GAME #6: Cornell vs. Yale
FACE OFF: Saturday, March 15, at 1 p.m.
SITE: Schoellkopf Field (Ithaca, N.Y.)
2014 Records: Cornell (5-0, 0-0 Ivy); Yale (3-1, 0-0 Ivy)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 49-23-1
LAST MEETING: Cornell won, 12-10, March 16, 2013 in New Haven, Conn.

RADIO: WHCU 870 AM
LIVE STATS: http://www.sidearmstats.com/cornell/mlax/
LIVE AUDIO: http://www.ivyleaguedigitalnetwork.com/cornell/schedule
LIVE VIDEO: http://www.ivyleaguedigitalnetwork.com/cornell/schedule
TELEVISION: None

Game Notes (PDF)

THE MATCHUP: The Cornell men's lacrosse team opens the 59th season of Ivy League play when it welcomes No. 17 Yale to Schoellkopf Field on Saturday, March 15 at 1 p.m. After upsetting No. 2 Virginia with a convincing 12-9 win on March 8, the Big Red has moved up to eighth place in both the USILA Coaches Poll and the Inside Lacrosse Media Poll, and is one of just three undefeated teams remaining in NCAA Division I men's lacrosse.

SERIES HISTORY VS. YALE: The Cornell and Yale rivalry began in 1916 with a 5-1 Big Red victory, and Cornell has dominated the series ever since. The Big Red holds a 49-23-1 record in the series, thanks in large part to 22-straight victories over the Bulldogs from 1966 to 1987. In 2012, Cornell had a 14-game winning streak vs. Yale ended when the Bulldogs won the second meeting of the season in the Ivy League tournament, but the Big Red returned to its winning ways with a 12-10 victory last season in New Haven.

SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS: Yale improved to 3-1 on the season following a midweek dismantling of No. 14 Lehigh in which the Bulldogs allowed the visitors just one shot on goal through the first three quarters of a 10-2 decision. Junior Conrad Oberbeck leads the Bulldogs with nine goals, while senior Brandon Mangan has a team-high 13 points and seven assists. Senior face-off specialist Dylan Levings is having another solid season, going 40-of-81 (.494) and registering 23 ground balls (5.8 per game). In goal, incumbent starter Eric Natale has posted a 6.88 goals-against average and a .500 save percentage.

IVY OPENERS: The contest vs. Yale marks the 59th Ivy League season opener for Cornell men's lacrosse. Since the conference began play in the 1956 season, the Big Red has posted a 43-15 record in Ivy League openers, including winning its last 14, dating back to the 1999 season when it fell to the Bulldogs, 7-6. More often than not, Cornell has met either Yale or Harvard in the conference opener, playing a different school on only six occasions.

IVY KINGS: Since Ivy League play began in 1956, Cornell has won a conference-high 27 titles, including 17 undefeated crowns. The Big Red also has the best Ivy League record of any team in the conference at 242-97-1 (.713).

A WIN OVER YALE WOULD:
• improve interim head coach Matt Kerwick's career record to 115-101 and to 1-0 vs. Yale.
• make Cornell 2-0 this season vs. ranked opponents.
• improve the Big Red to 50-23-1 vs. Yale.
• be Cornell's 15th consecutive victory in an Ivy League opener.
• be the 720th win in program history.
• make Cornell 6-0 to start a season for the second straight year.
• improve the Big Red to 4-0 on Schoellkopf Field this season.

THE HEAD COACH: Matt Kerwick (5-0) will serve as the Interim Head Coach of Cornell Lacrosse for the 2014 season ... Kerwick comes to Cornell with 15 years of head coaching experience (114-101) with stints at Jacksonville University, Hobart, Alfred and Randolph-Macon.

SEASON STREAKS:
• Cornell has reached double-digit goals in all five games.
• The Big Red has had at least two man-up goals in all five games.
• Cornell has registered more ground balls than its opponents in all five games this season.
• The Big Red has taken at least 43 shots in all five games.

