GAME #5: No. 8 Cornell vs. No. 1 Virginia
FACE OFF: Saturday, March 13, at Noon
SITE: Schoellkopf Field (Ithaca, N.Y.)
2010 Records: Cornell (4-0); Virginia (5-0)
SERIES RECORD: Virginia leads, 5-3
LAST MEETING: Cornell won 15-6 on May. 23, 2009 in Foxboro, Mass.

RADIO: WHCU 870 AM
LIVE STATS: www.CornellBigRed.com   
LIVE AUDIO: None
LIVE VIDEO: http://www.cornellbigred.com/showcase/  
TICKETS: http://www.athletics.cornell.edu/tickets/
TELEVISION: None

GAME NOTES (PDF)

THE MATCHUP – The No. 8 Big Red men's lacrosse team plays host to No. 1 Virginia today at noon. Cornell is riding a four-game winning streak to start the season, while Virginia is off to a 5-0 start. Both teams are coming off dominating midweek victories, with the Big Red defeating Binghamton, 19-4 and the Cavaliers taking down instate rival VMI, 20-6. 



SERIES HISTORY VS. VIRGINIA — Despite being two of the oldest lacrosse teams in the nation, Cornell and Virginia have met just eight times, and only two of those meetings have occurred during the regular season. The Cavaliers, who own the 5-3 lead in the series, defeated Cornell, 10-9, in the first meeting in 1971 at Virginia. The teams met again in the 1974 NCAA tournament, with the Big Red taking the commanding 15-8 victory. It would be five years before the teams squared off again, also in the NCAA tournament, but this time the Cavaliers took the 15-8 victory. Virginia managed two more wins in the 1980 (9-8 in overtime) and 2002 (11-10) NCAA tournaments, while Cornell used a 19-6 victory over the Cavaliers in the 1988 NCAA tournament to propel into the national championship game. During the 2009 regular season, Virginia used a second-half comeback to defeat the Big Red, 14-10, at Klockner Stadium, but Cornell won the rematch, 15-6, in the national semifinal to advance to the 2009 NCAA title game.

LOOKING AT THE CAVALIERS — Virginia is off to a 5-0 start and recently took over the top spot in both national polls thanks to an 11-10 victory over Syracuse last weekend. The Cavaliers return 28 letter winners and six starters to a team that finished the 2009 season ranked fifth overall with a 15-3 record and a mark of 2-1 in the ACC, good for first place in the league standings. The team is led by Steel Stanwick's 21 points on 11 assists and 10 goals, Chris Bocklet has registered 20 points on the season off 15 goals and five assists. Matt White has also registered double-digit points with 12 off eight goals and four assists. In between the pipes, Adam Ghitelman has started all five games for the Cavaliers and has posted an 8.0 goals-against average to go along with a .507 save percentage.

A WIN OVER VIRGINIA WOULD –
• be Cornell's second-straight victory over a No. 1 ranked Cavalier team.
• improve the Big Red to 5-0 on the season, marking just the third time in Coach Tambroni's tenure that Cornell opened a season at 5-0.
• be the 670th in program history.
• make Cornell 4-5 all-time vs. the Cavaliers.
• improve the Big Red to 14-24 vs. ACC opponents, and improve coach Tambroni's record to 4-6 against the ACC.
• give Cornell its third-straight victory over an ACC opponent.

LAST TIME VS. THE CAVALIERS –
• Underdog Cornell controlled top-seeded Virginia from start to finish, advancing to the program's first NCAA title contest in 21 years with a 15-6 victory over the Cavaliers at Gillette Stadium in the 2009 national semifinal.
• Freshman Rob Pannell registered a six-point day with three goals and three assists to lead the offense.
• Jake Myers posted eight saves for the Big Red.
• Virginia All-American attackman Danny Glading and Steele Stanwick both registered two goals and an assist.
• Cavalier goalie Adam Ghitelman made five saves and allowed all 15 goals.
• A crowd of 36,594, the seventh-highest NCAA semifinal attendance, watched the upset.

CORNELL VS. THE ACC – Cornell is 13-24 all-time vs. the current members of the ACC, thanks mostly to a 2-13 record vs. Maryland. The Big Red holds a winning record vs. Duke (4-3) and North Carolina (4-3) but has a losing mark vs. the Terrapins and Virginia (3-5) … Coach Tambroni is 3-6 vs. the ACC, a mark that was raised after last season's 15-6 victory over Virginia in the national semifinal.

AT THE HELM — In his 10th season as head coach of the Big Red, Jeff Tambroni owns a career record of 101-34. His winning percentage of .748 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 second in the nation among active Division I coaches with a .748 winning percentage.

100 GOALS – With his four-goal performance vs. Army, Ryan Hurley became just the fifth player in Cornell history to score 100 career goals. The list of Cornell's 100-goal scorers is short, but distinguished, as Hurley joined the likes of Mike French (1974-76; 191), Sean Greenhalgh (2002-05; 136), Mark Webster (1968-70; 128) and Jon Levine (1974-76; 123).

