EASTON, Pa. – Lightning slowed down Cornell's momentum, but the weather could only slow the Big Red for so long.

Looking slow after a nearly hour-long lightning delay, Conor Goepel sparked the Big Red with a bending, long-range shot that led the team to a 1-0 victory at Lafayette on Friday night.

Cornell (3-0) earned its first victory over Lafayette (1-3) since 2008, and the Big Red is now 3-0 for the first time since 2007. The team has also not lost in 11 consecutive games out of conference.

Goepel, who came into the game after the weather delay in the 24th minute Friday night, scored the fourth goal of his career that wound up holding up as a tense second half play itself out without another goal.

A great chance for the home team came in the 56th minute when Lafayette forward Kyle Scharfenberg blasted a try from beyond the penalty box that hit Cornell goalie Rick Pflasterer in the hands and bounced loose. Luckily for Cornell, Pflasterer had enough control of the bounce that it landed next to him instead of behind him, and the Leopards stayed off the board.

Seconds later at the other end of the field, Nico Nissl tried to score from far out as well, and Lafayette's Alexander Leavy punched the ball straight up in the air and fell down. Regan was nearby for a rebound attempt, but his header went just wide as a Leopard defender was putting pressure on him from behind.

With just six minutes left, the Leopards' best chance to equalize was inches too high as Sean Peckham was wide open in the middle of the box and took a shot that got past Pflasterer, nailed the post and flew back into the field of play.

But when the final whistle blew, Plasterer earned his second shutout of the season and moved into second place in team history with 14 clean sheets.

Earlier in the night, Cornell appeared to be holding all the momentum as it took multiple shots on goal and just missed on other attempts. In the 26th minute, though, all the momentum was halted as lightning strikes delayed the game for more nearly a full hour.

When play resumed 50 minutes later, Cornell appeared to have lost that momentum. Lafayette controlled play for most of the next 15 minutes.

But a beautiful breakout by Tyler Regan resulted in the field being flipped back in the Big Red's favor, and Goepel wound up with the ball nearly 30 yards from goal on the right side. Stopping his momentum and cutting inside, Goepel unleashed a beauty of a curving shot to the opposite side of the goal, getting it past the outstretched arms of Lafayette's goalie for the 1-0 lead.

Goepel's strike also extended Cornell's impressive streak of scoring at least one goal per game to 19 straight contests. The Big Red is now just two games shy of the program record of 21 games with a goal set in the 1970-71 seasons.

Cornell is back in action on Sunday afternoon with its home opener against Buffalo. The game starts at 4 p.m.

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