ITHACA, N.Y. After an unusually slow start saw the No. 7 Cornell men's lacrosse team take a 3-1 lead into halftime, the Big Red exploded for five third quarter goals to earn a hard-fought 8-2 victory over Dartmouth this afternoon at Schoellkopf Field. The Big Red has now won four in a row to improve to 7-2 on the season and 3-0 in the Ivy League, while Dartmouth had a three game winning streak halted and slips to 3-4 overall and 1-1 in the conference. The goals were the fewest allowd by the Big Red defense since a 13-1 victory over Army during the 2006 season. "We're happy with the win," said Matt Kerwick, the Richard M. Moran Head Coach of Lacrosse. "They're all tough to come by in the Ivy League." Senior midfielder Connor Buczek had a hand in four of the five third quarter goals, and the Cornell defense held the Big Green without a goal for over 40 minutes to earn the win. "I thought in the third quarter Connor really took it upon himself to get us where we needed to be," said Kerwick. "He was outstanding. He shot the ball well and we had an outstanding third quarter offensively so we gutted out another win." Buczek finished with five points on three goals and two assists, while John Edmonds matched a career-high with three goals. Senior John Hogan chipped in one goal and two assists, while Andrew Keith (goal), Bradlee Lord (assist), and Kason Tarbell (assist) finished with one point apiece. In goal, sophomore Christian Knight was outstanding, registering 10 saves and allowing just one goal in 51:27 of action before giving way to Brennan Donville. In front of Knight, the Big Red defense was tremendous, as Cornell caused 15 of the Big Green's 23 turnovers. Marshall Peters had a career-high three caused turnovers, while Scott D'Antonio, Tony Britton, Matt Schattner and Jake Pulver caused two apiece. Senior Jordan Stevens was outstanding once again, picking up five ground balls, causing one turnover, and holding Dartmouth's leading scorer Wiley Osborne without a point. Osborne eventually handed out an assist on the Big Green's final goal with 45 seconds to play in the contest, but Stevens and the rest of the Big Red's starting defensemen were out of the game by that time. "We had a tough first half handling the ball," said Kerwick. "I thought we weren't as focused as we needed to be on the offensive side, but I thought on the defensive side it was an outstanding effort from start to finish. The defense was ready against a team that's been putting up a lot of goals. I think they've had 38 goals in their last three games or something like that. But our defense was ready and prepared and Christian was seeing the ball well. And Jordan Stevens is not getting a lot of accolades but I think he's the best defensemen in the country and he showed it again today." The Big Green's defense was also solid, causing 12 of Cornell's 20 turnovers, with Max Randall posting five caused turnovers and picking up four ground balls. Goalie Blair Friedensohn posted eight saves in the loss. "We just had to feel their defense out," said Kerwick. "They're a pretty aggressive group. They're physical group but I think in the third quarter we found our way." Cornell held the edge in shots (37-26) and shots on goal (16-12), but for the first time all season lost the face off battle as the Big Green won 8-of-14 restarts. Neither team was particularly crisp in the clearing game with the Big Red going 21-of-25, while Dartmouth went 20-of-25. The Big Red scored on 1-of-3 man-up chances, while holding Dartmouth to an 0-of-3 performance. Despite the low-scoring first half, the Big Red actually got off to a fast start when Edmonds scored off a pass from Hogan just 51 seconds into the contest. But the goalies combined for three saves, and the teams combined for 13 turnovers, to keep scoring chances to a minimum and Cornell entered the first break up by one goal. Dartmouth tied the game less than four minutes into the second quarter on a transition goal as a loose ball near midfield ended up in Phil Hession's stick. Hession passed off to defenseman Austin Duncan and the long pole beat Knight down low to make it a 1-1 game. It took Cornell just over four minutes to respond, as Edmonds found a soft spot in the center of the Big Green defense and converted a perfect pass from Buczek to give the Big Red a lead it would not relinquish. Keith scored his second goal of the season with a cannon of a shot to give the home team the 3-1 advantage at the intermission. Buczek blasted a shot into the cage early in the third quarter to score a man-up goal off a pass from Hogan, and then assisted on Edmonds third goal of the game to make it a 5-1 contest at the 9:45 mark. The Big Green won the ensuing face-off, but immediately turned the ball over. Lord picked up the ground ball and found Hogan on the doorstep to make it a five-goal game. Buczek then closed out the quarter with a pair of goals, with the first assisted on by Tarbell, to put the home team up, 8-1. Coach Kerwick went to his bench early in the final period and Dartmouth eventually ended its 40:29 scoring drought when Osborne found Jack Connolly on the crease and the midfielder beat Donville with a quick-stick goal. The Big Red is back in action next weekend when it travels to Harvard for a contest on Saturday, April 4 at 1 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on the Ivy League Digital Network as well as ESPN 3.