WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.—Hobart College senior Cooper Stefaniak produced his fourth career hat trick but nationally ranked Cornell University escaped with a 10-8 victory in the LNN Florida Classic today. It's the 50th time in 135 meetings between the Statesmen and Big Red that the outcome was decided by two goals or less.
 
Junior Mark Darden added a pair of goals for Hobart, while junior Sean Donnelly, senior Gavin Llewellyn, and Kevin Murphy each scored once. Sophomore J. Andrew Spallanzani held his own at the faceoff X, winning 8-of-16 and grabbing two ground balls. Junior goalie Jackson Brown made 10 saves.
 
Cornell had three players score two goal apiece. John Edmonds had a game-high four points on two goals and two assists while Colton Rupp and Ryan Bray each scored twice. Domenic Massimilian was 11-of-21 on faceoffs and had a game-high six ground balls. Brennan Donville earned the win in goal, making eight saves.
 
The Big Red (1-1) opened the day's scoring five minutes into the contest, but the Statesmen closed the first quarter with back-to-back strikes to take a 2-1 lead. Murphy evened the score inside three minutes and Stefaniak scored five seconds before the stanza expired.
 
Darden gave Hobart (1-2) a two-goal lead midway through the second quarter, but Cornell countered with three goals in less than a minute to reclaim the lead. Bray started the charge at 3:15. Twenty-nine seconds later, Jake McCulloch scored to knot the game at 3. Just eight seconds later, Massimilian won the ensuing faceoff and dished to Rupp, who tallied his first of the day for a 4-3 lead that the Big Red carried into halftime.
 
Stefaniak and Donnelly, the latter set up by junior Frank Brown, scored in succession to start the second half and give Hobart the lead. Cornell used extra-man goals to tie the game at 5-all and again at 6-all, but the Statesmen took a 7-6 lead into the fourth quarter thanks to Stefaniak's third goal with just under two minutes remaining in the third.
 
Donnelly nearly made it a two-goal lead with the first shot of the fourth quarter, but he hit the pipe and the Big Red were able to clear and net the equalizer two minutes later. Bray gave Cornell the lead for goal, scoring just under the nine minute mark. The Big Red grabbed a two-goal lead near the six minute mark, but the Statesmen didn't go quietly.
 
Spallanzani won the ensuing faceoff for Hobart and the Statesmen called a timeout to draw up a play. The strategy worked as Llewellyn rifled home his third goal of the year with 4:56 remaining.
 
Cornell got the next faceoff, but turned the ball over to Hobart. The Statesmen got off three shots that missed the cage as the clock approached two minutes remaining, but each time managed to keep possession. Hobart's four attempt to tie the game was saved by Donville.
 
The Big Red cleared the ball and managed to run more than a minute and a half off the clock without taking a shot or drawing a stall warning. With Jackson Brown out of the crease in an attempt to force a turnover, Edmonds iced the victory with the final goal of the game with just 11 seconds remaining.
 
Hobart is scheduled to play its home opener on Saturday, March 5, when the Statesmen taken on Binghamton University. The opening faceoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. at Boswell Field.