FASTEST TO 100 WINS – Head coach Jeff Tambroni earned his 100th career win as the Big Red defeated Army, 12-11, in overtime on March 6. He achieved that feat in just 134 games, ranking him 10th all-time among Division I coaches to reach 100 wins the fastest.

100 WINS – With the Big Red's 12-11 overtime victory against Army on March 6, 2010 head coach Jeff Tambroni notched his 100th career win, becoming just the second head coach in Cornell men's lacrosse history to reach that plateau. Tambroni reached the milestone in his 134th career game during his 10th season. The only other Big Red coach to reach 100 wins was Richie Moran, who defeated Penn, 17-8, in his ninth season (1977) to achieve a 100-14 record.

TAMBRONI'S TOUCHSTONE – After taking the 2009 team to the heights of the lacrosse world, Jeff Tambroni was given the Morris Touchstone Award as the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association's Coach of the Year. Tambroni became the third Big Red coach to take home the honor, joining three-time recipient Richie Moran (1971, 1977, 1987) and Dave Pietramala (2000). As a program, Cornell coaches have earned five Morris Touchstone Awards, the most of any program in the nation, surpassing Johns Hopkins and Navy with four apiece.

TEWAARATON WATCH – Seniors Pierce Derkac and Ryan Hurley, as well as sophomore Rob Pannell have been named to the 2010 Preseason Tewaaraton Trophy Watch List. The Cornell trio makes up nearly half of the eight Ivy League players selected to the Watch List. Midway through the season an official list of nominees will be selected and from there, five finalists will be chosen.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK – Ryan Hurley has won the first Ivy League Player of the Week honor of the season for the Big Red on Monday, March 8. Hurley was instrumental to the Cornell offense as the Big Red picked up a pair of wins over Canisius (9-6) and Army (12-11 in OT) to 3-0 on the season. Hurley registered a game-high three goals and one assist against the Golden Griffins, before tallying four goals, including the overtime game-winner, and one assist versus the Black Knights.

MOVING ON UP – With his four goals vs. Army on March 6, Ryan Hurley moved into fifth place in Cornell history for career goals, surpassing Chris Danler (1992-95) who had 99 career goals. Hurley needs just 17 more goals to move into fourth place and tie Jon Levine (1975-76) with 123 career goals.

ELITE COMPANY – Over the span of the past five seasons (2005-2009) Cornell has racked up the third most wins (61) of any Division I men's lacrosse program, and has posted the third best winning percentage (80.3%) overall, sitting behind only Duke and Virginia in both categories.

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 53-10 at Schoellkopf Field, including perfect slates in 2010 (2-0), 2009 (6-0), 2007 (7-0) and 2005 (6-0).

FOR STARTERS - Cornell is 60-50-5 all-time in season openers, including an 8-2 mark during Coach Jeff Tambroni's tenure … The Big Red has won seven straight season openers.

FRESH FACES – Five freshmen saw action in the first game of the season for the Big Red, including starters AJ Fiore (goal) and Ross Gillum (midfield). Also seeing solid action in their first collegiate game were Thomas Keith, Cody Levine and Jason Noble.

NON-CONFERENCE WINS — Cornell owns a 30-5 record in its last 35 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 five losses during that span have come at the hands of the Orange (2006, 2008, 2009), while the others came to ACC teams - No. 7 North Carolina (13-8 on March 2, 2008) and No. 1 Virginia (14-10, March 8, 2009).

NEUTRAL ZONE – Since the start of the 2006 season, the Big Red is 9-2 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), Harvard (Foxborough, Mass.), Princeton (Hempstead, N.Y.), Virginia (Foxboro, Mass.) and Hobart (Syracuse, N.Y). The two losses came at the hands of Duke in the 2007 national semifinal (Baltimore, Md.) and Syracuse in the 2009 national championship (Foxboro, Mass.).

CLOSE CALLS — Since the beginning of the 2003 season, Cornell is 22-5 in games that have been decided by a single goal, a mark that was raised as the Big Red defeated Army, 12-11, in overtime on March 6, 2010, 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, a 12-11 loss to Duke in the national semifinal on May 26, 2007, and a 10-9 overtime loss to Syracuse in the 2009 national championship game. Coach Jeff Tambroni is 27-11 in one-goal games during his tenure with the Big Red, including a 6-3 mark in overtime games.

SINGLE-DIGIT SUCCESS – When holding its opponents to less than 10 goals, the Big Red under Coach Tambroni owns an 87-10 record. Including its 19-4 victory over Binghamton on March 9, Cornell has won 42 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.

GOING STREAKING – Cornell senior Ryan Hurley is riding a 36-game point scoring streak, the longest on the team and the third-longest in the nation. Sophomore Rob Pannell has the second longest point scoring streak on the team and 10th longest in the nation, having registered a point in every game of his collegiate career (21 games).

RULE FOLLOWERS – In the 21 games played since the start of the 2009 season, the Big Red has been flagged for more penalties than its opponents on just two occasions.

DYNAMIC DUO – Ryan Hurley and Rob Pannell have teamed up for at least one goal in 15 of the 21 games that they have played together. Of Pannell's 52 career assists, 21 (40.3 percent) have come on Hurley's goals.

