* 2011 Schedule
* 2011 Roster
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Senior Libby Johnson and juniors Jessi Steinberg and Caroline Helmer have been named team tri-captains for the 2011 women's lacrosse season head coach Jenny Graap announced today. The Big Red will be in search of its second Ivy title in the last four years when it opens the new campaign in February.
The trio of captains will be expected to provide leadership for a roster that includes 16 freshmen and sophomores. The Big Red is coming off a 5-10 campaign a year ago, with the young Cornell team improving throughout the season and finishing tied for third in the Ancient Eight standings with a 4-3 record. Included was the program's first win over Princeton since the 1988 season.
Johnson returns for her second year as team captain and has been one of the steadiest players in the Ancient Eight over her career. The two-time second-team All-Ivy pick posted 17 goals and a team-best 12 assists while starting all 13 games in 2010. She added 11 draw control wins and six ground balls on the year. Johnson helped the Big Red snap a 22-year winless streak against Princeton with two goals and two assists and scored the game-winning goal against Yale to put Cornell into the inaugural Ivy tournament. Overall, Johnson posted 11 multi-point contests, including five with three or more points. She had three assists against nationally ranked Hofstra. She enters her senior year ranked ninth on the school's career assists list and has 103 career points.
As a sophomore, Helmer proved herself to be one of the top defenders in the Ancient Eight, ranking among the team leaders with 23 ground balls and 15 caused turnovers in earning honorable mention All-Ivy accolades. She set career highs with three caused turnovers against Rutgers and Syracuse and also caused two vs. Columbia and Dartmouth. She was named the Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week after holding SU's Tee Ladouceur, one of the nation's top 10 scorers, without a point on just one shot. She also limited Yale's Devon Rhodes to one goal while winning nine ground balls and causing four turnovers in the final two games prior to the Ivy League tournament.
While Helmer has earned her stripes as one of the nation's top defenders, Steinberg will be an All-America candidate as a junior after capturing unanimous first-team All-Ivy honors as an attacker a year ago. Steinberg led Cornell is goals (40), points (46) and draw controls (33) en route to second-team IWLCA All-Region honors in 2010. She averaged four goals and three draw controls per game in Ivy play, and her 28 goals in seven league contests was more than three times any other player on the team. She scored at least three goals in each league game with six against both Columbia and Yale. Steinberg tied a school record with eight draw controls in a single game to go along with her five scores in a loss to nationally ranked Hofstra. She also had two goals, two assists, three ground balls and three draws against No. 3 North Carolina. Steinberg added 14 ground balls and seven caused turnovers on the year.
The 2011 Big Red will open its regular season on Saturday, Feb. 26 when it plays host to Rutgers at 3 p.m. at Schoellkopf Field.
