Game Notes (PDF)

GAME #18: No. 7 Cornell vs. No. 20 Notre Dame
FACE OFF: Saturday, May 29, at 4:00 p.m.
SITE: M&T Bank Stadium (Baltimore, Md.)
2010 Records: Cornell (12-5); Navy (9-6)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 5-0
LAST MEETING: Cornell won 13-8 on March 3, 2007 (Hewlett, N.Y.)

RADIO: WHCU 870 AM
LIVE STATS: www.NCAA.com  
LIVE AUDIO: http://www.cornellbigred.com/showcase/  
LIVE VIDEO: www.ESPN360.com  
TELEVISION: ESPN2



THE MATCHUP – No. 7 Cornell will travel to Baltimore, Md., to face Notre Dame in the national semifinal of the 2010 NCAA tournament as the two teams meet at M&T Bank Stadium on Saturday, May 29, at 4:00 p.m. The game will be televised live on ESPN2, as well as online at www.ESPN360.com, with Sean McDonough calling the action, while Quint Kessenich serves as color analyst. The game against the Fighting Irish marks the third time since 2007 that Cornell will play in the NCAA Final Four.

SERIES HISTORY VS. NOTRE DAME — Cornell holds a 5-0 lead in its all-time series with Notre Dame, most recently defeating the Fighting Irish 13-8 on March 3, 2007 in a game that took place at Hewlett High School in Hewlett, N.Y. The game was the third played during Coach Jeff Tambroni's tenure, with the other two meetings happening in the early 1990s.

CORNELL VS. THE BIG EAST – The Big Red is 49-66-1 all-time vs. the current members of the Big East, thanks mostly to a 35-61-1 record vs. Syracuse. Cornell holds a winning record vs. Rutgers (8-1), Notre Dame (5-0) and St. John's (1-0), but a losing mark against Georgetown (0-4). The Big Red has never faced Providence or Villanova in men's lacrosse ... Coach Tambroni has posted a 6-11 record all-time vs. the current members of the Big East, but is just 0-1 since the official formation of the league in 2010.

A WIN OVER NOTRE DAME WOULD –
• propel Cornell into the NCAA tournament championship game for the second straight year.
• improve Coach Tambroni to 11-7 in NCAA tournament games.
• make Cornell 30-19 all-time in the NCAA tournament.
• be the Big Red's sixth-straight against the Fighting Irish.
• make Cornell 6-0 all-time and improve Coach Tambroni's record to 4-0 vs. Notre Dame.

AT THE HELM — In his 10th season as head coach of the Big Red, Jeff Tambroni owns a career record of 109-39. His winning percentage of .736 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).

HOW'D WE GET HERE? – Cornell earned an at-large bid to the 2010 NCAA men's lacrosse tournament. The Big Red is the seventh-seed and defeated Loyola, 11-10, in triple overtime to advance to the quarterfinals before beating Army, 14-5, to earn a trip to the Final Four. Notre Dame also earned an at-large bid and pulled off a pair of upsets, defeating Princeton (8-5) and Maryland (7-5) to advance to the second Final Four in program history.

TOURNAMENT TIDBITS – Cornell's 29 NCAA tournament victories ranks sixth all-time, while its 23 appearances ranks seventh … Only six teams have more national titles than the Big Red … The 2010 season marks the eighth time that Cornell has made it to the NCAA tournament during Coach Tambroni's tenure, making it to the quarterfinal round six times, the semifinals three times and the national championship once.

FOUR SURE — Cornell has had its share of Final Four appearances in NCAA team competition over the years, as the 2010 men's lacrosse team brought the total of national semifinal appearances to 23. Of those Big Red teams, the men's lacrosse team has made the most appearances with 12 overall.
• Men's Lacrosse (12) - 1971, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1982, 1987, 1988, 2007, 2009, 2010
• Men's Ice Hockey (8) - 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1980, 2003
• Women's Ice Hockey (1) – 2010
• Women's Lacrosse (1) - 2002
• Men's Soccer (1) – 1972

