GAME #2: Cornell at Army
TIP OFF: Saturday, Feb. 28, at 5:00 p.m.
SITE: Michie Stadium, West Point, N.Y.
2009 RECORDS: Cornell (1-0); Army (1-1)
SERIES RECORD: Army leads, 23-11
LAST MEETING: Cornell won, 9-8, March 8, 2008; Schoellkopf Field
TELEVISION: ESPNU (Time Warner channel 108 in Ithaca)
RADIO: None
LIVE VIDEO: None
THE MATCHUP — No. 4/6 Cornell travels to West Point, N.Y., to take on Army on Saturday, Feb. 28. The game, slated to begin at 5 p.m., will be nationally televised on ESPNU, Time Warner channel 108 in Ithaca. The Big Red is coming off a dominant 18-6 victory over Binghamton in its season opener last weekend, while the Black Knights dropped a 17-6 decision to No. 1/2 Syracuse last Friday evening to fall to 1-1 on the season.
SERIES HISTORY VS. ARMY — Cornell and Army first played each other in 1938 with the Black Knights winning the contest, 6-3. It would be the first of 16-straight victories by Army, helping them to a 23-11 lead in the all-time series. Cornell's first victory over the Black Knights was a big one as it came in 1971 when the Big Red edged Army, 17-16, in the NCAA tournament semifinals. That victory would be the first of seven in a row by Cornell, a streak that lasted until the 1991 season. Army went on to win seven of the next eight meetings, but the Big Red has won the last three outings.
LOOKING AT THE BLACK KNIGHTS — After opening its season with an impressive 17-3 victory over VMI, Army dropped a 17-6 decision to No. 1/2 Syracuse last weekend to fall to 1-1 on the season. The Black Knights are led by Jeremy Boltus with a team-high 20 points off three goals and seven assist, while Jason Peyer has a team-best six goals. Army has used four different goalies in its first two games, with Tom Palesky seeing the majority of time, registering a 9.83 goals-against average and a .467 save percentage in just under 98 minutes of action.
A WIN OVER ARMY WOULD –
• be the fourth-straight against the Black Knights.
• give Cornell its seventh-straight victory over a Patriot League opponent.
• make Cornell 12-23 all-time and improve Coach Tambroni's record to 4-1 vs. the Black Knights.
• improve Cornell to 59-54-4 all-time vs. the Patriot League, including a mark of 10-2 during Coach Tambroni's tenure.
THE LAST TIME VS. ARMY — The no. 8/8 Big Red opened up the home portion of its 2008 schedule with a hard-fought 9-8 victory over No. 17/16 Army on a rain soaked Schoellkopf Field. Seven different Cornell players found the scoring column and freshman goalie
Mat Martinez made a phenomenal save as time expired to help the Big Red earn the win. Cornell scored five goals in the second quarter to build a decisive lead and then held off an Army barrage, as the Black Knights scored twice in the final 1:06 of the game, to pull within one, but the Big Red escape with the 9-8 victory.
John Glynn was outstanding on the afternoon, leading the team with three points on one goal and two assists, while winning 14-of-19 face-offs and collecting a team-high eight ground balls.
Max Seibald and
John Espey registered two goals each, while
Kyle Doctor added a goal and an assist.
Ryan Hurley, Chirrs Finn and
Shane O'Neill each tallied one goal and Finn added six ground balls. Army (2-2) was led by Brooks Korvin with three goals and Kevin LoRusso with a goal and an assist. Between the pipes,
Jake Myers made the start and earned the win for Cornell with five saves and four goals against, before Martinez came on to start the second half and made four saves and allowed four goals. For the Black Knights, Adam Fullerton was solid making 12 saves in the loss. Cornell (2-1) held the advantage in shots (38-27), ground balls (36-25) and face-offs (15-of-21). Neither team registered a man-up goal with the Big Red going 0-for-2 and Army going 0-for-1.
CORNELL VS. THE PATRIOT LEAGUE – The Big Red is 58-54-4 all-time vs. the current members of the Patriot League, thanks mostly to a 38-7-1 record vs. Colgate. Cornell is 11-23-0 all-time vs. Army, 4-9-3 vs. Lehigh, and 5-15-0 vs. Navy. The Big Red has never faced Bucknell, Holy Cross, or Lafayette in men's lacrosse ... Coach Tambroni has posted a 9-2 record vs. the Patriot League with Cornell winning its last six contests vs. PL opponents, dating back to an 11-9 loss to Army at Michie Stadium during the 2005 season.
