Princeton Game Notes in PDF Format

GAME #15: No. 7/8 Cornell vs. No. 4/5 Princeton
FACE OFF: Saturday, May 16, at 2:00 p.m.
SITE: Shuart Stadium (Hempstead, N.Y.)
2009 RECORDS: Cornell (11-3, 5-1 Ivy); Princeton (13-2, 5-1 Ivy)
SERIES RECORD: Princeton leads, 36-31-2
LAST MEETING: Cornell won, 10-7, April 18, 2004; Schoellkopf Field
TELEVISION: ESPNU (channel 108 in Ithaca; channel 609 on DirecTV; channel 148 on Dish Network)
RADIO: WHCU 870 AM (Ithaca, N.Y.)
LIVE STATS: www.CornellBigRed.com
LIVE VIDEO: None
LIVE AUDIO: www.CornellBigRed.com

THE MATCHUP — The No. 7/8 Big Red (11-3, 5-1 Ivy League) will travel to Hempstead, N.Y., to take on No. 4/5 Princeton (13-2, 5-1 Ivy) in the quarterfinal round of the NCAA tournament on Saturday, May 16 at Shuart Stadium at 2 p.m. The game will be enjoyed by a nationwide audience on ESPNU (channel 108 in Ithaca; channel 609 on DirecTV; channel 148 on Dish Network).

TOURNAMENT TIDBITS – Cornell's 24 NCAA tournament victories rank seventh all-time, while its 22 appearances also stand seventh … Only six teams have more national titles than the Big Red … This season marks the seventh time that Cornell has made it to the NCAA tournament during Coach Tambroni's tenure, making it to the quarterfinal round five times and the semifinals once.

WHAT JUST HAPPENED? — Cornell defeated Hofstra11-8 in the opening round of the NCAA tournament at Schoellkopf Field last weekend. With the win, the Big Red improved to 11-3 on the season, reaching the 11-win plateau for the fifth straight year and sixth time overall during head coach Jeff Tambroni's tenure. Princeton defeated UMass, 10-7, last weekend to improve to 13-2 on the year and advance to the quarterfinal game against the Big Red.

HOW'D WE GET HERE? — When Cornell pulled off the 10-7 upset victory over Princeton on April 18, it assured itself a share of its seventh straight Ivy League title. The Big Red then slipped into a temporary three-way tie for first place with the Tigers and Brown when it lost to the Bears, 11-9, the next weekend. Cornell benefited when Princeton beat the Bears last weekend, as the Big Red earned the Ivy League's NCAA automatic bid by virtue of its head-to-head victory against the Tigers. Princeton got into the tournament thanks to an at-large bid.

SERIES HISTORY VS. PRINCETON — The Cornell and Princeton rivalry began in 1922 with an 11-1 victory for the Tigers. Princeton would dominate the next 24 meetings, winning or tying all but one contest, to help it to a 36-31-2 record in the all-time series. Cornell would win 22-straight games vs. the Tigers from 1968 to 1989, but Princeton is still the only Ivy League team to boast a winning record against the Big Red, as they again dominated the series throughout the 1990s. Cornell, however, has won five of the last six meetings to help Coach Tambroni to a 5-4 record vs. the Tigers. While the game on May 16 is the 70th meeting between the two squads, it will be the first-ever in the NCAA tournament.

IVY KINGS – Since Ivy League play began in 1956, Cornell and Princeton have dominated their conference foes and racked up most of the conference hardware. Between the two squads, they have won at least a share of 43-of-53 Ivy League titles. Likewise, either Cornell or Princeton has won at least a share of the past 15 conference crowns.

LOOKING AT THE TIGERS — Princeton received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, earning the No. 4 seed and defeating UMass in the first round, 10-7. The Tigers enter this weekend's game with a balanced defense and offense, ranking seventh (7.67 ppg) and ninth (11.47 ppg) in the nation, respectively. In the defensive end, the Tigers feature a talented rookie in goal, as Tyler Fiorito ranks seventh in the nation in goals-against average (7.51) and 10th overall in save percentage (.591).The team is led offensively by Jack McBride, who ranks 12th in the nation with 2.4 goals per game, and Rich Sgalardi, who is 15th in the country with 1.6 assists per game.

