ITHACA, N.Y. -- Freshman Rebecca Block scored twice and assisted on a third goal and Cornell field hockey rolled to a 36-3 shot advantage in a 5-0 win over La Salle on Friday evening at Marsha Dodson Field. The Big Red won its 2026 season opener to improve to 1-0, while the Explorers slipped to 0-2 on the young season.
Block ended her first collegiate game with two goals and an assist, while Uma Käding, Chloe West and Emmy Horner also chipped in goals. Rease Coleman had a pair of assists as a stick-stopper on penalty corners as the Big Red, who led the nation in that category as season ago, picked up where it left off with 21 opportunities to just two for the visitors. Wilks, Infante, Coleman and Plzak each had an assist.
"That was a professional way to start the season," said Cornell head coach Andy Smith. "I'm delighted by the five goals, but it could have been many more. We will go away and work on what we need to and look forward to the next step on Sunday."
The Big Red got on the board 6:37 into the contest when Block blasted a shot off a penalty corner and beat La Salle goalkeeper Abby Boggs low off a feed from Blake Wilks and Rease Coleman. Cornell doubled its lead less than two minutes later when Emmy Horner redirected a Colomba Infante shot to push the lead to 2-0. A slow second quarter kept the deficit at two.
Gallery: (9-4-2026) Field Hockey vs. La Salle, 09.04.26
Cornell controlled play from the opening whistle, piling up 17 shots and 10 penalty corners in the first period alone while La Salle managed just one shot through 30 minutes. Goalkeeper Martha Broderick needed only one save before the break.
The third period stayed scoreless despite Cornell out-shooting La Salle 9-1, with Boggs turning away chance after chance. La Salle's best look came at 32:53, when Darian DeLeo's penalty-corner shot was stopped by Broderick.
Cornell broke it open in the fourth quarter, scoring three times in seven minutes. Sophomore Chloe West converted a penalty stroke at 50:52 to get the Big Red back on the board while playing two players down, then Block struck again at 52:50 off a feed from Coleman and Ashley Plzak on a penalty corner, with Käding closing the scoring at 57:08 off an assist from Block.
Freshman Claire Pausz finished the game in goal and preserved the shutout, as Cornell's defense limited La Salle to three shots, two on frame, for the game. Boggs made 21 saves for La Salle and was sensational for the Explorers.
Cornell returns to action when it visits Bucknell on Sunday, Sept. 6 at 2 p.m. in Lewisburg, Pa. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