TITLE CONTENDERS – Cornell University has made 12 appearances in various national championship games … The Big Red has had five teams crowned as national champions.
• Men's Lacrosse (7) – 1971 (W), 1976 (W), 1977 (W), 1978, 1987, 1988, 2009
• Men's Ice Hockey (4) – 1967 (W), 1969, 1970 (W), 1972
• Women's Ice Hockey (1) – 2010

NCAA TOURNAMENT REMATCHES – The contest vs. Army in the NCAA quarterfinals marked the 19th time that Cornell played a team in the NCAA tournament that it played in the regular season.
• Cornell is 11-7 in the NCAA tournament rematch.
• Of the 18 previous two-game series, Cornell has swept both games eight times, has split seven times and has been swept three times.
• The Big Red is 3-3 in the rematch when losing the first meeting. Cornell avenged a regular season loss to Massachusetts with a first round win in 1988 en route to a national runner-up finish, then topped Hobart in the 2004 first round after dropping the regular season finale to the Statesmen. The Big Red went on to defeat Virginia in the 2009 national semifinal after losing an early season matchup.
• When winning the first meeting, Cornell is 8-4 in the rematch.
• The game vs. Army marked the sixth time under head coach Jeff Tambroni that Cornell faced an opponent for the second time in an NCAA tournament game – Hobart (2004), Duke (2007), Princeton (2009), Virginia (2009), Syracuse (2009) and Army (2010) – going 4-2 in those rematches.

NCAA'S LONGEST GAME – Cornell's triple overtime thriller vs. Loyola turned out to be the longest game in NCAA men's lacrosse postseason history. The game, which lasted 69:55 edged out the only other two triple overtime games in postseason history – the 1973 first round game between Washington & Lee and Navy (68:16) and the 1991 quarterfinal game between Towson and Princeton (68:13).

FRESHMEN IN THE NCAA TOURNEY – In its two games of the NCAA tournament, the Big Red has started four freshmen, with one other seeing significant playing time. The only other team in the field to rely more heavily on first-year student-athletes was Johns Hopkins, which played eight freshmen, with four starting. Of the teams that remain in the tournament, only Virginia has a freshman in its starting lineup.

DEFENDING ARMY – In its NCAA quarterfinal game vs. Army, Cornell's Max Feely and Mike Bronzino held the Army duo of Jermey Boltus and Garrett Thul to just two goals, a goal total that the Big Red defenders matched themselves. That was the second fewest points that Boltus and Thul had combined for in any game during the 2010 season (0 vs. Hofstra). In the first meeting between Cornell and the Black Knights, with Bronzino sidelined due to injury, the pair combined for eight points.

BACK-TO-BACK-TO-BACK 40s – With his two goals vs. Loyola, Ryan Hurley became just the second player in Cornell history to register 40 goals in three straight seasons, joining Mike French (1974, 75, 76). With last season's 40-goal performance, Hurley joined a group of just five Big Red players to have scored 40 goals twice during their career, joining French, Jon Levine (1975, 76), David Mitchell (2006, 07) and Mark Webster (1968, 69).

MEET MR. MOCK – Freshman Steve Mock is making a name for himself in some big games with 13 of his 18 goals on the season coming in the last five outings.

PASSING MAX – With his five points vs. Army, Ryan Hurley improved his point-scoring streak to 49 games, surpassing Max Seibald '09, as Cornell's all-time consecutive point scoring leader.

ROUGH ROAD – Notre Dame is the eighth nationally ranked opponent Cornell has faced in its last nine games. The lone unranked team the Big Red played during that stretch was Brown, which was nationally ranked when the teams met again two weeks later. Against those ranked teams, Cornell has posted a 5-2 record.

TAMBRONI AMONG THE BEST — Head coach Jeff Tambroni currently ranks fifth in the nation among active Division I coaches with a .736 winning percentage.

PLAYER OF THE YEAR FOR PANNELL – Sophomore Rob Pannell joined rare company when he was named the 2010 Ivy League Player of the Year, becoming just the fourth sophomore, and the first since Princeton's Ryan Boyle in 2002, to earn the league's top honor. Pannell was a unanimous selection for the award, voted on by the league's head coaches, and is the fifth Cornellian to be named Player of the Year during head coach Jeff Tambroni's 10 years at the helm of the Big Red program.