AT THE HELM — In his ninth season as head coach of the Big Red, Jeff Tambroni owns a career record of 85-30. His winning percentage of .739 is the second-best among the nine coaches who have served as head coach at Cornell, ahead of the legendary Richie Moran (.680) and behind the all-time leader Ned Harkness (.972).
TAMBRONI AMONG THE BEST — Head coach Jeff Tambroni currently ranks fifth in the nation among active Division I coaches with a .739 winning percentage. Georgetown head coach David Urick is the nation's leader (.752).
TURN OF THE CENTURY – With his two goals and one assist vs. Hobart last season,
Max Seibald became the 34th player in Cornell history to register 100 career points.
John Glynn is also looking for his 100th career point, with his 45 goals and 53 assists putting him at 98.
GOING STREAKING – As of Monday, Feb. 23, Cornell senior
Max Seibald owned the longest point-scoring streak on the team and the third-longest in the nation, having registered at least one point in the last 35 games dating back to Cornell's 4-3 victory over Princeton on April 22, 2006. Junior
Ryan Hurley is also on the list, owning the 13th-longest streak in the nation, registering at least one point in the last 16 games dating back to the 2008 season opener.
FRESH START - In his very first collegiate game against Binghamton, freshman
Rob Pannell scored three goals and registered four assists for seven total points. With that performance, he set a Cornell record for assists by a freshman in a single-game, surpassing Pat Dutton (three assists vs. Delaware in 1996) and
Max Seibald (three assists vs. Binghamton in 2006). He also matched the school mark for points by a rookie in a single-game, tying
Michael Egan who registered five goals and two assists for seven points against Penn in 2000.
SAVES A LOT - Last year, Cornell goalie
Jake Myers posted a season-high 14 saves against Syracuse on April 8, 2008. In the very first game of the 2009 season the goalie tandem of
Kyle Harer and
Mat Martinez combined for 15 saves, with Harer stopping 10 shots in 51:51 before Martinez made five saves in the final 8:09 against Binghamton.
85 WINS — With the Big Red's 18-6 victory over Binghamton on Feb. 21, 2009, head coach Jeff Tambroni notched his 85th career win, becoming just the second head coach in Cornell men's lacrosse history to reach that plateau. Tambroni reached the milestone in his 115th career game during his ninth season. The only other Big Red coach to reach 85 wins was Richie Moran, who defeated Harvard, 21-7, in his eighth season (1976) to achieve an 85-14 record.
MAY I ASSIST YOU - In its season-opener, the Big Red assisted on 15-of-18 goals (83.3 percent). Last season, Cornell managed to assist on just 95-of-167 goals (56.9 percent).
FOR STARTERS - Cornell is 59-50-5 all-time in season openers, including a 7-2 mark during Coach Jeff Tambroni's tenure.
GEOGRAPHY LESSON – The 45 players on the Big Red roster hail from 14 different states – California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia and Washington – as well as the District of Columbia and two Canadian provinces – Ontario and British Columbia.
OH CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN – For just the second time since 1966, the Big Red will have a single team captain, as
Max Seibald will serve as the Cornell captain for the second straight year.
HARD HAT – Attackman
Ryan Hurley has been selected to carry the Hard Hat for the 2009 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.
BACK ON THE OFFENSIVE – Players on the 2009 roster accounted for 221 of the 262 points (84 percent) that the Big Red registered last season.
NON-CONFERENCE WINS — Cornell is 22-3 in its last 25 regular-season non-conference games, dating back to the Big Red's 16-14 victory over Syracuse in the Carrier Dome on April 12, 2005. Two of those three losses during that span came at the hands of the Orange (2006, 2008), while the other came when No. 7/8 North Carolina beat Cornell, 13-8 at Fetzer Field on March 2, 2008.
ELITE COMPANY – Over the past six seasons, Cornell has been among the best in the nation, boasting the second highest winning percentage of all Division I teams during that span (.784) and ranking fifth overall in number of victories (58).