• The Big Red has put at least 25 shots on goals in 4-of-5 games.
• Cornell has held its opponents to less than 10 goals in 4-of-5 games.

• Cornell has held its opponents to less than 30 shots in 3-of-5 games.
• The Big Red has had more penalties than its opponents in 3-of-5 games.
• The Big Red has held its opponents to less than 20 shots on goal in 3-of-5 games.

THE UNDEFEATED: Cornell is one of just three undefeated team remaining in Division I men's lacrosse, joining No. 1 Maryland and No. 2 Johns Hopkins.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Matt Donovan has earned back-to-back Ivy League Player of the Week honors on March 3 and March 10. His first honor came after registering eight goals, including the overtime game-winner vs. Michigan, in a pair of games vs. Binghamton and the Wolverines. The next week, he posted two goals and one assist in just three quarters vs. Canisius before helping the Big Red upset No. 2 Virginia with two goals and three assists. Of his five points vs. the Cavaliers, four came as Cornell fought back from an early deficit to take a 6-5 halftime lead.

ROOKIE OF THE WEEK: Christian Knight was named the Ivy League Rookie of the Week after helping the Big Red upset No. 2 Virginia with 15 saves in his first collegiate start on March 8. Earlier in the week, he saw the first playing time of his career and made seven saves while allowing four goals in 24:17 vs. Canisius. Knight is the first Big Red freshman to be named the Ivy League Rookie of the Week since Matt Donovan took home the honor on April 30, 2012.

FRESHMAN STOPPER: Christian Knight is the first freshman goalie to start a game for the Big Red since AJ Fiore started 17 contests in 2010. In his first start vs. No. 2 Virginia, Knight stopped 15 shots. Fiore made 15 saves twice during his rookie season, posting 20 in a loss to Syracuse and 15 in a triple overtime win against Loyola in the NCAA tournament.

FACE-OFF FRENZY:
• Doug Tesoriero set the school record for face-off wins in a career vs. Michigan on March 1, passing Addison Sollog. (1999-2002). He currently has 541 career face-off wins.
• With 541 career face-off wins, Tesoriero ranks fourth in NCAA Division I among active.
• Doug Tesoriero entered the week ranked first in the Ivy League and 14th in the nation in face-off winning percentage (.589).
• Last season, Tesoriero set the single season record with 241 face-off wins, breaking the old mark of 192, which was set by Clayton Weber 1995.

GROUND BALL GUY:
• Doug Tesoriero needs just 17 ground balls to set the school's career ground ball record, surpassing Paul Schimoler (299; 1986-89).
• With his 283 career ground balls, Doug Tesoriero ranks fifth overall in NCAA Division I among active players.
• Doug Tesoriero entered the week ranked first in the Ivy League and fifth in the nation with 9.40 ground balls per game.
• With his 133 ground balls in 2013, Doug Tesoriero broke the school record by edging out Craig Jaeger, who had won 127 ground balls in 1978.

BALANCED OFFENSE: So far this season Cornell has received 54 points (39 goals, 15 assists) from its attack (51 percent) and 52 points (33 goals, 19 assists) from its midfield and defense.

TEWAARATON TROPHY WATCH: The Tewaaraton Foundation has announced the 2014 Tewaaraton Award men's watch list and a pair of Cornell players – Connor Buczek and Matt Donovan – have made the initial cut. The list includes the top players across all three divisions of NCAA lacrosse and highlights the early contenders for the 2014 Tewaaraton Award.

STEPPING UP: With 10 goals in the first two games of the season, Dan Lintner matched his season total from a year ago. He has registered a hat trick in four of five games so far this season and currently leads the Big Red with 18 goals.

EMPIRE STATE OF MIND: Cornell has traditionally been very successful against collegiate teams from New York state, posting an all-time record of 278-158-7 (.635) … The Big Red, which will face six teams from New York in 2014, is currently 3-0 against teams from the Empire State.

RECORD SETTER: Dan Lintner scored a pair of goals just four seconds apart at Binghamton on Feb. 25, 2014, setting the school record and matching the NCAA mark for the fastest consecutive goals scored by the same player.

