GAME #2: Cornell at Canisius
FACE OFF: Tuesday, March 2, at 4:00 p.m.
SITE: Demske Sports Complex (Buffalo, N.Y.)
2010 Records: Cornell (1-0, 0-0 Ivy League); Canisius (0-1, 0-0 MAAC)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 6-0
LAST MEETING: Cornell won 14-4, March 10, 2009 in Ithaca, N.Y.

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GAME NOTES (PDF)

THE MATCHUP — The Big Red travels to Buffalo, N.Y., to take on Canisius on Tuesday, March 2, at the Demske Sports Complex at 4 p.m. The game is the second straight road contest for Cornell, which is coming off a 10-7 victory over Hobart on Sunday evening in its season opener. The Golden Griffs were also on the road this weekend, losing at Harvard, 16-6, to fall to 0-1 on the season.

SERIES HISTORY VS. CANISIUS — Cornell first faced the Golden Griffins in the final game of the 1997 season. That game, a 24-14 victory for the Big Red, was the final contest of legendary head coach Richie Moran's illustrious career. The teams have met FIVE times since (1998, 2002, 2003, 2008, 2009), all of which have been victories for Cornell as it owns a perfect 6-0 record in the series ... Tuesday's game will be the first in the series to be played in Buffalo.

LOOKING AT THE GOLDEN GRIFFINS — Canisius lost its season opener to Harvard, 16-6, to fall to 0-1 on the year. The Griffs return a seven starters and 31 letter winners from a 2009 squad that went 4-9 overall and 3-5 in the MAAC. The team returns All-American midfielder Adam Jones, as wells as junior attackman Nick LoCoco. The duo finished the 2009 season ranked third in the country in goals (2.75) and assists (2.38) per game, respectively. One of Canisius' biggest holes to fill comes between the pipes after losing Bryan Jack to graduation. Jack finished the year with a 9.49 goals-against average and a .508 save percentage.

CORNELL VS. THE MAAC – The Big Red owns a perfect 6-0 record vs. the current members of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, thanks solely to a 6-0 record vs. Canisius. Cornell has never faced Manhattan, Marist, Mount St. Mary's, Providence, Saint Joseph's, Siena, VMI or Wagner.

A WIN OVER CANISIUS WOULD –
• improve the Big Red to 2-0 on the season.
• be the seventh-straight against the Golden Griffs.
• improve Cornell to 7-0 all-time vs. the MAAC.
• make head coach Jeff Tambroni 99-34 during his career.

LAST TIME VS. THE GOLDEN GRIFFINS –
• Cornell had 11 different players register at least one point, led by Max Seibald and John Glynn with three goals apiece.
• John Glynn won the opening face-off and scored just five seconds into the contest, tying the mark for the second-fastest goal in NCAA history to start a game.
• Jimmy Haney led Canisius with two goals.

AT THE HELM — In his 10th season as head coach of the Big Red, Jeff Tambroni owns a career record of 98-34. 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 currently ranks second in the nation among active Division I coaches with a .742 winning percentage.

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.

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).

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 27-5 record in its last 32 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 the 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 21-5 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, 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 22-11 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 85-10 record. Including its 10-7 victory over Hobart on Feb. 28, Cornell has won 40 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 33-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 13th longest in the nation, having registered a point in every game of his collegiate career (18 games).

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

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.

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).

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 107 games.

RULE FOLLOWERS – In the 18 games played since the start of the 2009 season, the Big Red has been flagged for more penalties than its opponents on just one occasion.

DYNAMIC DUO – Ryan Hurley and Rob Pannell have teamed up for at least one goal in 13 of the 18 games that they have played together. Of Pannell's 45 career assists, 17 (37.8 percent) came on Hurley's goals.

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 has 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).

MOVING ON UP – 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).

95 WINS – With the Big Red's 11-8 victory over Hofstra on May 9, 2009 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.

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 the home portion of its schedule this weekend as it welcomes Army to Schoellkopf Field on Saturday, March 6 at 3 p.m.