* Game notes vs. No. 6 Notre Dame
* Buy tickets to Saturday's game vs. Harvard
* Live video vs. Harvard (RedCast subscription required)
* Live stats vs. Harvard

GAME INFORMATION
Game #16: No. 6 Notre Dame at No. 19 Cornell
Date/Time: Saturday, May 2 at 12 p.m.
Site: Schoellkopf Field, Ithaca, N.Y.
2009 Records: Notre Dame (14-4, 5-2 Big East); Cornell (9-6, 3-4 Ivy)
Series Record: Notre Dame leads 5-3
Last Meeting: Notre Dame won 15-11, May 3, 2008 in South Bend, Ind.
Live Stats: available at www.CornellBigRed.com
Live Video: available at www.CornellBigRed.com

HEAD COACH JENNY GRAAP '86
Cornell head coach Jenny Graap is in her 12th season at Cornell (118-69, .631) and 16th overall (139-113, .552) 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.

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THE STORY LINE VS. NOTRE DAME: The Cornell women's lacrosse team will honors its four seniors, then look to close out their careers with a second win over a top 10 team in the last two weeks when it meets No. 6 Notre Dame on Saturday, May 2 at 12 p.m. at Schoellkopf Field. Live video of the game will be available as part of the RedCast subscription service, while live stats will also be available at www.CornellBigRed.com. The game will be the first of a lacrosse doubleheader that will also have the men's team playing Hobart at 3 p.m.

The Big Red will be attempting to clinch its ninth 10-win season in program history, with six coming under the direction of head coach Jenny Graap. A victory over the Big East tournament champion would make this senior class just the third in school history to have three 10-win campaigns in their career. To do so, Cornell will need to hold one of the nation's most prolific offenses in check yet again. Most recently, the Big Red surrendered just four goals to a Vanderbilt squad that visited Ithaca averaging better than 15 scores per game in an 11-4 victory over the 10th-ranked Commodores on April 21.

SCOUTING NOTRE DAME: Notre Dame is flying high after clinching its first Big East tournament title and the league's automatic bid after dropping Syracuse (16-10) and Georgetown (12-10) in Washington, D.C. The Fighting Irish rank in the top five nationally in scoring offense at 15.6 goals per game behind two players that have scored more than 80 points this season. Jillian Byers is among the national leaders in goals (70) and points (94) while adding 49 draws, 30 ground balls and 24 caused turnovers. Gina Scioscia is close behind with 47 goals and a team-leading 38 assists (85 points), while four others players have generated at least 30 points this year. All-America defender Shannon Burke paces the team with 50 ground balls and 36 caused turnover, and Big East tournament most valuable player Erin Goodman has been solid between the pipes, recording a 10.83 goals against average and a .442 save percentage. Head coach Tracy Coyne is in her 13th season at Notre Dame and has posted a 124-81 record, while her overall record in 22 seasons as a college coach is 239-107. Coyne has directed the Fighting Irish to five NCAA tournament appearances and a trip to the 2006 Final Four.

THE SERIES: Notre Dame leads the all-time series 5-3, including a 15-11 victory over the Big Red last May 3 that essentially knocked Cornell out of the NCAA championship field. The Fighting Irish have won four straight games in the series, including a 16-8 triumph in the first round of 2006 NCAA tournament. The Big Red's last victory came in 2005, an 11-8 win at Schoellkopf Field.

CELEBRATING THE SENIORS: Today's game marks the final home contest for four Big Red seniors. The quartet have helped guide Cornell to a 36-26 overall record, the first-ever Ivy league title in program history (2006) and a runner-up finish (2008).

Halsey Diakow • Attack • Port Washington, N.Y.
Diakow emerged as a starter on attack as a senior and has posted nine goals and three assists while setting career highs in ground balls, caused turnovers and draw controls. She has appeared in 28 career contests with 14 goals and six assists, while providing some of the team's pregame motivation with her renditions of the National Anthem prior to home contests.

