Game Notes I Live Stats I 2011 Roster I 2011 Schedule and Results

GAME INFORMATION
Game #6: Cornell vs. No. 12 Notre Dame
Date/Time: Sunday, March 20 at 12 p.m.
Site: St. Paul's School, Lutherville, Md.
2011 Records: Cornell (2-3, 1-1 Ivy); Notre Dame (2-3, 0-0 Big East)
Series Record: Notre Dame leads 6-3
Last Meeting: Notre Dame won 11-9, May 2, 2009 in Ithaca, N.Y.

HEAD COACH JENNY GRAAP '86
Cornell head coach Jenny Graap is in her 14th season at Cornell (125-83, .601) and 18th overall (146-127, .535) 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 and 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: After evening its Ivy League record last weekend, the Cornell women's lacrosse team will head to Maryland for a neutral site contest against No. 12 Notre Dame trying to even its overall record when the two teams meet on Sunday, March 20 at 12 p.m. The contest will be played at St. Paul's School in Lutherville, Md. This will be the 10th meeting between the two programs, with the Fighting Irish holding a 6-3 edge.  

SCOUTING THE FIGHTING IRISH: Heading into a Tuesday contest at home against Boston University, Notre Dame was 2-3 with wins over California and Duquesne, as well as defeats at the hands of Stanford, Northwestern and Ohio State. The high-scoring Irish have been just that, averaging 12.6 goals per game and connecting on 42 percent of its shots on the season while holding significant edges over its opponents in both ground balls (84-68) and caused turnovers (36-23), as well as a narrow 64-61 edge on the draw. Maggie Tamasitis (five goals, 13 assists) and Jenny Granger (12 goals, four assists) lead four double figure scorers, with Granger also registering a team-high 12 draws. Shaylyn Blaney, who has 13 points on the year, also has a team-best seven caused turnovers, while Jackie Doherty had 15 ground balls and nine draws to go along with six caused turnovers. In goal, Ellie Hilling has seen a vast majority of time in goal, posting a 11.21 goals against average and a .404 save percentage. Head coach Tracy Coyne has directed the program to a Final Four, last year's Big East title and five NCAA tournament appearances while compiling a 139-92 record in South Bend and 253-118 in 23 years overall.

LAST TIME VS. NOTRE DAME: Jillian Byers had four goals and two assists, including her 100th point of the season, to lead No. 6 Notre Dame to a second half comeback in an 11-9 triumph over No. 19 Cornell on May 2, 2009 at Schoellkopf Field. Cornell led 6-3 at halftime and extended the lead to four early in the second half, but the powerful Notre Dame offense came alive to help the visitors to the victory. Junior Kristen Reese held the Fighting Irish at bay most of the day, recording 13 saves, including eight in the first half. She added five ground balls in an active performance throughout. Sophomore Libby Johnson had two goals and an assist to pace the Cornell offense, while senior Jessica Wiegand and freshman Shannon McHugh each tallied a pair of scores. Besides Byers' six points, Notre Dame got two goals and two assists from high-scoring Gina Scioscia, as well as a pair of scores from Kailene Abt and two assists from Maggie Tamasitis. Erin Goodman made four saves, with three coming in the decisive second half. Notre Dame held advantages in shots (32-18), ground balls (25-21) and draw controls (13-9).

THE SERIES: Notre Dame leads the all-time series 6-3, including an 11-9 victory over the Big Red in the last meeting between the teams, the 2009 regular season finale. The Fighting Irish have won five straight games in the series, including a 16-8 triumph in the first round of 2006 NCAA tournament. The Big Red's last victory came in 2005, an 11-8 win at Schoellkopf Field.

BIG RED VS. THE BIG EAST: Cornell has posted a 22-23 all-time record against members of the Big East Conference, including a 3-6 mark against Notre Dame. Cornell has faced Georgetown (0-2), Loyola (2-3), Rutgers (12-3) and Syracuse (5-9), while never having met Cincinnati, Connecticut or Louisville. Villanova also plays Division I women's lacrosse, but competes in the Patriot League. Cornell and Villanova have never met. This is the third of four scheduled regular season meetings with Big East teams, as the Big Red will also play Syracuse on April 26. Cornell lost to Rutgers 11-7 in the 2011 season opener and fell to No. 7 Loyola 14-8 on March 11.

NEUTRAL SITE GAMES: For the fifth time in six years, the Cornell women's lacrosse team will play a neutral site regular season game when it heads to Lutherville, Md. to play No. 12 Notre Dame. All five previous games (two in 2010)  have been played against teams who ended the season ranked nationally.

TOUGH STRETCH COMING: The Big Red has traditionally played one of the nation's toughest schedules, and this year is no different. Cornell has already played one top 20 team this season (No. 7 Loyola) and is scheduled to play each of its next five and seven of its next nine contests against nationally ranked teams. In all, five of the seven teams it plays this season in non-conference action are ranked among the top 14 teams in the country.

BIG DAY FOR JOHNSON: Senior captain Libby Johnson scored a career high seven goals, including the game-winner, in Cornell's 15-14 victory over Colgate on March 2 at Schoellkopf Field. Her seven goals is tied for third in a single game bu a Cornell player and is the most by a Cornellian since Sarah Averson notched seven in the 2003 ECAC Championship game against Massachusetts.  

COUNTDOWN TO 100: Junior Jessi Steinberg enters the weekend just 11 points shy of becoming the 18th player in Cornell history to hit the 100-point mark for a career. Classmate Libby Johnson hit that total late last season as a junior and currently has 117 career points, good for 14th on the all-time list.

WINNING THE DRAW: Juniors Katie Kirk and Jessi Steinberg are in a race to join the top 10 all-time at Cornell for career draw controls. Kirk is 11th with 56, while Steinberg isn't far behind with 51. Steinberg's 1.59 draw controls per game is seventh in school history, while Kirk's 1.56 per game is right behind at eighth. Of course, both have a long ways to go before they match record holder Jaimee Reynolds '02, who graduated with 151 in her four seasons.

GRAAP CLIMBING ANOTHER LIST: Cornell women's lacrosse head coach Jenny Graap won her 125th game as the Big Red mentor with a 9-7 win over Columbia on March 13, moving her within eight wins of matching Cheryl Wolf as the all-time winningest coach in program history. Surpassing Wolf would also move her into second all-time on a list of most wins by a female coach in Cornell history, looking up at only former volleyball coach Andrea Dutcher, who won 346 games in 14 seasons directing the Big Red.

STEINBERG ON TEWAARATON WATCH LIST: For the second straight year, Cornell attacker Jessi Steinberg has been named to the Tewaaraton Trophy Watch list, joining an elite group of 48 players nationwide who are candidates for the 2011 national player of the year. The annual list is made up of the top lacrosse players across all three divisions of collegiate lacrosse. The watch list will eventually be whittled down three more times until the top ten male and female Tewaaraton Award Finalists are named in May of 2011.  

HELMER, JOHNSON, STEINBERG NAMED TEAM CAPTAINS: Senior Libby Johnson and juniors Jessi Steinberg and Caroline Helmer have been named team tri-captains for the 2011 season. The trio of captains will be expected to provide leadership for a roster that includes 14 freshmen and sophomores.  

NEXT UP: Cornell will continue its annual spring break trip with a contest at No. 3 North Carolina on Wednesday, March 23 at 6 p.m., then visits No. 8 Penn on Sunday, March 27 at 1 p.m.