TOP 10 NATION: The Big Red opened the week ranked in the top 10 nationally in several statistical categories, including ground balls per game (second – 39.00), scoring offense (fourth – 14.40), scoring margin (fifth – 5.40), man-up offense (sixth – .560) and points per game (eighth – 21.20).

RANKED OPPONENTS: The Big Red's 2014 season currently features five opponents ranked in the USILA Coaches Poll – Virginia, Syracuse, Penn, Princeton, and Yale … Cornell is 1-0 so far this season vs. ranked opponents.

ELITE COMPANY: Over the span of the past five seasons (2009-13), Cornell has racked up the third-most wins (62) and the fourth best winning percentage (.747) of any Division I men's lacrosse program.

HOME IS WHERE THE WINS ARE: Cornell has enjoyed a true home field advantage since beginning play on Schoellkopf Field in 1972, going 220-71 for a .756 winning percentage. Cornell has been even more impressive since 2000, going 86-20 overall (.811), with perfect slates in 2011 (8-0), 2009 (6-0), 2007 (7-0) and 2005 (6-0) … So far this season, Cornell is 3-0 at home.

FOR STARTERS: Cornell is 64-50-5 all-time in season openers and has won its last 11 season openers dating back to a 13-6 loss to Georgetown in the first game of the 2003 season.

U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!: A trio of Cornell alumni – Mitch Belisle '07, Max Seibald '09, and Rob Pannell '13 – have been named to the United States men's lacrosse national team that will participate at the 2014 Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL) World Championships, which will be held July 10-19 in Denver, Colo. The Big Red players are the only representatives from the Ivy League to make the squad and Cornell, along with Syracuse, has the third most players on the team, following Johns Hopkins (5) and Maryland (4). The three selections to the US national team are the most for Cornell since Bob Henrickson, Norm Engelke, Matt Crowley, Tim Goldstein, Paul Schimoler and Kevin Cook all earned the gold medal at the 1990 world championship.

OH CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN: The Big Red will have four captains this season – seniors Tom Freshour and Dan Lintner, as well as juniors Connor Buczek and Matt Donovan.

HARD HAT: Connor Buczek was selected to carry the Hard Hat for the 2014 season. The tradition of the Hard Hat began in the fall of 1999. Midway through the fall season, a player is selected to carry the Hard Hat for the year. The recipient is someone that the coaches feel demonstrates a blue-collar approach to the game of lacrosse; he is driven and selfless, not the most talented player on the field, but consistently the hardest worker. He puts the team first, and embodies how the coaches want Cornell players to act and respond on or off the field.

FAMILY TIES: Connor Entenmann's father, Ken '85, and Russell Scott's uncle, Sam Happel '82, both played on the Big Red's national semifinal team in 1982, while Mike O'Neil's uncle, Geoff Hall '88 and Cole McCormack's uncle, Brian MCormack '88 both played on the national runner up squads in 1987 and 1988.

WIN NO. 700: Cornell's 12-6 victory over Syracuse on April 10, 2012 was the 700th win in program history. The Big Red is now 719-445-27 all-time, and its 719 victories rank seventh among the winningest programs in collegiate lacrosse.

CLOSE CALLS: Since the beginning of the 2003 season, Cornell is 31-13 in games that have been decided by a single goal, a mark that was raised when the Big Red defeated Michigan, 15-14 in overtime on March 1, 2014. Of the 13 losses, 11 have come against ranked opponents, including eight against squads ranked in the top-10, five of which were ranked either No. 1 or No. 2 in the nation.

OVERTIME NOTES: With its overtime win at Michigan on March 1, 2014, Cornell has played at least one overtime game in each of the past eight seasons, dating back to a 12-11 overtime triumph over Albany in the 2007 NCAA quarterfinals. During that span, the Big Red has posted a 7-4 record in overtime games.

