brown on Saturday, April 5 at 12 p.m. at Stevenson-Pincince Field.
• The contest will be broadcast on ESPN+.
• Cornell leads the all-time series 41-22 and has won two consecutive matchups, outscoring the Bears 30-17 in those games.
• The Big Red has a narrow 5-4 edge in the past nine matchups dating back to 2015.