Game Notes

GAME INFORMATION
Game #15: Cornell vs. No. 3 North Carolina
Date/Time: Saturday, May 8 at 4 p.m.
Site: Upper School Lacrosse Field, Alexandria, Va.
2010 Records: Cornell (5-9, 4-3 Ivy); North Carolina (14-2, 4-1 ACC)
Series Record: First meeting
Last Meeting: Teams have never met

HEAD COACH JENNY GRAAP
Cornell head coach Jenny Graap is in her 13th season at Cornell (123-79, .609) and 17th overall (144-123, .539) 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. NORTH CAROLINA: The Big Red women's lacrosse team will close out the 2010 regular season when it meets third-ranked North Carolina on Saturday, May 8 at 4:00 p.m. at the Upper School Lacrosse Field on the campus of St. Stephens & St. Agnes HS in Alexandria, Va.

Cornell will try to pick up a signature win to close out the year in style and send its six seniors out with a second top 20 win this year. The matchup will be the first meeting between the Big Red and the Tar Heels, the national runner-up in 2009.

Head coach Jenny Graap has gotten her team up for big games this season, losing to top 10 teams Syracuse by a goal, to Dartmouth twice by a total of five goals and playing even with Penn for 45 minutes before the Quakers were able to break away for the victory.

SCOUTING NORTH CAROLINA: North Carolina has been a powerful squad all season, averaging nearly 15 goals per game and outscoring foes by nearly eight per contest despite playing in arguably the toughest conference in the country. With wins over Northwestern Penn and Maryland, the Tar Heels are a lock to compete in the upcoming NCAA tournament and will be a trendy pick to earn the national title. Offensively, UNC brings great balance with eight players averaging at least a point per game, led by Corey Donohoe (41 goals, 19 assists) and Becky Lynch (34 goals, 21 assists). Six different players have hit double figures in ground balls, draw controls and caused turnovers, with Kristen Carr (52 draws) poisting more than twice as many draw wins as anyone else on the roster. In goal, Logan Ripley is averaging a 6.80 goals against average and a storng .520 save percentage while starting all 16 games. Head coach Jenny Levy has a 191-81 record all-time in 15 seasons at North Carolina. Former Big Red assistant Phil Barnes serves as a the top assistant for the Tar Heels.

THE SERIES: This will be the first-ever meeting between the Big Red and the Tar Heels.

LAST TIME OUT: The Cornell women's lacrosse team answered every Dartmouth run, but ran out of time in a 10-8 loss to the Big Green at Franklin Field in the first-ever Ivy League Lacrosse Tournament game. The Big Green scored two goals just nine seconds apart more than midway through the second half to break an 8-8 tie, then took advantage of several Cornell turnovers late to advance to face the winner of Friday evening's contest between Penn and Princeton. Dartmouth took the lead five times, only to see the Big Red knot the score each time. It took Kirsten Goldberg's tally with 12:48 to play to give the second-seeded Big Green the lead for good. Sarah Plumb won the ensuing draw and capitalized with a goal less than 10 seconds later to add some insurance. For the second time, Cornell and Dartmouth played a relatively even game, but Dartmouth was able to capitalize on more mistakes. The Big Red turned the ball over 14 times to just 10 times for the Big Green, while turning it over on the clear three times, including twice in the second half that each resulted in Dartmouth goals. The Big Green also won the battle on the ground, 18-10. Cornell earned a narrow 11-8 edge in draw controls to keep the contest close, as the Big Red showed tremendous balance on offense. Three players had a pair of goals, with Morgan Axenfeld scoring the first two goals of her collegiate career and adding an assist. Libby Johnson and Olivia Knotts each scored twice, while Jessi Steinberg had a pair of assists. Senior Tissy O'Connor won a game-high four draws and Kate Ivory had two draws while winning four ground balls. Kyla Dambach saved six shots on the evening, including five in the first half. Goldberg, who netted the eventual game winner, had three goals and both Greta Meyer and Sarah Plumb notched two goals and an assist. Shannon MacKenzie had three caused turnovers and won three ground balls, while Colleen Olsen won three draws. In goal, Julie Wadland had six saves

THAT NEUTRAL SITE IS HOME: Cornell and North Carolina will play their regular season finale at St. Stephens & St. Agnes HS, a place very familiar to Big Red sophomore Olivia Knotts. The team's starting attacker scored 30 points and recorded 15 draw controls as a senior in helping the squad to a perfect 26-0 record, league and state titles and a national title according to LaxPower.com. In addition, North Carolina junior defender Mia Hurrin also attended St. Stephens & St. Agnes.