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 110 games.

OH CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN – Seniors Pierce Derkac and Ryan Hurley will serve as captains for the 2010 season.

EVERYBODY'S ALL-AMERICANS – The Big Red returns a pair of All-American attackmen – sophomore Rob Pannell (third team) and senior Ryan Hurley (honorable mention).

TICKLE THE (ALL) IVY – Cornell returns two All-Ivy selections from last season's squad – Rob Pannell (first-team) and Ryan Hurley (second-team).

HARD HAT – Jack Dudley has been selected to carry the Hard Hat for the 2010 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.

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).

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 in the nation.

SENIOR CLASS AWARD – Seniors Pierce Derkac and Ryan Hurley are among 20 NCAA men's lacrosse student-athletes who excel both on and off the field and were tabbed as candidates for the 2010 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award.

BLOGGING THE BIG RED – Cornell senior Pierce Derkac will be contributing regularly to Inside Lacrosse's website with blogs throughout the season.

CHAMPIONSHIP LINEAGE – Five players on the 2010 Cornell roster have fathers that have won a national championship with the Big Red – David Lau (George '78), Julian and Cody Levine (Jon '76), Shane O'Neill (John '76) and Matt Taylor (Joe '80). George Lau was a two-time winner as part of both the 1976 and 1977 national championship squads. Jon Levine and John O'Neill joined him on the 1976 team, while Joe Taylor was on the 1977 squad.

LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON – David Lau tallied his first points of the 2009 NCAA tournament with a goal and an assist vs. Virginia in the national semifinal. With the assist on Cornell's final goal of the game, Lau surpassed the tournament point total of his father, George, who registered one goal for the Big Red in the 1977 national championship game.

SISTER ACT – Sophomore Roy Lang isn't the only Big Red lacrosse player in the family, as his sister Kelly is a freshman midfielder on the Cornell women's lacrosse team.

TEAM USA – US Lacrosse has announced that two players with Cornell ties – Ryan McClay '03 and Max Seibald '09 – are among the 23 players that will represent the United States at the FIL Championships in Manchester, England from July 10-24, 2010.

GEOGRAPHY LESSON – The 43 players on the 2010 Big Red roster hail from 12 different states – California, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Virginia and Washington – as well as the District of Columbia and Ontario, Canada.

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.

RECAPPING 2009 – The Big Red advanced to the national championship game for the first time since 1988. Although Cornell dropped a heartbreaking 10-9 decision in overtime to Syracuse, the Big Red made its presence felt in the lacrosse community with its second final four appearance in three years. Cornell finished the year with a 13-4 record overall and a mark of 5-1 in the conference, earning a share of its seventh straight Ivy League title, the longest stretch since Cornell won 10-straight championships between 1974 and 1983. Cornell's seven consecutive regular season Ivy titles is the longest current stretch by any men's lacrosse team in any conference. The Big Red was also a perfect 6-0 at home, upping the team's record on Schoellkopf Field to 51-10 (.836) during Tambroni's tenure. Cornell finished the year ranked in the top 10 in the nation in scoring offense (fifth – 12.18), points per game (fifth – 19.12), scoring margin (sixth – 3.76), assists per game (sixth – 6.94), face-off win percentage (10th – .552) and ground balls per game (10th – 34.94).

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).

SEASONED HELPER – With his 42 assists on the season, Rob Pannell etched his name in the Cornell record books, moving into a seventh place for assists in a single season.

BACK-TO-BACK 40s – Last season, Ryan Hurley became the fifth player in Cornell history to register 40 goals in back-to-back seasons, joining Mike French (1974, 75, 76), Jon Levine (1975, 76), David Mitchell (2006, 07) and Mark Webster (1968, 69).

WIN NO. 665 – Cornell's 15-6 victory over Virginia in the NCAA semifinals on May 23, 2009 was the 665th win in program history. The team's 665 victories rank seventh all-time among the winningest programs in collegiate lacrosse.

HIGH MARKS – The Big Red finished the 2009 season ranked in the top 10 in the nation in seven categories – scoring offense (fifth – 12.18), points per game (fifth – 19.12), win percentage (sixth – .765), assists per game (sixth – 6.94), scoring margin (sixth – 3.76), face-off win percentage (10th – .552) and ground balls per game (10th – 34.94).

PIERCE'S POINTS – Pierce Derkac registered five points last season to finish the year ranked 12th in the nation in scoring by a long pole.

HELPING HAND – Rob Pannell was ranked second in the country last season in assists per game (2.47 apg).

GET TO THE POINT — Rob Pannell finished the 2009 season ranked fifth in the nation in points per game (3.94 pgp), while Ryan Hurley ranked 20th in the country (3.18 pgp).

SCORING MACHINE – Ryan Hurley ranked ninth in the country last season with 2.59 goals per game.

UP NEXT – Cornell opens Ivy League play and wraps up a four-game homestand as it welcomes Yale to Schoellkopf Field on Saturday, March 20 at 1 p.m.