LAST TIME VS. PRINCETON – The No. 4/5 Big Red took control of the game early on and never looked back as it upset No. 1 Princeton, 10-7, in front of 8,026 fans at Schoellkopf Field on April 18, 2009. With the win, the Big Red guaranteed itself a share of its seventh-straight Ivy League title, the longest current stretch by any men's lacrosse team in any conference. The Big Red used a well-balanced effort on offense, with seven players accounting for 10 goals. Ryan Hurley led the pack with three goals, while Rob Pannell registered three points off one goal and two assists. Max Seibald tallied twice, while Rocco Romero added a goal and an assist. Cornell also received goals from Jon Thomson, George Calvert and Roy Lang. John Glynn, who tallied one assist on offense, was the difference-maker in the game, winning 13-of-18 face-offs to go along with a career-high 11 ground balls. In goal, Jake Myers was solid, making seven saves, including two critical stops in the final moments of the third quarter to preserve a two-goal Big Red lead entering the final quarter. Princeton (10-2, 3-1) was led by Mark Kovler's three goals. Jack McBride, Chris McBride, Josh Lesko and Greg Seaman also scored for the Tigers. In goal, Tyler Fiorito made nine saves. Cornell (9-2, 5-0) held the advantage in shots (34-24) and ground balls (29-12), while winning 14-of-19 face-offs. The Big Red also went 2-for-6 on the extra-man, while holding Princeton to an 0-for-2 performance. Both teams were solid on their clears, with the Tigers going 15-of-16 and Cornell clearing 13-of-14.

A WIN OVER THE TIGERS WOULD –
• put Cornell on path to meet the winner of the Virginia/Johns Hopkins game next weekend for a berth to the NCAA Final Four.
• improve the men's lacrosse record to 26-18 in NCAA tournament games.
• give Coach Tambroni a record to 7-6 in NCAA tournament games.
• make Cornell 11-6 all-time in NCAA quarterfinal games.
• be Coach Tambroni's second-straight victory in an NCAA quarterfinal game.
• close the gap in the series to 36-32-2, while improving Coach Tambroni's record against the Tigers to 6-4.

NCAA TOURNAMENT REMATCHES – The contest vs. Princeton will mark the 15th time that Cornell will be playing a team in the NCAA tournament that it played in the regular season.
• Cornell is 8-6 in the NCAA tournament meeting.
• Of the 14 previous two-game series, Cornell has swept both games six times, has split six times and has been swept twice.
• When winning the first meeting, as it did against Princeton, Cornell is 6-4 in the rematch.
• Cornell has twice faced an opponent for the second time in an NCAA tournament game under head coach Jeff Tambroni. The Big Red responded from a regular season finale loss at Hobart (12-10) to knock off the Statesmen 11-5 in the 2004 first round, while the 2007 team topped Duke in Durham, N.C. in the regular season (7-6) before dropping a 12-11 contest in the NCAA semifinals.

COACHING CONNECTIONS – Former Princeton head coach Michael J. Hanna, who led the Tigers from 1977-1981, went on to become the Athletic Director at Hobart College. He served as the Hobart AD while Cornell head coach Jeff Tambroni played for the Statesmen (1988-92).

WE'VE BEEN HERE BEFORE – The Cornell men's lacrosse program has a special history with Shuart Stadium, as it was the site of the 1971 NCAA championship game. Named Hofstra Stadium at the time, it was there that the Big Red defeated Maryland, 12-6, for its first national championship.

MOYER'S MARK – Senior defender Matt Moyer registered his first career goal last weekend when he gave the Big Red a 1-0 lead against Hofstra. It was also Moyer's first point since registering an assist in Cornell's 2008 NCAA first round game against Ohio State.

