ITHACA, N.Y. Albany's Lyle Thompson continued his assault on the NCAA record book, but despite his game-high nine points, it was a guy who scored just once that made the difference in sending the great Danes to the NCAA quarterfinals. Great Dane goalkeeper Blaze Riorden scored a lone goal, but his 19 saves proved to be the difference in sending Albany to a 19-10 victory over eighth-seeded Cornell on Saturday afternoon at Schoellkopf Field in an NCAA first round game in front of 3,044 fans in the Crescent. Thompson had three goals and six assists, the last coming with 5:27 to play to tie an NCAA career record with his 221st, while Connor Fields had four goals and an assist as the Great Danes put 19 goals on the board, tied for the most Cornell has ever allowed in an NCAA tournament game (1974, Maryland also in a 19-10 win). In the end, however, it was Riorden's impressive performance in the cage and his even more surprising full-field dash, shot fake and rip for a goal with 4.8 seconds left in the third quarter that ended any Big Red thoughts of a comeback. Connor Buczek became the first Cornell midfielder to hit the 40-goal mark in a single season with two goals to go along with an assist, Domenic Massimilian broke a school record for face-off wins in a season as part of a 24-of-32 day at the X and Christian Knight made a career-high 19 saves, but all of those performances were overshadowed by an 11-0 Albany run that turned an early 2-0 Big Red advantage into a nine-goal hole the home team could never dig itself out of. In an exciting, up-and-down game that featured 29 goals and 97 shots (67 shots on goal), Albany turned the tables on a Cornell team that had defeated Albany handily in an early neutral site contest, 16-9. It was one of just two regular season losses for the Great Danes, who entered the NCAA tournament with an eight-game win streak. The Big Red, who claimed a share of its 29th Ivy League title and was making its 27th NCAA tournament appearance, finished the season with a 10-6 record. Albany will await word on whether it will face top-seeded Notre Dame or Towson next weekend in Denver, Colo. The loss snapped a 20-game Big Red win streak against America East opponents. The ending didn't look anything like the beginning. Cornell scored two goals 63 seconds apart after faceoff wins, the first on a low bouncer by Buczek and the second a rocket from Hogan off a great feed from Buczek. Cornell continued to dominate face-offs, but Riorden got hot in goal and the Great Danes were able to capitalize. Albany was able to really capitalize. The Great Danes scored 11 consecutive, including the first six of the second period, and Cornell was never able to recover from a stretch of 26:30 without a goal. Albany built an 11-2 lead before the half, led by eight at the break and shook off a dominant performance at the X by Massimilian thanks to Riorden. Cornell got 10 saves from Knight at the break, a number that saved Cornell from further pain, but Albany's white-hot offense was in control throughout. Thompson, the 2014 Tewaaraton Award winner and 2015 favorite, had two goals and four assists in the first half alone despite drawing constant attention. Fields had three goals and an assist himself and Riorden had eight saves to keep the run going. Massimilian gave the Big Red countless possessions, but Albany made the home team pay nearly every time it was able to get the ball back. Cornell made a mini-run to get back within 13-7, scoring three straight as part of a 5-2 run, but it was ended by Riorden's score. A Big Red turnover on one end led to Riorden sprinting out over midfield as a one man clear. He looked as though he would give the ball up before the restraining line, but ran toward goal, gave a quick fake and buried a quick-hitter seconds before the end of the period to kill any Cornell momentum heading into the final 15 minutes. Cornell never had a chance to get back in it in the fourth, as Albany maintained possession for a significant portion of the quarter en route to claiming the win. Matt Donovan scored a goal and had two assists to close his Cornell career with 189 points, good for fourth all-time on the school's scoring list. Massimilian's 24-of-32 night gave him a record 249 face-off wins at a Cornell-best .654 clip. His 12 ground balls pushed him to 150, becoming the first Cornellian to reach that milestone in a year. Knight's 19 saves were the most by a Cornell goalkeeper in an NCAA tournament game since Matt McMonagle also had 19 in a 14-6 first round win over Towson in 2007. The loss ended the career of Cornell's 14 seniors who were part of three Ivy League championship teams, three NCAA tournament squads, one that went to the national semifinals and posted a 44-19 record.