SINGLE-DIGIT SUCCESS – When holding its opponents to less than 10 goals, the Big Red was a perfect 10-0 last season. Including its most recent 18-6 victory over Binghamton, Cornell has won 14 straight games when holding opponents to single digits, dating back to April 1, 2006, when it lost an 8-6 decision to Penn at Franklin Field.
FINISHING STRONG – Cornell has won 24 straight contests when leading at the half, dating back to the team's 8-6 loss to Penn on April 1, 2006.
FIVE IS RARE — When Cornell dropped a 13-8 decision to No. 7/8 UNC on March 2, it was the largest margin of defeat since the Big Red dropped a 14-4 decision to Georgetown during the 2004 season. Just over one month later, Cornell fell to No. 1 Syracuse, 15-8, the most lopsided victory in the series since 1997. During Coach Tambroni's career (115 games), Cornell has lost by five or more goals only eight times.
CHAMPIONSHIP LINEAGE – Three players currently on the Cornell roster have fathers that have won a national championship with the Big Red –
David Lau (George '78),
Julian Levine (Jon '76) and
Shane O'Neill (John '76). George Lau was a two-time winner as part of both the 1976 and 1977 national championship squads, while Jon Levine and John O'Neill joined him on the 1976 team.
CLOSE CALLS — Since the beginning of the 2003 season, Cornell is 18-4 in games that have been decided by a single goal, a mark that was raised as the Big Red defeated Yale, 8-7 in overtime on March 22, 2008, at Schoellkopf Field. The only blemishes during the stretch were a 6-5 loss to Navy in the 2004 NCAA quarterfinals, a 12-11 loss to Syracuse on April 11, 2006, a 10-9 loss to UMass in the opening round of the NCAA tournament on May 13, 2006 and a 12-11 loss to Duke in the national semifinal on May 26, 2007. Coach Jeff Tambroni is 21-10 in one-goal games during his tenure with the Big Red, including a 6-2 mark in overtime games.
HOME IS WHERE THE WINS ARE — During Coach Tambroni's tenure, the Big Red is 44-10 at Schoellkopf Field, including a perfect 7-0 record in 2007 and a 6-0 slate during the 2005 season. Cornell finished the 2008 season with a 6-2 record at Schoellkopf Field.
BACK-TO-BACK – The Big Red has not lost back-to-back games since the 2002 season when Cornell fell to Princeton and Brown on consecutive weekends, a span of 90 games.
WIN NO. 650 – Cornell's 16-11 victory over Dartmouth on April 12, 2008 was the 650th win in program history. To date, the team's 653 victories rank seventh all-time among the winningest programs in collegiate lacrosse.
PRESASON POLLS – The Big Red was selected to finish fourth in the nation in both the Inside Lacrosse and USILA Coaches Preseason polls, the highest selection among all Ivy League schools.
11-WINS – The Big Red has posted at least 11 wins in each of the past four seasons and five times overall during head coach Jeff Tambroni's eight-year tenure.
SIXTH SENSE — Cornell's six consecutive regular season Ivy League titles is the longest current stretch by any team in any conference.
NUETRAL ZONE – Since the start of the 2006 season, the Big Red is 6-1 in neutral site games, with two victories over Notre Dame (Chicago, 2006 and Long Island, 2007), a single victory over Albany (Princeton, 2007), Navy (Long Island, 2008), Denver (Dallas, Texas) and Harvard (Foxborough, Mass.). The lone loss came at the hands of Duke in the 2007 national semifinal (Baltimore, Md.).
SMARTY PANTS – Cornell has had eight CoSIDA Academic At-Large All-Americans, including seven during Coach Tambroni's tenure, as David Key '01,
Tim DeBlois '04 and
Casey Stevenson '05 were named to the 2001, 2004 and 2005 second-team, respectively, while Mitch Belisle '07 and Mitch McMonagle '07 earned first-team honors in 2007. Unlike other Academic All-America teams in which the selections are all from the same sport, the At-Large men's team is highly competitive as it is comprised of athletes from fencing, golf, gymnastics, ice hockey, lacrosse, rifle, skiing, swimming, tennis, volleyball, water polo and wrestling. To be eligible, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.20 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at his/her current institution and be nominated by his/her sports information director.
