ITHACA, N.Y. – The postseason is here. The Cornell women's lacrosse team has made the Ivy League Tournament for the second time, and they will be taking on Dartmouth in Friday's first semifinal at 5 p.m. The Big Red is on a three-game winning streak heading into the postseason, and the team is hoping its winning ways will carry over.

GAME INFORMATION
GAME #16: No. 10/14 Cornell vs. No. 13/11 Dartmouth
GAME TIME: Friday, May 3, 5 p.m.
GAME SITE: Champions Field (Philadelphia)
SERIES RECORD: Dartmouth leads 28-6
LAST MEETING: Dartmouth won 12-10 on April 7, 2012
2011-12 RECORDS: Cornell (11-4, 5-2 Ivy League); Dartmouth (10-4, 5-2 Ivy League)
LIVE STATS: Ivy League Sports
LIVE VIDEO: Ivy League Sports (Free of charge)

ABOUT THE BIG RED
Cornell closed out the regular season with a terrific week, defeating Binghamton 17-8 and Brown 16-8, both games on the road. The Big Red finished the Ivy League campaign at 5-2 for the first time since 5-2 and finished the regular season with 11 wins for the first time since 2006. This season's Big Red squad excels on offense, averaging more than 14 goals a game. With 219 total goals, Cornell has scored more than it had in all but one season in its history. A senior-heavy team with 10 returning starters from 2011, Cornell is looking to make the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2006.

HEAD COACH JENNY GRAAP
Jenny Graap returned to her alma mater in 1997 with one goal in mind: to build the Cornell women's lacrosse team into a championship contender. Now entering her 15th year at the helm, the 2002 Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association Coach of the Year and 2006 Inside Lacrosse Magazine and IWLCA Northeast Coach of the Year has developed the Big Red women's lacrosse program into one of the most successful in the nation. She has posted a 129-88 record at Cornell and earned her 160th career win against Binghamton last Tuesday.
 
ABOUT DARTMOUTH
The Big Green, based in Hanover, N.H., enters the Ivy League tournament with a 10-4 record and a 5-2 mark in the Ivy League. Because it defeated Penn earlier in the year, earned the league's No. 2 seed over Cornell and Harvard, which both lost to the Ivy League regular-season champion. Dartmouth is on a two-game losing streak heading to the tournament, having dropped contests with Princeton and Harvard to close out their Ivy League schedule. Sarah Plumb, a Tewaaraton nominee, leads Dartmouth with 33 goals and 11 assists, though Kirsten Goldberg is right behind with 33 goals and 10 assists. Goalkeeper Kristen Giovanniello has a 9.12 goals against average and has earned all of Dartmouth's 10 wins.
Amy Patton, a 1998 graduate of Maryland, is now in her 20th year coaching the Big Green.

THE SERIES WITH DARTMOUTH
Dartmouth holds an all-time 28-6 advantage against Cornell, controlling most of the teams' historical matchups that date back to 1980. Cornell has not beaten Dartmouth since 2008. This year's regular-season contest ended 12-10 in favor of Dartmouth at Schoellkopf Field. Though the Big Red took a 4-2 lead, the Big Green went on a 10-2 run that spanned 30 minutes of game time and gave the visitors a 12-6 lead. Cornell notched the final four goals, but it was too late to overcome the Big Green's large lead. Caroline Salisbury and Olivia Knotts each scored three goals in that game.

A WIN AGAINST DARTMOUTH WOULD…
…give Cornell its seventh win all-time against the Big Green…clinch a berth in Sunday's Ivy League Tournament Championship at noon…even Cornell's neutral-site record this year at 1-1…be the team's fourth win over a ranked opponent this season…be Cornell's first victory against the Big Green in its last six tries.

ALL-IVY TEAM
Five Big Red women's lacrosse players were named to the 2012 All-Ivy teams, the league announced Wednesday, highlighted by senior attack Jessi Steinberg and senior defender Cacki Helmer making the first team as unanimous selections. Shannon McHugh (second team), Caroline Salisbury (second) and Katie Kirk (honorable mention) also made All-Ivy teams for the Big Red.

CORNELL IN IVY TOURNAMENT
The Ivy League Tournament for women's lacrosse has only been in existence for two years, and the Big Red played in the first ever tournament game on April 30, 2010. Also against Dartmouth, Cornell fell 10-8 after evening the game at 8-8 with 18 minutes to go. Dartmouth eventually fell to Penn in the championship game that season.

LIVE ONLINE
Friday and Sunday's tournament games will be broadcast live on IvyLeagueSports.com free of charge for all fans who can't make the trip to Philadelphia. The Penn Sports Network will be producing the games with Ralph Bednarczyk and Halley Quillinan serving as commentators.

ROAD WARRIORS
This season has brought success on the road, as the Big Red holds a perfect 7-0 record in true road games. The only loss away from Ithaca came in a neutral-site contest against Notre Dame in Orlando, Fla., over Spring Break.

TEWAARATON NOMINEE
Cornell senior attack Jessi Steinberg has been named one of 25 nominees for the Tewaaraton Award, The Tewaaraton Foundation announced last week. Steinberg, who leads Cornell with 44 goals and 19 points for 63 assists, is one of just two nominees from the Ivy League.