HI, MY NAME IS: The Big Red has two new faces on the sideline, as Peter Milliman and MJ Kiekebelt have joined the staff as assistant coaches. Milliman came to Cornell after one season as a member of the Princeton coaching staff. A native of Rochester, N.Y., Milliman spent four seasons as the head coach at Division II Pfeiffer, where he was twice named the Conference Carolinas Coach of the Year. Kiekebelt comes to East Hill after spending two seasons as an assistant coach at his alma mater RIT. Kiekebelt joined the Tigers coaching staff after a highly successful playing career that culminated in being named the Empire 8 Men's Lacrosse Player of the Year and leading RIT to the NCAA Division III national semifinals in 2011.

FRESH FACES: The Big Red added 12 newcomers to the 2013 roster, three of whom are transfer students. The group features four high school All-Americans and is comprised of eight midfielders, two defensemen and two goalkeepers. Additionally, the players represent six states, with seven players hailing from New York and one each from Florida, Maryland, New Jersey, Texas, and Virginia.

PRESEASON ALL-AMERICANS: Cornell had three players named to the 2014 Face-Off Magazine Preseason All-American list. Connor Buczek was a first-team selection, while both Matt Donovan and Doug Tesoriero earned honorable mention selections.



GEOGRAPHY LESSON: The 35 players on the 2014 Big Red roster hail from 12 different states – California, Connecticut, Florida, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, and two Canadian provinces – Alberta and Ontario.

GEOGRAPHY LESSON, PART TWO: Since 1950, the Big Red has had players from 33 different states – Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

WHAT WAS LOST: The Big Red lost one of the most prolific attack duos in Cornell men's lacrosse history with the graduation of Tewaaraton Trophy winner Rob Pannell and the NCAA scoring champion Steve Mock. Cornell graduated three additional All-Americans in midfielder Max Van Bourgondien, long stick midfielder Thomas Keith and defender Jason Noble, as well as three-year starting goalie AJ Fiore.

WHAT RETURNS: Cornell returns All-American Connor Buczek to the midfield, the 2011 Ivy League Rookie of the Year in attackman Matt Donovan, and one of the best face-off men in the nation in Doug Tesroriero, all of whom were named preseason All-Americans ... The Big Red offense returns 106-of-262 goals (40 percent) and 40-of-139 assists (29 percent).

RECAPPING 2013: The Big Red returned to the national spotlight in 2013, rising as high as No. 2 in the national rankings, going undefeated in Ivy League play, and advancing to the NCAA semifinals before falling to eventual national champion Duke in an epic game. The team posted a 14-4 record overall, with three losses coming by a single-goal before their final loss came by a two-goal margin against the Blue Devils. During the course of the season, Rob Pannell '14 broke a handful of Cornell, Ivy League and NCAA records, becoming the all-time leading scorer in Division I history (354), as well as the Cornell all-time assist leader (204). Pannell then punctuated his epic career by winning the Tewaaraton Trophy, the USILA Lt. Raymond J. Enners Award for the Outstanding DI Player of the Year, as well as the Ivy League Player of the Year. He is just the fifth player in USILA history to earn the Enners award twice and is the first-ever three-time Ivy League Player of the Year in men's lacrosse, and just the fourth player in the history of Division I college lacrosse to be named conference player of the year three times. Pannell also became just the fourth player in Cornell men's lacrosse history to be a four-time All-American, earning a first-team selection for the third consecutive season. Joining him on the first-team was defender Jason Noble '13, while midfielder Connor Buczek '15 earned a second-team nod. Van Bourgondien (third-team), attackman Steve Mock '13 (third-team) and long-stick midfielder Thomas Keith '13 (honorable mention) were also honored. Pannell, Mock, Buczek and Noble were all unanimously chosen first-team All-Ivy, with Van Bourgondien, Keith and goalie AJ Fiore '13 earning second-team selection.


NEXT UP: The Big Red opens a three-game road trip next week as it travels to in-state rival Colgate on Tuesday, March 18 before heading to Penn (March 22) and Dartmouth (March 29) on consecutive Saturdays.