* Game notes vs. Colgate
* Buy tickets to Wednesday's game vs. Colgate
* Live video vs. Colgate (RedCast subscription required)
* Live stats vs. Colgate
GAME INFORMATION
Game #1: Colgate at No. 16 Cornell
Date/Time: Wednesday, February 25 at 4 p.m.
Site: Schoellkopf Field, Ithaca, N.Y.
Records: Colgate (2-0, 0-0 Patriot); Cornell (0-0, 0-0 Ivy)
Series Record: Cornell leads 22-14-1
Last Meeting: Cornell won 16-7, Feb. 27, 2008, in Hamilton, N.Y.
Live Video: available at www.CornellBigRed.com
Live Stats: available at www.CornellBigRed.com
HEAD COACH JENNY GRAAP '86
Cornell head coach Jenny Graap is in her 12th season at Cornell (109-63, .634) and 16th overall (130-107, .549) as a head coach ... directed the Big Red to the 2002 Final Four, earning IWLCA National Coach of the Year and Inside Lacrosse magazine's North Coach of the Year ... Inside Lacrosse ad IWLCA Northeast regional coach of the Year in 2006 after leading Cornell to share of first Ivy League title ... Graap is the fifth head women's lacrosse coach at Cornell and has posted the second-highest win total and has a school-record winning percentage.
THE STORY LINE VS. COLGATE: The Cornell women's lacrosse team opens the 2009 season when it meets unbeaten and reigning Patriot League foe Colgate on Wednesday, Feb. 25 at 4 p.m. at Schoellkopf Field. Live video of the game will be available on www.CornellBigRed.com as part of the RedCast subscription service.
Cornell brings a nine-game win streak against the Raiders (2-0) into the season opener, which will feature a Big Red squad that is comprised of 20 freshmen and sophomores. Cornell will have to replace a pair of All-Americans lost to graduation (
Courtney Farrell and
Katherine Simmons), as well as four three-year starters (
Noelle Dowd,
Amanda Linnertz,
Charlotte Schmidlapp and
Ashleigh Smith). That core helped Cornell to the 2006 Ivy League title and a second-place finish in the Ancient Eight a year ago.
Six starters return to the field from last season's 10-6 squad (5-2 Ivy), including All-Ivy players
Kelly Hansen and
Tissy O'Connor, as well as goalkeeper
Kristen Reese, and leading returning scorers
Libby Johnson and
Kate Dewey. Senior captains
Deirdre Lafferty and
Jessica Wiegand will direct a four-person senior class ready to help Cornell compete for its second Ivy title in four years.
SCOUTING COLGATE: Colgate is a perfect 2-0 entering Wednesday's contest after dominant victories over Stony Brook (19-7) and La Salle (16-1). For the Raiders, the contest with the Big Red will be a major step up in competition, but the young Colgate squad has thoroughly dominated thus far. The Raiders have put teams away early, outscoring opponents 22-3 in the first half of games and outshooting teams 45-8. Twelve different players have registered a point with Meghan Lawler (six goals, two assists) leading nine student-athletes with at least three points. Colleen Bubnack had five goals and two assists and leads the team in draw controls (8) and caused turnovers (4). In goal, Sara Drexler had posted a 2.86 goals against average and a .545 save percentage in sporting a perfect 2-0 record. Third-year head coach Heather Bliss has a 19-22 mark with the Raiders and a 36-52 record in six years, including three at Davidson. Cornell leads the all-time series 22-14-1, with the Big Red earning nine straight victories, including a 16-7 victory last season in Hamilton, N.Y.
THE SERIES: Cornell has won nine straight games, the program's longest win streak in the series, to improve its advantage to 22-14-1. The Big Red has a commanding 17-6-1 lead in games played in Ithaca.
LAST TIME VS. THE RAIDERS: Six different players recorded multiple-goal games as the Cornell women's lacrosse team raced out to a 10-1 lead and cruised to a 15-5 win over Colgate at Tyler's Field.
Courtney Farrell posted three goals and three assists to pace the Big Red with six points, while both
Noelle Dowd and
Kate Dewey had three goals and an assist. Goalkeeper
Renee Hughes stopped seven shots in front of a defense that caused 10 turnovers and forced the Raiders into a miserable 10-of-24 afternoon clearing the ball. The Big Red also got a pair of goals from
Charlotte Schmidlapp,
Jessica Wiegand and
Libby Johnson. After struggling in the category a season ago, the Big Red dominated the draw circle, winning 18-of-25 with both Dowd and Schmidlapp winning four.
Deirdre Lafferty won five possessions on ground balls, while Dewey added three caused turnovers on the ride to her four points. The Big Red held edges in shots (31-23) and ground balls (18-17).
BIG RED VS. THE PATRIOT LEAGUE: Cornell has a 38-23-2 record all-time against members of the Patriot League, including a 22-14-1 mark against Colgate. Cornell has also faced Bucknell (11-1-1), Lafayette (4-8) and Lehigh (1-0), while never having met American, Holy Cross or Villanova. This is the only scheduled game for Cornell against a Patriot League team in 2009.
BIG RED IN SEASON OPENERS: Cornell looks to open the 2009 season much the same way it has opened virtually every other year under head coach
Jenny Graap ... with a win. The Big Red is 9-2 in season openers under Graap, outscoring its opponents 137-88. Cornell is 20-18 all-time to begin its 38 seasons.
LAFFERTY, WIEGAND NAMED TEAM CAPTAINS: Seniors
Deirdre Lafferty and
Jessica Wiegand have been elected captains of the women's lacrosse team for the 2009 season. The duo will provide senior leadership to a young team that features 13 freshmen and 20 total underclassmen.
ANNUAL DODGEBALL TOURNAMENT HELPS FIGHT AGAINST MS: On December 7, 2008, the Cornell women's lacrosse team hosted the Fourth Annual Dodgeball Tournament to benefit Multiple Sclerosis. The event was held in Cornell's indoor turf facility, the Ramin Room, and was a fun stress-reliever during fall semester study days. The tournament was a great success again this year, with 41 teams participating, representing many of the varsity athletic programs.
IVY LEAGUE TO ADD POSTSEASON TOURNAMENT IN 2010: Ivy League Executive Director Jeff Orleans announced in January that the Ivy League will begin four-team tournaments in spring 2010 to determine the Ivy League's automatic qualifying institutions to the NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Lacrosse Championships. The winners of the Ivy League championship will continue to be determined by results of the League's round-robin competitions. Each tournament will include the top four teams in Ivy League regular season round-robin competition and will be hosted by the round-robin winner. The men's tournament will be the season's last weekend (Friday-Sunday, May 7-9, 2010) and the women's tournament will be the preceding weekend (April 30-May 2).
NEW STAFF: Cornell's coaching staff has a new look, as first-year assistant coaches
Suzie Friedrich and
Karrie Moore will be on the sidelines this season for the Big Red. Friedrich comes to Ithaca after serving as five years as head coach at Division III Washington College where she posted a 34-50 mark. A former player at Penn State, the 1985 graduate played on three Final Four teams (1982, 83, 85) and helped her team to a spot in the finals in 1982. Moore spent two seasons as an assistant coach at Colgate where she helped the program to the 2008 Patriot League championship and an NCAA tournament appearance. She was a four-year letter winner at Penn as a goalkeeper.
NEXT UP: Cornell remains at home to face Rutgers on Saturday, Feb. 28 at 1 p.m. at Schoellkopf Field. The Big Red has won 11 of 12 all-time meetings against the Scarlet Knights, who went 7-10 overall a season ago.