TICKLE THE (ALL) IVY – Rob Pannell was a unanimous first-team All-Ivy selection and was joined on the first team by senior defenseman Pierce Derkac, while senior midfielder Austin Boykin was named second-team All-Ivy. Sophomore midfielder David Lau and junior defender Max Feely were both honorable mention selections. Other than Pannell, who was first-team All-Ivy in 2009, Cornell's other four All-Ivy selections are all first-time honorees.

11-WINS – Wit its victory over Loyola, the Big Red registered its 11th win of the season. Cornell has posted at least 11 wins in each of the past six seasons, surpassing the longest previous streak in school history (1974-78).

NEUTRAL ZONE – Since the start of the 2006 season, the Big Red is 10-3 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, 2008), Harvard (Foxboro, 2009), Princeton (Hempstead, 2009), Virginia (Foxboro, 2009), Hobart (Syracuse, 2010) and Army (Stony Brook, 2010). The three losses came at the hands of Duke in the 2007 national semifinal (Baltimore, Md.), Syracuse in the 2009 national championship (Foxboro, Mass.) and Dartmouth during the 2010 season (Foxboro, Mass.).

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.

CLOSE CALLS — Since the beginning of the 2003 season, Cornell is 25-7 in games that have been decided by a single goal, a mark that was raised as the Big Red defeated Loyola, 11-10, in triple overtime on May 15, 2010, at Schoellkopf Field. Of the seven losses, three have come against Syracuse (12-11 on April 11, 2006; 10-9 (OT) in the 2009 national championship game; 8-7 on April 13, 2010). Coach Jeff Tambroni is 29-13 in one-goal games during his tenure with the Big Red, including a 7-4 mark in overtime games.

CRAZY EIGHTS — With its victory over Princeton on May 1, the Big Red claimed at least a share of the Ivy League title for the eighth straight season, the longest stretch since winning 10 straight championships between 1974-83. Cornell's eight consecutive regular season Ivy League titles is the longest current stretch by any men's lacrosse team in any conference in the nation.

THE ASSIST MAN – Rob Pannell is one of the top assist men in the nation, assisting on more than 40% of Cornell's total team assists (41.5%). That is the best percentage in the country, as Duke's Ned Crotty ranks second overall at 38.4 percent … No one in the country has registered more 5+ assist games on the season than Pannell, who has handed out five or more assists in four games. The only other player in the country who has accomplished that feat more than once is Crotty.

SENIOR CLASS AWARD – Senior Pierce Derkac is among 10 NCAA men's lacrosse student-athletes who excel both on and off the field and was tabbed as a finalist for the 2010 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award. Fan balloting, available on the award's official website www.SeniorClassAward.com, will be combined with votes from coaches, media and sponsors to determine the recipient of the award.

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

MOVING ON UP – With his four goals vs. Army on May 23, Ryan Hurley moved into second place in Cornell history for career goals, surpassing Sean Greenhalgh (2002-05) who had 136 career goals. Hurley currently has 138 career goals, well out of reach of the Big Red's all-time leader, Mike French '76, who registered 191 goals during his career.

SINGLE-DIGIT SUCCESS – When holding its opponents to less than 10 goals, the Big Red under Coach Tambroni owns a 93-12 record. Cornell had won 45-straight games in which it held its opponents to single digits, until the Big Red fell to Dartmouth, 8-6, on April 4, 2010. Just over one-week later, Cornell dropped an 8-7 decision to Syracuse.

DYNAMIC DUO – Ryan Hurley and Rob Pannell have teamed up for at least one goal in 23 of the 34 games that they have played together. Of Pannell's 91 career assists, 31 (34.1 percent) have come on Hurley's goals.

GOING STREAKING – Cornell senior Ryan Hurley is riding a 49-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 fifth longest in the nation, having registered a point in every game of his collegiate career (34 games).

RULE FOLLOWERS – In the 34 games played since the start of the 2009 season, the Big Red has been flagged for more penalties than its opponents on just seven occasions.