FAYETTEVILLE CONNECTION: The Big Red women's lacrosse team has four players who graduated from high school powerhouse Fayetteville-Manlius HS (sophomores Caroline Helmer, Shannon McHugh and Ali O'Neil and freshman Morgan Axenfeld). Another former FM great, Kristen Taylor, is a senior attacker for North Carolina and has scored 192 career points, including 146 goals.

O'CONNOR, STEINBERG LEAD FOUR ALL-IVY SELECTIONS: Senior Tissy O'Connor and sophomore Jessi Steinberg were named to the All-Ivy League women's lacrosse first team, headlining four Cornell players to capture postseason accolades. In addition, junior Libby Johnson was named second-team All-Ivy, while sophomore Caroline Helmer earned honorable mention honors. The All-Ivy team is voted on by the conference's eight head coaches.

O'CONNOR, HALE, JOHNSON NAMED TEAM CAPTAINS: Seniors Tissy O'Connor and Morgan Hale and junior Libby Johnson have been elected captains of the women's lacrosse team for the 2010 season. The trio will provide leadership to a young team that features 19 freshmen and sophomores on a 26-player roster.

O'CONNOR A RETURNING ALL-AMERICAN: Senior Tissy O'Connor  became Cornell's 16th All-American, earning second-team IWLCA honors when the team was announced in May of 2009. O'Connor was a unanimous first-team All-Ivy honoree and a first-team all-region pick after pacing the team in draw controls (43) and ranking second in ground balls (30) and caused turnovers (19). The 43 draws was good for third in the Ivy League and ranks second all-time in a season at Cornell.

O'CONNOR, STEINBERG ON TEWAARATON WATCH LIST: Senior Tissy O'Connor and sophomore Jessi Steinberg are on the Tewaaraton Trophy Watch List for the national player of the year in women's lacrosse. O'Connor was on the initial list released in February, while Steinberg's play in the first half of the season got her added in March.

HELMER MAKES CUT AT U.S. WOMEN'S TEAM TRYOUTS: Sophomore Caroline Helmer and former captain Deirdre Lafferty '09 were among 64 players who survived the first cut for inclusion on the 2009-10 U.S. women's developmental team. Both Lafferty, a midfielder, and Helmer, a defender, were among more than 150 players in the Stars & Stripes Division vying for spots at the U.S. team tryouts over Memorial Day Weekend at Cedar Lane Sports Park in Bel Air, Md. The developmental team practices against the national team, developing talent and preparing the senior team for international play. Helmer showed great potential as a freshman, starting in 10 of the team's 16 contests and recording 14 ground balls, 11 caused turnovers and a pair of draw controls.

BIG RED, DEFENDING NCAA CHAMP NORTHWESTERN PLAY IN RUSTY RED CLASSIC: Cornell and defending national champion Northwestern met in the Rusty Red Fall Lax Classic on Oct. 18 at Poly Prep Country Day School in Brooklyn, N.Y. The event provided underprivileged youth with the opportunity to see women's lacrosse played at the highest level, learn from some of the nation's best players and get excited about the opportunities the sport has to offer with a free clinic and an autograph session after the game. The Rusty Red Foundation, a charitable organization founded by Cornell lacrosse former tri-captain Joe Lizzio, helps youth programs across the United States. Lizzio, a former managing director at Citigroup, went from Wall Street to Italy where he now owns the Stefano Berti Vineyards and Winery. Rusty Red Wine was developed by Lizzio, who donates all profits from the sales of this wine to help to endow scholarships for underprivileged children and to fund community athletic projects in needy neighborhoods. Lizzio's daughter, Veronica, is a freshman midfielder on the Big Red women's lacrosse team.     

WOMEN'S LAX SUMMERS IN EUROPE: The Big Red women's lacrosse team went on a 10-day tour of Europe from June 2-11, 2009 that featured trips to Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic. Cornell played a semi-professional team and the Austrian and Czech national teams in preparation for their competition at the 2009 FIL Women's World Cup. The Big Red won all three matches, improving its record to 12-3 all-time on foreign tours.

IVY LEAGUE ADDS POSTSEASON TOURNAMENT IN 2010: Former Ivy League Executive Director Jeff Orleans announced last 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).

AND MAKES FIRST APPEARANCE: Cornell played in the first-ever Ivy League lacrosse tournament game when it met second-seeded Dartmouth in the semifinals on April 30, 2010 at Franklin Field in Philadelphia, Pa. The third-seeded Big Red dropped a 10-8 contest to the eventual tournament runner-up.

NEXT UP: The Big Red will return to action for the 2011 season with preseason practice this fall.