NCAA DEBUT – Freshman Rob Pannell made a statement in his very first NCAA tournament game, registering five points on three goals and two assists. The five points were the most ever by a Cornell freshman in a single NCAA tournament game and tied Pannell for 18th overall in Big Red history for points in an NCAA tournament game.

FOUR SURE — Cornell has had its share of Final Four appearances in NCAA team competition over the years, as the 2007 men's lacrosse team brought the total of national semifinal appearances to 20.
• Men's Lacrosse (10) - 1971, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1982, 1987, 1988, 2007
• Men's Ice Hockey (8) - 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1980, 2003
• Women's Lacrosse (1) - 2002
• Men's Soccer (1) – 1972

TIERNEY, TIERNEY, TIERNEY – Only four teams have played both Bill (Princeton) and Seth (Hofstra) Tiereney's teams this season – UMass, Brown, John Hopkins and Cornell. Only the Big Red have managed to beat both squads, defeating Princeton, 10-7, and Hofstra, 11-8. Only one other school has beaten both Tierneys in the same season, as Johns Hopkins posted a 9-8 victory over Hofstra before defeating Princeton 7-6 in double-overtime in 2007.

A FAMILY AFFAIR – Freshman Rob Pannell just made family gatherings a little less comfortable as his five points led the Big Red in its NCAA first round game vs. Hofstra. Pannell's uncle, Jim Metzger was an All-American attackman at Hofstra in 1980.

AT THE HELM — In his ninth season as head coach of the Big Red, Jeff Tambroni owns a career record of 95-33. His winning percentage of .742 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 is currently fourth in the nation among active Division I coaches with a .742 winning percentage. Syracuse head coach John Desko is the nation's leader (.757).

95 WINS – With the Big Red's 11-8 victory over Hofstra on May 9, head coach Jeff Tambroni notched his 95th career win, becoming just the second head coach in Cornell men's lacrosse history to reach that plateau. Tambroni reached the milestone in his 128th career game during his ninth season. The only other Big Red coach to reach 95 wins was Richie Moran, who defeated Adelphi, 16-2, in his ninth season (1977) to achieve a 95-14 record.

TWO-TIME TEWAARATON – For the second time in his career, senior Max Seibald has been named a Tewaaraton Trophy finalist. Seibald became Cornell's first-ever Tewaaraton finalist in 2007 when he earned the honor as a sophomore. Seibald is one of only four players to be named a Tewaaraton Trophy finalist as a sophomore.

TICKLE THE (ALL) IVY – Four members of the Big Red – John Glynn, Matt Moyer, Rob Pannell and Max Seibald – were named first-team All-Ivy, while two others – Ryan Hurley and Jake Myers – garnered second-team and honorable mention selections, respectively. Seibald was a unanimous choice by the league's coaches for the third straight season.

THE ONE AND ONLY – Cornell senior Max Seibald became the first player in the history of the Ivy League to be named first-team All-Ivy all four years.

YOUNG GUN – Rob Pannell was named the Ivy League Rookie of the Year, becoming the fourth Big Red player to earn that distinction. Of those four players, three were recruited by head coach Jeff Tambroni (Sean Greenhalgh, Max Seibald, Rob Pannell).

11-WINS – The Big Red has posted at least 11 wins in each of the past five seasons, matching the longest streak in school history (1974-78).

NEUTRAL 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.).

BACK-TO-BACK 40s – Junior Ryan Hurley registered his 40th goal against Hofstra, giving him 40 goals in back-to-back seasons. Hurley becomes the fifth player in Cornell history to accomplish that feat, joining Mike French (1974, 75, 76), Jon Levine (1975, 76), David Mitchell (2006, 07) and Mark Webster (1968, 69).

SENIOR DAY SIT OUT – Senior defender Matt Moyer had seen action in all 57 games during his career before missing the game vs. Hobart on Cornell's Senior Day due to an injury. That game is the only one that Moyer has missed, seeing time in 58-of-59 possible career games.