TOP 10 TEAM – When Cornell slipped to No. 12 in the USILA Coaches Poll on April 5, it marked the first time since March 28, 2005 that Cornell had fallen out of the top 10 in one of the national polls. The Big Red's hiatus was short-lived, however, as it earned a No. 10 ranking in the April 11th poll and has been ranked in both polls ever since.

100 GOALS – With his four-goal performance vs. Army on March 6, 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).

WIN NO. 675 – Cornell's 14-8 victory over Brown on May 7 was the 675th win in program history. The team currently has 677 victories, which rank seventh all-time among the winningest programs in collegiate lacrosse.

THAT WAS QUICK! – Sophomore Rob Pannell tallied his 100th career point with a six-assist performance vs. Penn on March 27, doing so in just his 25th career game with the Big Red. Pannell becomes the fastest Cornell player to reach 100 career points since Tim Goldstein tallied 100 points in a single season over the span of 14 games in 1987. However, Goldstein was a transfer student and was considered a junior with two years playing experience at a junior college before coming to East Hill. Pannell is the only true sophomore to reach 100 career points for Cornell, while seven others, including Goldstein, accomplished the feat in two playing seasons, but none played for Cornell during their freshman season of eligibility.

BACK-TO-BACK LOSSES – The Big Red lost back-to-back games for the first time since the 2002 season when it fell to Syracuse and Brown on April 13 and April 24, respectively. Cornell won its next game against Princeton. As a result, the Big Red has not lost three-straight games since closing the 2001 season with losses to Princeton, Brown and Ohio State, a span of 127 games.

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.

ROOKIE OF THE WEEK – AJ Fiore was named the Ivy League Rookie of the Week on April 19 after posting the best performance of his young career on April 13 as he helped the Big Red to nearly pull off the upset of No. 1 Syracuse, before the Orange scored as time expired to steal the 8-7 victory. The rookie goalie posted a career-high 20 saves, many of which were brilliant stops against one of the most powerful and diverse offenses in the nation. Fiore made 14 saves in the critical second and third quarters to allow the Big Red to take the slim 5-4 lead heading into the final stanza. He also faced a flurry of shots in the fourth quarter and turned away four, including one in the final moments of the game before getting beat with no time left on the clock.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK, AGAIN – For the second time this season, Rob Pannell was named the Ivy League Player of the Week. Pannell earned the honor for the second time in a three-week span after helping the Big Red to a crucial victory over No. 18 Harvard. Pannell capped an eight-point day by scoring the game-winning goal with 11 seconds to play, giving the No. 12 Big Red a much-needed 13-12 victory over the Crimson. Pannell led the Big Red offense with three goals and five assists, registering five of his eight points in the crucial fourth quarter, as Cornell erased an 8-7 deficit to earn its third Ivy League win.

SWEET SWEEP – Cornell swept the Ivy League honors on March 29 with Rob Pannell earning Player of the Week, while Jason Noble was named Rookie of the Week. Pannell and Noble were instrumental on offense and defense, respectively, as the Big Red picked up a pair of wins over No. 17 Stony Brook and Ivy foe Penn.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK – Ryan Hurley 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 move 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.

SAVES A LOT – When AJ Fiore turned away 20 shots vs. No. 2 Syracuse on April 13 it was the most saves by a Big Red goalie since Justin Cynar stopped 23 vs. Maryland in an 11-6 Cornell loss on March 20, 1999.

STREAK STOPPERS – The defensive duo of Jason Noble and Andrew MacDonald held Syracuse's Stephen Keogh without a point on April 13. That performance snapped a 31-game point-scoring streak by the Orange attackman.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

HOME IS WHERE THE WINS ARE — During Coach Tambroni's tenure, the Big Red is 57-14 at Schoellkopf Field, including perfect slates in 2009 (6-0), 2007 (7-0) and 2005 (6-0).

NON-CONFERENCE WINS — Cornell owns a 31-7 record in its last 38 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. Four of those seven losses during that span have come at the hands of the Orange (2006, 2008, 2009, 2010), while the other three came to ACC teams - No. 7 North Carolina (13-8 on March 2, 2008), No. 1 Virginia (14-10, March 8, 2009), and No. 1 Virginia (12-4, March 13, 2010).

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.

YOUNG GUN – Rob Pannell was named the 2009 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).

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.

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).