SCORING STREAKS
Two Cornell players scored a point in every regular-season contest this year. Caroline Salisbury has each tallied at least one point in 15 contests and most recently scored three goals at Brown. Shannon McHugh, who missed the Columbia game on March 10, has scored in all 14 games she has played and extended her streak with a hat trick against the Bears.

WINNER, WINNER
Freshman Carly Gniewek has played in five games as a freshman, but last Tuesday's game against Binghamton saw her earn her first victory. Coming in to replace Courtney Gallagher 15 minutes into the game, Gniewek played a career-high 45 minutes and made four saves in the 17-8 win over the Bearcats. Gniewek also made an appearance against Brown, playing the entire second half and making 11 saves. She has the team's lowest goals against average and highest save percentage. Gniewek has yet to start a game.

IVY LEAGUE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
For a 10-point week where she recorded two hat tricks and controlled 10 draws, Cornell junior attackman Caroline Salisbury was named the Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week on April 23. She is second on the team with 41 goals and 59 points.

SCORCHING SCORING PACE
The Big Red has already eclipsed its goal totals every season in program history except 2002. Averaging over 14 goals per game this year, the Big Red would reach 233 goals if that pace held against Brown. With just 10 goals against Dartmouth, the Big Red would surpass the 2002 team's record of 228 goals by five.

SENIOR DAY
April 21 was the final regular-season home game for a group of nine women's lacrosse seniors. Kyla Dambach, Beth Halayko, Cacki Helmer, Katie Kirk, Olivia Knotts, Shannon McHugh, Ali O'Neil, Jessi Steinberg and Shannon Tierney went out on top at Schoellkopf with an eight-goal win over the Bulldogs.

TOUGH STRETCH
The Big Red finished its toughest stretch of the year, playing five consecutive games against ranked opposition. No. 8 Penn, No. 16 Princeton, No. 6/10 Dartmouth, No. 11/12 Loyola and No. 2 Syracuse all faced Cornell in a four-week span, and the Big Red emerged with a 2-3 record in those games. The team dropped a one-goal game to Penn, beat Princeton by one goal in overtime, lost by two to Dartmouth, upended Loyola by seven before losing to Syracuse by the same amount.

NATIONAL PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
For her career-high, five-goal effort against then-No. 11 Loyola on April 14, Cornell junior attacker Caroline Salisbury was named the WomensLax.com Player of the Week on Monday.
Three weeks earlier, senior attack Jessi Steinberg was named the WomensLax.com Player of the Week on April 2. Steinberg earned the award thanks to a four-goal, one-assist effort against Princeton. Her fourth goal of the game proved to be the overtime game-winner.

RANK AND FILE
Cornell's victory over Loyola was its third win against a ranked opponent this year. The Big Red started its Ivy League slate with a win over then-ranked Harvard, defeated Princeton on the road in overtime, and then conquered Loyola on Saturday. Cornell's four losses this season have also all come against ranked teams.

OFFENSIVE DEFENSEMAN
Defenseman and captain Cacki Helmer has scored two goals this season, tripling her career total entering the season. She scored in the game against Jacksonville where it seemed like every Big Red player was getting in on the action, but she also managed to get a goal against No. 2 Syracuse on April 17, something only five other players on the team can say. She now has three goals in her career.

CHARITABLE DONATION
The Big Red announced that it had raised more than $2,200 toward breast cancer research thanks to the efforts of its “Pink” game against Dartmouth. Cornell's funds will all be donated to the Cancer Resource Center of the Finger Lakes.

TIGERS BEAT
Cornell's 13-12 overtime victory at Princeton on March 31 was just the team's fourth victory ever against the Tigers. Cornell, though, has now beaten Princeton in its last two trips to New Jersey.

OVERTIME SUCCESS
The Princeton win was Cornell's first overtime game of the year and was its first road overtime win since April 10, 1993 at Yale. Cornell last played in overtime on March 20, 2011 against No. 6 Notre Dame. In that game Cornell also emerged victorious by a 6-5 margin. The team – which has won its last three overtime games – last lost in an extra period on Feb. 24, 2007 against Rutgers.

QUICK ON THE DRAW
Senior midfielders and co-captains Shannon McHugh and Katie Kirk are quickly moving up the Big Red's all-time draw control list. Kirk is now all alone in fifth at 99 draw controls and is just four out of third place. McHugh, meanwhile, is now in sole possession of seventh place all-time and would move up to sixth with seven more draw controls.

GOALS, GOALS, GOALS
The Big Red's 22-goal outburst at Jacksonville on March 20 tied the team's all-time record, set on May 1, 1994 against Rutgers. Cornell had scored 20 goals in a game just twice in its history before this season, but after the Jacksonville contest the Big Red had scored 20 goals twice in eight days. Cornell also recorded a 21-goal effort against Canisius on March 13.