THE BIG RED, THE NCAA'S AND OVERTIME — Cornell's 12-11 victory over Albany in the 2007 NCAA quarterfinals improved the program's record to 2-1 all-time in NCAA tournament play when a game goes to overtime. The Big Red won a 16-13 triumph over Maryland in the championship game in 1976 and dropped a 9-8 contest in the 1980 quarterfinals to Virginia.

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.

TOP 10 TEAM – Cornell has not fallen out of the top 10 in either national poll in over four years, with the last occurrence happening on March 28, 2005 when Inside Lacrosse had the Big Red ranked 11th.

HOME IS WHERE THE WINS ARE — During Coach Tambroni's tenure, the Big Red is 51-10 at Schoellkopf Field, including perfect slates in 2009 (6-0), 2007 (7-0) and 2005 (6-0).

SINGLE-DIGIT SUCCESS – When holding its opponents to less than 10 goals, the Big Red under Coach Tambroni owns an 82-10 record. Including its most recent 11-8 victory over Hofstra, Cornell has won 37 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.

LUCKY NUMBER SEVEN — The Big Red has claimed at least a share of the Ivy League title for the last seven seasons, the longest stretch since winning 10 straight championships between 1974-83.

SEVENTH HEAVEN — Cornell's seven consecutive regular season Ivy League titles is the longest current stretch by any men's lacrosse team in any conference.

THAT'S NEW – The Big Red made its first appearance of the season on the newly refurbished Schoellkopf Field against Canisiuis on March 10. The historic stadium got a face-lift this summer when the AstroTurf surface was replaced with FieldTurf.

TEAM USA – US Lacrosse has announced that five players with Cornell ties – Ryan McClay '03, Mitch Belisle '07, Matt McMonagle '07, John Glynn '09 and Max Seibald '09 - have been selected to try out for the 2010 U.S. men's lacrosse team that will compete in the Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL) World Championship in Manchester, England from July 10-24, 2010. The tryouts will be held from June 7-10, 2009 at Bryant University in Smithfield, R.I.

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.

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. During his tenure, Coach Tambroni has had players from 19 different states.

GOING STREAKING – Cornell senior Max Seibald owns the longest point-scoring streak on the team and the second-longest in the nation entering this weekend, having registered at least one point in the last 48 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 ninth-longest streak in the nation, registering at least one point in the last 29 games dating back to the 2008 season opener.

INCREASED DEGREE OF DIFFICULTY – Of the 12 lacrosse players nationwide that own the longest point-scoring streaks in the country, Max Seibald (second – 48 games) is one of only two midfielders on the list, joining Notre Dame's Grant Krebs (seventh – 32 games).

OH CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN – For just the second time since 1966, the Big Red has a single team captain, as Max Seibald will serve as the Cornell captain for the second straight year.

SENIOR CLASS AWARD – Max Seibald is among 10 student-athletes that were announced as finalists for the men's lacrosse division of the 2009 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award. The award, presented annually to NCAA Division I student-athletes each year in eight sports, focuses on the “Four C's” of classroom, character, community and competition. The ballots will be distributed through a nationwide voting system to media, coaches and fans, who will select the candidate who best exemplifies excellence in the “Four C's” of Classroom, Character, Community, and Competition. The award winner will be announced and presented with his trophy at the 2009 NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship in Foxborough, Mass.

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.

THAT DIDN'T TAKE LONG – Just five games into the season, rookie Rob Pannell set the Cornell freshman record for assists in a single season (15), a mark previously held by Max Seibald (14 in 2006). Pannell currently leads the team with 35 assists.

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. Just two games later, Pannell matched his own school record with four assists against No. 1 Virginia and then surpassed it with five assists vs. Harvard on April 4.

POINT MAN – With his two goals and four assists against Dartmouth on April 11, freshman Rob Pannell surpassed Sean Greenhalgh's Cornell rookie record for points in a season (42). Pannell currently leads the team with 56 points.

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 (.782) and ranking fifth overall in number of victories (68).