RECAPPING 2008 — The No. 7/8 Big Red finished the 2008 season with an 11-4 overall record and its sixth straight Ivy League title with a mark of 5-1 in the conference. Cornell advanced to the NCAA tournament for the fifth straight season and finished the year ranking in the top 10 in the nation in face-off winning percentage (third - .610 pct.), scoring offense (eighth - 11.13 gpg.), win percentage (eighth – .733 pct.) and scoring margin (ninth – 2.60 gpg.).
SIX OF ONE … — With its victory over Brown on April 26, 2008 the Big Red claimed at least a share of the Ivy League title for the sixth straight season, the longest stretch since winning 10 straight championships between 1974-83.
EVERYBODY'S ALL-AMERICAN – For the second straight season, midfielder
Max Seibald was named a first-team All-American. Joining Seibald on the 2008 All-American teams were
John Glynn (second),
Ryan Hurley (honorable mention) and
Matt Moyer (honorable mention). The Big Red has placed at least four members on the All-American teams for each of the past four seasons.
TICKLE THE (ALL) IVY – Following the 2008 season, four members of the Big Red –
John Glynn,
Ryan Hurley,
Matt Moyer and
Max Seibald – were named first-team All-Ivy, while two others –
John Espey and
Nick Gradinger – garnered honorable mention selections. Of the four first-team selections, Glynn, Hurley and Seibald were unanimous choices by the league's coaches.
SOPHOMORE STANDOUT – In his first season as a starter,
Ryan Hurley proved to be one of the great young offensive threats in Big Red history. His 60 points on the season were the most by a Cornell sophomore since Eamon McEneaney tallied 96 points in 1975. Other than McEneaney, the only other sophomore in Cornell history to register more points than Hurley did during the 2008 season was Mike French (94 in 1974). In recent years, the only sophomore that has come close to matching Hurley's output was
Sean Greenhalgh, who tallied 46 points in 2003.
CONFERENCE WINS — Cornell had a 14-game Ivy League winning-streak snapped after losing to Princeton on April 21, 2008. The 14 consecutive victories was the second-longest stretch in school history behind only its NCAA record 39-game streak from 1973-79. The 14 straight wins was also the longest active conference winning streak in the nation at the time that it ended.
HELPING HAND –
John Glynn finished 2008 ranked 17th in the country and second in the Ivy League in assists per game (1.67 apg).
MEN IN THE MIDDLE – Cornell's midfield duo of
John Glynn (.633) and
Tommy Schmicker (.611) were solid in the face-off circle for the Big Red last season, with the tandem ranking first and second, respectively, in the Ivy League. Glynn finished the year ranked third in the country and Schmicker would have ranked fifth overall, but fell just short of the minimum attempts required to be ranked. As a team, Cornell finished the year ranked third in the nation in face-off win percentage (.610).
SCORING MACHINE –
Ryan Hurley finished 2008 ranked sixth in the country and first in the Ivy League with 3.07 goals per game, while
Max Seibald ranked 49th in the country and seventh in the conference with 1.80 gpg.
GROUND BALL GOBBLER –
John Glynn finished 2008 ranked ninth in the country and third in the Ivy League with 5.47 ground balls per game.
(BIG) RED HOT OFFENSE – The Big Red finished the 2008 year ranked eighth in the country and first in the Ivy League in scoring offense, averaging 11.13 goals per game.
LOCK DOWN DEFENSE — Cornell finished the 2008 season ranked 20th in the country and fourth in the Ivy League in scoring defense, allowing only 8.53 goals per game.
MAN DOWN DEFENSE – The Big Red finished the 2008 year ranked 15th in the country and third in the Ivy League in man down defense, killing off .755 percent of the opponents penalties.
GET TO THE POINT —
Ryan Hurley finished the 2008 year ranked sixth in the nation and first in the Ivy League with 4.00 points per game, while
John Glynn was 41st in the country and seventh in the conference with 2.87 ppg.
IN THE MARGIN —The Big Red finished the 2008 season ranked ninth in the country in scoring margin, outscoring its opponents by an average of 2.6 goals per game.
UP NEXT – The Big Red remains on the road next weekend as it travels to No. 1/2 Virginia to take on the Cavaliers at Klockner Stadium on Sunday, March 8 at 2:30 p.m.
