A strong third-period rally fell short for the Clarkson University Hockey team in the consolation game of the Florida College Classic on Friday afternoon as the Golden Knights lost in non-league play to 13th-ranked Cornell, 5-3 at Germain Arena in Estero, FL.

Trailing 4-1 after two periods, Clarkson battled back in the final frame and closed the gap to 4-3 with seven minutes left in regulation. Senior captain Jake Morley (Ogdensburg, NY) notched his fourth goal of the season to open the scoring in the stanza, connecting for a power-play goal at 8:49 during a scrum at the top of the Cornell crease. Junior defenseman Andrew Himelson (Monroe, NY) and sophomore Will Frederick (Allison Park, PA) assisted.

At 13:50, sophomore Ben Sexton (Kanata, ONT), back in the lineup for the Florida Classic after missing the previous 12 games with an injury, tallied his second goal of the game to pull the Knights within one. Sexton took a pass in the slot from classmate Allan McPherson (Kinburn, ONT) and one-time in a shot for his fifth goal of the season. Sophomore linemate Jarrett Burton (Echo Bay, ONT) also assisted.

Cornell (8-4-1) held off the Green and Gold down the stretch and sealed the victory with an empty-net goal by Greg Miller with 20.6 seconds remaining.

The Big Red took the initial lead in the contest as John Esposito scored at 8:06 of the first. Sexton answered back to tie the game late in the opening stanza. While skating on a two-man advantage, Sexton tallied his first goal since October 28 at 18:06. Freshman defenseman Sam Labrecque (Granby, QUE) and McPherson set up Sexton’s team-high fourth power-play goal of the season.

Cornell took control in the middle frame, scoring three times. Sean Collins connected on the power play at 4:02, followed by goals from Brian Ferlin at 7:50 and Keir Ross at 13:56 to give the Big Red the 4-1 advantage.

Making his 17th career start and first since January 16, 2010, senior goaltender Richie LaVeau (Arlington Heights, IL) made 23 saves as Cornell outshot the Knights 28-22. Andy Iles posted 22 stops for the Big Red who extended their current unbeaten over Clarkson to eight games (5-0-3).

Clarkson was strong in specialty teams play, going 2-of-4 on the power play while killing off three of Cornell’s four man-advantage opportunities, including an abbreviated five-minute major.

Clarkson, which stands at 9-9-4 overall, closes out its longest road trip in 71 years when it ventures north of the border next Saturday to take on North Dakota in Winnipeg, Manitoba. After nine consecutive games away from Cheel Arena, the Knights return home on January 13 to resume ECAC Hockey play by hosting defending league tournament champion Yale.