THREE FOR 100 – When junior Ryan Hurley scored his 100th point, it gave Cornell three 100-point scorers on the team (Hurley, John Glynn and Max Seibald) at the same time for just the second time in the history of the program. The only other time this has occurred was during the 1976 season when Mike French, Jon Levine, Bill Marino and Eamon McEneaney all had 100 career points to their credit.

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. In the second game of this season, John Glynn joined Seibald when his one goal and two assists against Army gave the senior 101 points for his career. Most recently, junior Ryan Hurley reached the 100-point mark with two goals and one assist against Syracuse.

ROMERO TIME – Senior Rocco Romero has traditionally stepped up his game when Ivy League play begins and he continued the trend this season. For his career, Romero has played in 56 games, scored 30 goals and registered 23 assists for 53 points. (0.96 ppg.). In just 24 career conference games, Romero has tallied 19 goals and 13 assists for 32 points (1.33 ppg). Despite Ivy League play representing just 42.8 percent of his total games played, that is where Romero has registered 60.4 percent of his points.

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 103 games. That streak with continue into next year with the season finale win over Hobart.

PIERCE'S POINTS – Pierce Derkac scored a career-high two goals against Syracuse on April 7. Not only was it the first point registered by a long pole this season, but it was the first time a long pole has scored twice in a game since Ethan Vedder found the back of the net twice against Brown on April 28, 2007. Derkac matched that performance on April 25 when he also registered two goals against the Bears.

ROUGH ROAD – The Big Red concluded the season with a stretch in which it played four of its final six games against teams ranked in the top 20. The stretch began on April 4 when Cornell defeated No. 13/17 Harvard, 13-12, before falling to No. 5/5 Syracuse, 15-10. The Big Red's game at Dartmouth, a 19-6 victory, gave Cornell a slight reprieve, before defeating No. 1/1 Princeton, 10-7. Cornell then posted an 11-9 loss at No. 13/13 Brown, before defeating unranked Hobart, 8-7.

IT'S OFFICIAL – While many believe that Max Seibald will be considered one of the best midfielders to ever play at Cornell, the senior has helped make his case by racking up 137 career points (88 goals, 49 assists), the most ever by a Big Red midfielder, surpassing Bill Marino (129; 1974-76).

CLOSE CALLS — Since the beginning of the 2003 season, Cornell is 21-4 in games that have been decided by a single goal, a mark that was raised as the Big Red defeated Hobart, 8-7, on May 2, 2009, 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 22-10 in one-goal games during his tenure with the Big Red, including a 6-2 mark in overtime games.

FIVE IS RARE — During Coach Tambroni's career (128 games), Cornell has lost by five or more goals only 10 times.

WIN NO. 660 – Cornell's 19-6 victory over Dartmouth on April 11 was the 660th win in program history. To date, the team's 663 victories rank seventh all-time among the winningest programs in collegiate lacrosse.

RULE FOLLOWERS – Cornell has not registered more penalties than its opponent in any single game this season. Overall, the Big Red averages 2.6 penalties per game, while its opponents have been flagged an average of 4.4 times per game.

FINISHING STRONG – Prior to Cornell's loss to No. 1 Virginia, the Big Red had won 25 straight contests when leading at the half, dating back to the team's 8-6 loss to Penn on April 1, 2006. Cornell, which lost at Brown on April 25 after leading at the half, is 30-2 in its last 32 games when leading at the intermission.

DYANAMIC DUO – Ryan Hurley and Rob Pannell have teamed up for a goal in 11-of-14 contests this season. Of Pannell's 35 assists, 14 (40 percent) have come on Hurley's goals.

WITH ONE ARM TIED BEHIND HIS BACK – In the six games since fracturing his elbow, John Glynn has won 69-of-119 face-offs (.580). He has also picked up 54 ground balls (7.7 gbpg.), scored nine goals and registered two assists (0.8 ppg.).

HIGH MARKS – The Big Red ranks in the top 10 in the nation in eight categories –
scoring offense (third – 12.64), points per game (fourth – 19.79), assists per game (fifth – 7.14), scoring margin (sixth – 3.86), win percentage (sixth – .786), face-off win percentage (ninth – .560), ground balls per game (ninth – 35.21) and man-up offense (10th –.404).

