Game Notes I Live Stats: North Carolina / Penn I Live Video: North Carolina / Penn I 2011 Roster I 2011 Schedule and Results
GAME INFORMATION
Game #7: Cornell at No. 5 North Carolina
Date/Time: Wednesday, March 23 at 6 p.m.
Site: Fetzer Field, Chapel Hill, N.C.
2011 Records: Cornell (3-3, 1-1 Ivy); North Carolina (6-2, 1-0 ACC)
Series Record: North Carolina leads 1-0
Last Meeting: North Carolina won 13-7, May 8, 2010 in Alexandria, Va.
Game #8: Cornell at No. 4 Penn
Date/Time: Sunday, March 27 at 1 p.m.
Site: Franklin Field, Philadelphia, Pa.
2011 Records: Cornell (3-3, 1-1 Ivy); Penn (6-0, 2-0 Ivy)
Series Record: Penn leads 21-15
Last Meeting: Penn won 15-6, March 28, 2010 in Ithaca, N.Y.
HEAD COACH JENNY GRAAP '86
Cornell head coach Jenny Graap is in her 14th season at Cornell (126-83, .603) and 18th overall (147-127, .536) 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.
THE STORY LINE: With a two-game win streak in hand, including an overtime win over nationally ranked Notre Dame, the Cornell women's lacrosse team will have two chances for a win over a top 10 team when it meets 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. Cornell has toppled a ranked team in 10 of the last 11 seasons.
SCOUTING THE TAR HEELS: North Carolina brings a 6-2 record into the contest, including three straight wins. UNC has victories over nationally ranked Florida, Vanderbilt, Virginia and Georgetown, and its only losses have come at the hands of No. 2 Northwestern (7- 6 in OT) and No. 4 Penn (10-7). North Carolina has five double figure scorers, including Corey Donohoe (20-6-26) and Becky Lynch (10-7-17). Donohoe also paces the team in draws (10), while Lynch is tops in ground balls (16). Kara Canizzarro, who had 16 ground balls, 10 draws and 13 total points, also has a team-best 11 caused turnovers. In goal, Lauren Maksym has a 7.86 goals against average and a .480 save percentage. Sixteenth year head coach Jenny Levy has posted a 200-84 record at UNC and helped the program reach the Final Four in 2010. The Tar Heels return seven starters and 18 letter winners from last season's 17-3 squad that tied for first in the ACC (4-1)
LAST TIME VS. NORTH CAROLINA: Cornell got within a goal early in the second half, but No. 3 North Carolina scored four goals in the span of 1:40 to pull away from a feisty Big Red team 13-7 on May 8, 2010, at St. Stephens & St. Agnes School in Alexandria, Va.
Libby Johnson had two goals and an assist in helping Cornell get within 7-6 three minutes into the second half, but Jenn Russell got the Tar Heels back of the board 33 seconds later, triggering a quick-strike UNC run that essentially sealed the game played at a neutral site. The Big Red hung around throughout but could never really get all the way back.
Jessi Steinberg added two goals and two assists for four points, while
Katie Kirk scored twice.
THE SERIES: The two teams met for the first time a season ago, with North Carolina taking a 13-7 win in a neutral site game at St. Stephen's & St. Agnes School in Alexandria, Va.
BIG RED VS. THE ACC: Cornell has posted a 11-6 all-time record against members of the Atlantic Coast Conference, including an 0-1 mark against North Carolina. Cornell has faced Boston College (8-4), Maryland (1-0), Virginia (0-1) and Virginia Tech (2-0), while never having met Duke. This is the only scheduled meeting Cornell has with an ACC school during the 2011 regular season.
SCOUTING THE QUAKERS: Penn is off to a perfect 6-0 start heading into a midweek game against Johns Hopkins on Wednesday. The Quakers already hold a win over North Carolina (10-7) and have knocked off both Harvard and Yale in league play. Erin Brennan (10-5-15) leads three double figure scorers, while six players score at least a point per game. Pacing the team in draws (14) and ground balls (12) is Maddie Poplawski, while Caroline Bunting has 10 points and a team-high nine caused turnovers. In goal, Emily Leitner ranks among the national leaders in goals against average (6.00) and save percentage (.520). Karin Brower Corbett is in her 12th season directing the Quaker program and has posted a 123-76 record during her tenture (137-87 in 14 years overall) with four Ivy League titles and three trips to the Final Four.
LAST TIME VS. PENN: No. 7 Penn exploded for the game's final nine goals to break a 6-6 tie midway through the second half to capture a 15-6 victory on March 28, 2010, at Schoellkopf Field. With the game tied 6-6, the Quakers took the lead for good on the first of two consecutive goals by Giulia Giordano with 14:42 remaining to go up 7-6. It was all Penn the rest of the way, scoring six of its goals in the final 8:25 to run away with the contest late. Ali DeLuca scored five goals and added an assist, while Emma Spiro scored four times for Penn. Giordano had two goals and two assists and Erin Brennan chipped in a goal and two assists in the victory. In goal, Emily Szelest made four saves to pick up the win. After losing eight of the first 10 draws to the Big Red, Penn won nine of the final 13. The visitors out-shot Cornell 29-17. Cornell got three goals from
Jessi Steinberg and two more from
Libby Johnson, while
Kyla Dambach and
Courtney Gallagher combined for five saves in goal. Senior
Tissy O'Connor had two ground balls, two draw controls and caused two turnovers and
Katie Kirk notched a goal and three draws.
THE SERIES: Penn leads the all-time series 21-15, including winning each of the last four contests. The two squads first met in 1975 with Cornell taking an 8-7 win in Philadelphia. The Quakers hold an 11-7 edge in games played in Philadelphia. Cornell's last win in the series came in 2006, a 12-4 Big Red victory over Penn at Schoellkopf Field. Its last win on the road came the previous season, a 12-10 victory at Franklin Field.
BACK-TO-BACK TOP FIVE OPPONENTS: This will be the first time in school history that Cornell has played consecutive top five opponents since the IWLCA poll started in 1988.
ALL-TIME VS. RANKED FOES: Cornell is 45-112 all-time against teams ranked in the IWLCA poll, including 1-1 this season. The Big Red topped No. 14 Notre Dame 6-5 in overtime on March 20 after falling to No. 7 Loyola 14-8 on March 11 in Baltimore, Md. Under head coach
Jenny Graap, the Big Red is 34-65 against teams in the top 20.
STEINBERG NAMED IVY OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK (March 21): After helping Cornell women's lacrosse to a 6-5 double overtime win over No. 14 Notre Dame on March 20, Big Red junior
Jessi Steinberg has been named the Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week. With Cornell down 4-0 at the half, Steinberg scored two goals in the second half, including the game-tying goal with 8:19 remaining, to cap the four-goal comeback and send the game into overtime. With 18 seconds remaining in the second overtime period, Steinberg tallied her 16th goal of the season, finding the back of the net off a pass from
Kelly Lang. Steinberg's first goal of the second half broke the team's scoreless streak of 40:09 to open the game, giving Cornell momentum to mount the comeback. She also won two key draw controls in the victory.
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.
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 return home for the first time in more than a month when it plays host to Princeton on Saturday, April 2 at noon at Schoellkopf Field.