NATIONALLY RANKED
Cornell jumped up two spots in this week's IWLCA Coaches' Poll to No. 10, its highest ranking all season. The Big Red leaped over Penn State and Dartmouth, who comes in the IWLCA poll at No. 13. In the deBeer Media Poll, Cornell dropped one spot from last week to No. 14, though fewer total votes were cast this week than usual.

BALANCED SCORING
Last season, Jessi Steinberg led the team with 38 goals, nearly doubling Katie Kirk's second-best mark on the team of 22. Steinberg finished the regular season with a career-high 44 goals, but the rest of the Big Red has been helping out as well. Caroline Salisbury and Olivia Knotts surpassed Kirk's second-best 22 from last year. This year, 11 different players have contributed at least six goals: Steinberg (44), Salisbury (41), Knotts (30), Shannon McHugh (20), Katie Kirk (20), Amanda D'Amico (14), Lindsay Toppe (10), Kelly Lang (nine) Chelsea Rowe (nine), Lauren Halpern (eight) and Sarah Hefner (seven) are making sure the Big Red attack is dangerous all over. Last season, only six players all year reached the five-goal mark.

HATS OFF
Cornell has had a player record a hat trick in all of its games this year. In the season opener at Rutgers, Olivia Knotts scored the game-winning goal with 52 seconds left to complete her hat trick. Amanda D'Amico got her third goal late against Harvard. Against Colgate on March 7, Caroline Salisbury and Sarah Hefner each earned a hat trick, and Salisbury had four goals to her name.

In the home opener against Columbia, Jessi Steinberg scored four times, Katie Kirk has three goals and Knotts had her second hat trick of the season. Against Canisius, Steinberg scored five goals while Salisbury had three. In the Notre Dame contest, both Knotts (five) and Steinberg (four) eclipsed the three-goal mark.

At Jacksonville, Steinberg (three), Knotts (four) and D'Amico (three) continued the impressive streak that has now lasted more than half of the 15-game season. Steinberg also kept the streak alive against Penn when she scored five goals for the second time this year. Against Princeton, four players recorded a hat trick: Steinberg (four goals), McHugh, Salisbury and Kirk.

In the Dartmouth contest, Knotts and Salisbury kept the streak alive by each scoring three times. Knotts (three), Steinberg (four) and Salisbury (five) all reached the three-goal plateau on Saturday against Loyola. Salisbury continued her hat trick streak with three goals against Syracuse and five against Yale. Steinberg also had a hat trick against Yale (five goals).

At Binghamton on Tuesday, Kelly Lang recorded her first career hat trick with four goals, and Salisbury had three goals as well. Three players scored three goals in the season finale against Brown: McHugh, Salisbury and Kirk. Salisbury has now scored at least three goals in seven consecutive games.

NATIONAL NUMBERS
Through last weekend's games, Cornell ranks near the top of the country in multiple statistical categories. The Big Red's scoring offense of 14.60 goals per game puts it at 9th in the country. Cornell's 13.93 draw controls per game also has the team 17th nationally. Cornell sits at 12th in scoring margin (4.4) and 16th in win percentage (.733).
Individually, Jessi Steinberg sits in 24th in the nation with her 4.27 points per game and is also in 25th with 2.93 goals per game. Cacki Helmer's 2.00 caused turnovers per game has her sitting in eighth nationally, and her 3.07 ground balls per game puts her seventh in that category.

IVY STATISTICS
The Big Red continues to lead the Ivy League in goals per game with 14.60 and is second in assists per game with 5.27. The team scores more points per game (19.87), wins more draws (13.93) and takes more shots (31.53) per game than any team among the Ancient Eight. Cornell is also second in caused turnovers (8.53).

As an individual, Jessi Steinberg leads the league in goals per game (2.93) while Caroline Salisbury is tied for second in that category (2.73). Salisbury is sixth in the Ivy League with 1.20 assists per contest, just behind Steinberg's 1.33 and ahead of Knotts' 1.00. Cacki Helmer is league's best player with 3.07 ground balls per game, and Shannon McHugh's 3.00 draw controls per game has her in fifth. Helmer is also tied for first in the league with 2.00 caused turnovers per game.

Though she does not have enough playing time to qualify, Carly Gniewek's 7.35 goals against average and .581 save percentage would both rank first in the Ivy League.

CAREER NUMBERS WATCH
Against Brown:
• Lindsay Toppe scored her 10th career goal.
• Shannon McHugh controlled her 90th draw.
• Katie Kirk and Shannon McHugh scored their 70th goals.

Approaching career numbers:
• Shannon Tierney's next goal will be her 10th.
• Jessi Steinberg is three goals away from sole possession of second place in team history.
• Caroline Salisbury is three goals shy of 60.
• Katie Kirk's next ground ball will be her 90th, and her next draw control will be her 100th.
• Olivia Knotts is two points away from 70.
• Beth Halayko needs one more ground ball for 25.
• Lauren Halpern is two points shy of 20.

UP NEXT
With a victory against Dartmouth, Cornell would advance to the Ivy League Championship game on Sunday in Philadelphia at noon. A win in that game would clinch an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament. Otherwise, the Big Red will have to wait until Sunday night's selection show to see their NCAA fate.