A LITTLE HELP – Cornell ranks fifth in the country in assists per game (7.14 apg).

HELPING HAND – Rob Pannell is currently ranked third in the country in assists per game (2.5 apg).

GET TO THE POINT — Rob Pannell is currently ranked fourth in the nation in points per game (4.0 pgp), while Ryan Hurley ranks 17th in the country (3.29 pgp). As a team, Cornell ranks fourth overall with 19.79 ppg.

SCORING MACHINE – Ryan Hurley is ranked fourth in the country with 2.79 goals per game.

MEN IN THE MIDDLE – John Glynn is currently fourth in the nation with a .589 face-off win percentage. As a team, the Big Red ranks ninth in the country with a winning percentage of .560.

(BIG) RED HOT OFFENSE – The Big Red is third in the country in scoring offense, averaging 12.64 goals per game.

MAN UP! – The Big Red ranks 10th in the nation in man-up offense, scoring on .404 of its extra man opportunities.

IN THE MARGIN — Cornell ranks sixth in the country in scoring margin, outscoring its opponents by an average of 3.86 goals per game.

GROUND BALL GOBBLER – Senior John Glynn ranks fourth in the nation in ground balls per game (6.46 gbpg), while the Big Red as a team ranks ninth overall with 35.21 ground balls per game.

SUTHERLAND IN THE CIRCLE – Junior Matt Sutherland is finally getting a chance to show off his skills in the face-off circle, going 16-for-32 (.500) in four appearances this season. Those numbers include an impressive 5-of-8 performance against Yale's Kevin Disceplo, the 15th ranked face-off man in the nation.

RAISING RAESLY – After an injury-plagued start to his career, sophomore Kevin Raesly saw his first playing time against Penn, winning 3-of-7 face-offs and picking up four ground balls. With four appearances to his credit, Raesly has won 8-of-17 attempts (.471) and picked up five ground balls.

SCORELESS HALF – Hobart became the first team to hold Cornell scoreless for a full half of play since Yale accomplished that feat on March 23, 2002. In both games, the Big Red scored eight goals in the first 30 minutes and then held on for the victory, beating the Statesmen 8-7 and the Bulldogs, 8-4.

GLYNN'S GAME – Senior John Glynn reached another milestone on April 11 as he tallied a career-high five goals against Dartmouth. He became the first Big Red midfielder to tally five goals in a game since Brian Clayton achieved that feat against Hobart on May 4, 2007.

DARTMOUTH DOMINATION – Cornell's 19-6 victory over Dartmouth on April 11 was just another in a long line of lopsided Big Red victories. During its current 12-game winning streak against the Big Green, Cornell has reached double-digits 11 times, outscoring Dartmouth, 172-88. The Big Red has scored 19 or more goals against the Big Green 11 times, most recently coming during the 1990 season.

GLYNN'S GOT IT – Senior John Glynn has earned Ivy League Player of the Week honor twice this season. The first came following his stellar effort in No. 4 Cornell's 9-8 victory over Army on Feb. 28, while his second came following the Big Red's 10-7 upset over No. 1 Princeton. Against the Black Knights, Glynn tallied one goal and two assists, while winning 10-of-17 face-offs and picking up a game-high seven ground balls. Against the Tigers, Glynn went 13-of-18 on face-offs (72.2 percent), including a 2-for-3 performance in the pivotal fourth quarter as Cornell held possession for all but 65 seconds to secure the victory. Glynn also picked up a career-high 11 ground balls and registered an assist early in the game to give Cornell a 3-0 lead.

ROOKIE OF THE WEEK – For the second time this season, Rob Pannell has been named the Ivy League Rookie of the Week, earning the honor on April 13, following the Big Red's games at Syracuse and at Dartmouth. Pannell broke the Cornell rookie record for points in a single-season when he tallied two goals and four assists against the Big Green on Saturday to reach 44 points on the season. The freshman attackman opened the week with a one-goal, four-assist performance against the Orange.