Kelly Hansen • Defense • Lutherville, Md.
One of the Ivy League's top defenders, Hansen was a second-team All-Ivy selection as a junior and earned second-team IWLCA all-region honors as well. Hansen has seen action in 50 varsity contests, with the three-year starter registering 51 ground balls, 30 caused turnovers and 12 draws, as well as scoring her first career goals earlier this year against Brown. She also had an assist as a sophomore at Syracuse.

Deirdre Lafferty • Defense/Midfield • West Chester, Pa.
Lafferty provided great leadership and an outstanding spark on the defensive end while starting all, or parts of, all four seasons. The four-year letter winner has played in 58 contests with six goals and an assist on the offensive end, and is the team's active leader in caused turnovers (52) that includes a career-best 26 in 2009. She has also posted 72 ground balls and 28 draw controls, setting career highs in both as a senior co-captain. She was named Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week earlier this year for her efforts in wins over Colgate and Rutgers.

Jessica Wiegand • Midfield • Bay Shore, N.Y.
Joining Lafferty as team co-captain, Wiegand has consistently been a threat on the attacking end for the Big Red. She has recorded 46 goals and 13 assists in 47 career appearances, adding 45 ground balls, 28 caused turnovers and 22 draw controls. A three-year starter and four-year letter winner, Wiegand provided excellent leadership, while her final season was her best with career highs in goals (18), assists (7), points (25), ground balls (21), draw controls (11) and caused turnovers (15).

COMMANDING THE COMMODORES: Not only was Vanderbilt's four goals in Cornell's 11-4 win on April 21 its fewest scores in a game this year (10 vs. defending national champion and current No. 1 Northwestern), but it was the fewest the 10th-ranked Commodores had scored in a game against an opponent other than the Wildcats since an 11-3 loss at Princeton in the 2004 NCAA semifinals. That same Vanderbilt team had knocked off Notre Dame 18-11 a week earlier.

REESE EARNS DIVISION I DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK (APRIL 14): Kristen Reese was named the Division I Defense Player of the Week by womenslacrosse.com today after leading the Big Red to victories over No. 19 New Hampshire and Brown. Reese posted a 6.00 goals against average, a .647 save percentage and chipped in seven ground balls and three caused turnovers. She ended the week with 22 saves and just 12 goals allowed. Reese was a rock in goal in a 5-3 win at No. 19 New Hampshire, making 13 saves and allowing just three goals while winning four ground balls and causing a pair of turnovers in the finest game of her collegiate career. She responded by making all nine of her saves in the decisive second half of a 12-9 Ancient Eight victory over Brown. 

REESE NAMED IVY LEAGUE DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK (MARCH 9): Reese was outstanding in the Big Red's 13-10 win at Hofstra, collecting a career-high 14 saves to stone a Pride offense averaging nearly 14 goals per outing. Reese made saves on Hofstra's first three shots to set the tone and made seven saves in each half to help the Big Red remain unbeaten. 

LAFFERTY NAMED IVY LEAGUE DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK (MARCH 2): Senior co-captain Deirdre Lafferty spearheaded a defense that surrendered a 6.47 goals against average in opening the season a perfect 2-0, earning her first Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week honors in the process. Lafferty posted seven caused turnovers and won four ground balls while helping Cornell clear the ball successfully 87 percent of the time in wins over defending Patriot League champion Colgate and unbeaten Rutgers (27-of-31). 

McKIE EARNS SPOT ON HAUDENASAUNEE WORLD CUP TEAM: Freshman Mia McKie has earned a position on the Haudenasaunee Nation's team that will compete in the FIL Women's World Cup in Prague from June 17-27. McKie was a five-year varsity letter winner and three-year captain at Niagara-Wheatfield HS and earned the 2007 Tewaaraton Foundation Award for the Outstanding Native High School Player.

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 19 total underclassmen.

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).