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ITHACA, N.Y. — The goals just kept coming in Cornell men’s lacrosse’s third outing of the 2024 season, as the Big Red put away its largest margin of victory (16 goals) since March 27, 2018, when Cornell beat Air Force by 18. In total, the Big Red put 23 in the back of the net on 33 shots on goal en route to a 23-7 victory over Hobart on Tuesday evening on Schoellkopf Field. With the win, Cornell moves to 2-1 on the season while Hobart falls to 1-3.

Cornell’s attack was led by senior captain CJ Kirst, who notched a season-high five points on three goals and an assist. Four Big Red followed, each notching four points. Michael Long and Andrew Dalton got there with two goals and two assists. For the second time in his career, Hugh Kelleher had a four-goal outing, and Willem Firth got his first-career assists with a one-goal, three-assist outing. Danny Caddigan had three points on two goals and an assist. Spencer Wirtheim and Brian Piatelli each notched two goals and Walker Wallace rounded out multi-point Cornell scorers with one goal and one assist. Angelo Petrakis had the best day at the faceoff for the Big Red, winning 9-of-15 battles. Wyatt Knust made 10 saves in 45 minutes of action, allowing just five goals.

David Peterkin led the Hobart offense with three goals for three points, followed by Chris Patterson, who tallied two goals. Four other Statesmen tallied at least one point. Adam Shea and Mike Valent split time at the faceoff X, combining to win 18-of-33 attempts. Elhanan Wilson was the starting goalkeeper for Hobart. Wilson made nine saves on 19 shots on goal in 30 minutes played. Jack Faiola entered the game after halftime and made one save on 14 shots faced.

FIRST QUARTER

• Luke Gilmartin tallied his second-career goal to open the game off a feed from Kirst, and Danny Caddigan followed with his first of the evening 46 seconds later on Firth’s first-career assist.
• With 12:17 left in the first, Hobart found its first goal, but a 4-0 Cornell run ensured, finished off by a feed from Andrew Dalton to Michael Long with six seconds left in the quarter to take a 6-1 lead.

SECOND QUARTER

• Long went back-to-back with a goal 55 seconds into the second quarter to boost the lead to six.
• Hobart’s only goal of the second quarter came at 12:43, but Hugh Kelleher had the answer without help, moving the Big Red lead back to six.
• Kirst got his first goal of the contest at the 4:44 mark on a feed from Firth, and Kellher rounded the first half scoring with a man-up goal to post a 1-2 lead at halftime.

THIRD QUARTER

• Kelleher used the first 1:25 of the second half to complete the first Cornell natural hat trick since CJ Kirst had one at Brown on April 22, 2023.
• Aiden Blake’s first goal of the season came unassisted with 11:32 left on the clock, but Hobart chopped the Big Red lead to 10.
• Walker Wallace’s first goal of the season and third goal of his career came off a feed from Kirst and pushed Cornell’s lead to 16-3.
• The Big Red and Statesman traded goals to close out the third, including a buzzer-beater by Chris Patterson of Hobart, to bring up an 18-5 scoreline with 15 minutes to go.

FOURTH QUARTER

• Cornell outscored the Statesmen 5-2 in the final quarter, including the first goals of the season by Brian Piatelli and Ben Abladian.

BIG RED NOTABLES

• Cornell’s 35 points as a team is the most since the Big Red put up 36 against High Point in the 2020 season.
• Michael Long’s goal-scoring streak is now 20, tied with Sam for eighth-longest in Division I.
• Matthew Tully made his first career appearance and made five saves in 15 minutes.
• Three Big Red notched their first goals of the season in the contest.
• Bowie Horsman earned his first career point on an assist to Brian Piatelli
• Luke Gilmartin notched a career-high two caused turnovers.
• Jayson Singer scooped four groundballs, matching his career-high.
• Knust’s save percentage (.667) marked the best of his career to date.

UP NEXT

Cornell men’s lacrosse is back in action this weekend when it hosts Ohio State on Saturday, March 2. Faceoff is set for 12 p.m. at Schoellkopf Field. The game will be televised on ESPN+.