FINN WINS – Senior Chris Finn was named the Ivy League Player of the Week on April 6, following a spectacular effort as he helped No. 3 Cornell erase an early four-goal deficit to defeat No. 13 Harvard, 13-12. The senior attackman registered career highs with four goals and five ground balls. He also caused one turnover, which was the key to the victory, as he stripped the Crimson goalie, picked up the loose ball and scored on an empty net to register the game-winner.

CLEAN SWEEP – The Big Red swept the conference weekly awards on March 23 when Kyle Harer and Rob Pannell were named the Ivy League Player and Rookie of the Week, respectively. It was the first honors sweep for Cornell since April 10, 2006 when Matt McMonagle (player) and Max Seibald (rookie) took home the honors. The awards were the first for each player in his career with Cornell. Harer was honored after posting a career-high 17 saves against No. 8 Duke in a 10-6 victory before making 10 saves and allowing just six goals in 52:48 of action in a 15-8 victory over Yale. Of his 12 goals allowed, two were in man-up situations and for the week he stopped nearly 70 percent of the shots he faced. For Pannell, the freshman attacker was honored after handing out three assists against the Blue Devils to set the school record for assists by a freshman (15), before registering three goals and one assist against the Bulldogs.

COME FROM BEHIND – Cornell found itself in unfamiliar territory on April 4 when it trailed No. 13/17 Harvard, 7-6, at the half. It marked the first time all season that the Big Red was behind at the intermission. When Cornell earned the victory over the Crimson, it ended the Big Red's three-game losing-streak in games in which it was losing at halftime.

21 GOALS – When Cornell defeated Penn, 21-11 on March 28, it marked the third year in a row that the Big Red has at least one game in which it registered at least 20 goals. The 21 goals against the Quakers are the most scored by Cornell during head coach Jeff Tambroni's tenure and are the most since the Big Red beat Canisius, 23-2, on May 2, 1998.

WHAT A RIDE – The Big Red did an amazing job on the ride against Yale on March 21, allowing the Bulldogs to clear the ball successfully just 14-of-26 times. Conversely, Cornell was 16-of-19 on the day, including a perfect 10-for-10 at halftime.

HARER HURTS 'EM – Kyle Harer had the best game of his career when he made 17 saves against Duke to earn the 10-6 victory. Both his 17 saves and his .810 save percentage for the game were career-highs.

HURLEY AND SEIBALD 8, DUKE 6 – The combination of Ryan Hurley and Max Seibald provided all the offense the Big Red would need against Duke as the pair scored Cornell's first eight goals in a 10-6 victory. Hurley scored five goals, while Seibald chipped in three goals and two assists.

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.

FOR STARTERS - Cornell is 59-50-5 all-time in season openers, including a 7-2 mark during Coach Jeff Tambroni's tenure.

IVY OPENERS – The Big Red's contest vs. Yale on March 21 marked the 54th Ivy League season opener for Cornell men's lacrosse. Since the league began play in the 1956 season, the Big Red has posted a 39-15 record in Ivy League openers, including a perfect mark of 9-0 during head coach Jeff Tambroni's tenure. More often than not, Cornell has met either Yale or Harvard in the conference opener, playing a different school on only six occasions.

NON-CONFERENCE WINS — Cornell owns a 26-5 in its last 31 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. Three of those three losses during that span came at the hands of the Orange (2006, 2008, 2009), while the others came to ACC teams No. 7/8 North Carolina (13-8 on March 2, 2008) and No. 1/1 Virginia (14-10, March 8, 2009).

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.

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.

SMARTY PANTS – Cornell has had six CoSIDA Academic At-Large All-Americans, including five 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 Matt 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.).

UP NEXT – If the Big Red defeats Princeton, it will advance to the NCAA semifinals for the second time in three seasons, where it will face the winner of the Virginia/Johns Hopkins game on Saturday, May 23, at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.