Game Notes I Live Video (Cornell RedCast subscription required) I Live Stats I 2011 Roster I 2011 Schedule and Results
GAME INFORMATION
Game #9: No. 12 Princeton at Cornell
Date/Time: Saturday, April 2 at 12 p.m.
Site: Schoellkopf Field, Ithaca, N.Y.
2011 Records: Princeton (4-3, 1-0 Ivy); Cornell (3-5, 1-2 Ivy)
Series Record: Princeton leads 29-3
Last Meeting: Cornell won 11-8, April 3, 2010 in Princeton, N.J.
HEAD COACH JENNY GRAAP '86
Cornell head coach Jenny Graap is in her 14th season at Cornell (126-85, .597) and 18th overall (147-129, .533) 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: The schedule doesn't get any easier for the Cornell women's lacrosse team this week as it plays its fourth straight team ranked in the top 15 nationally when No. 12 Princeton visits Schoellkopf Field today at noon. The game will be the first of a doubleheader with the men's team, which plays Dartmouth at 3 p.m. The Big Red got the stretch off to a great start with a 6-5, double overtime win over No. 14 Notre Dame before losing consecutive road games to top five teams in No. 5 North Carolina (14-5) and No. 4 Penn (10-6). Now, with Princeton visiting Ithaca, Cornell will attempt to get back to .500 in Ivy play a year after snapping a 22-game losing streak to the Tigers. Junior
Jessi Steinberg enters the contest just three points shy of becoming the 18th player in school history to reach 100 career points.
SCOUTING THE TIGERS: Princeton brings a 4-3 record (1-0 Ivy) into the contest after toppling nationally ranked Georgetown 12-11 at home on March 27. The Tigers opened the season 3-1 with wins over Johns Hopkins and Rutgers, and a tight loss to Virginia on the road. Jaci Gassaway leads the way with 20 points (11 goals, nine assists) as one of six players in double figures. Lizzy Drumm is the team's top goal scorer (15 goals, one assist) and also paces the team in draw controls (17). Caroline Rehfuss has eight ground balls and a team-high 10 caused turnovers. In goal, Erin Tochihara has posted a 10.00 goals against average and a .474 save percentage while leading the team with 16 ground balls. Head coach Chris Sailer is in her 25th season at Princeton and has guided the program to three national titles, 11 Final Fours and 18 NCAA tournament appearances.
LAST TIME VS. PRINCETON: Cornell scored the game's final three goals to snap a 22-game losing streak to Princeton, knocking off the nation's 17th-ranked team with an 11-8 victory over the Tigers on April 3, 2010 at Princeton Stadium. The victory was just the second all-time at Princeton and was the first of any kind against the perennial national power since 1988, an 8-2 Big Red victory in Ithaca. It was the first win over the Tigers under head coach
Jenny Graap '86, who ranks second on the school's career victories list.
Shannon McHugh scored the go-ahead goal with 14:51 remaining and the Big Red defense did the rest, holding the home team scoreless in the final 18:53 and to just one goal in the final 25 minutes.
Julie Klatzkin had her first career hat trick for the Big Red, including icing the game with the final two scores, and
Jessi Steinberg added three goals and an assist and
Libby Johnson was credited with two goals and two helpers.
Katie Kirk rounded out the offense with a pair of scores. Defensively,
Kate Ivory won seven ground balls and caused three turnovers for Cornell in front of
Kyla Dambach, who made a career-best 12 saves in picking up the win. She stopped six of the nine shots that got through to her in the second 30 minutes of action.
THE SERIES: Princeton has a commanding 29-3 edge in the all-time series , though the Big Red snapped a 22-game Tiger win streak last season. Cornell will be looking for its first two-game win streak in the series when the two teams meet in 2011.
LAST TIME OUT: The fourth-ranked Penn Quakers raced out to a 5-0 lead, saw its advantage cut to one with 10 minutes to play and held on for a 10-6 victory over a hard-charging Cornell squad on March 27 at Franklin Field.
Jessi Steinberg scored three goals,
Libby Johnson had a goal and two assists and
Katie Kirk found the back of the net twice to lead the Cornell offense.
Kate Ivory caused three turnovers and posted a team-high five ground balls in front of goalkeeper
Kyla Dambach, who made seven saves in the loss. Eight different players scored for Penn, with Erin Brennan leading the way with two goals and an assist. Maddie Poplawski also added a pair of scores. Alison Tatios won four draws as the home team held a 12-6 edge, including a 9-2 advantage in the first half.
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 four top 20 team this season (No. 7 Loyola, No. 14 Notre Dame, No. 5 North Carolina, No. 4 Penn) and is scheduled to play its next two and four of its next six 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.
ALL-TIME VS. RANKED FOES: Cornell is 45-114 all-time against teams ranked in the IWLCA poll, including 1-3 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., then dropped consecutive games on the road to top five teams in No. 5 North Carolina (14-5) and No. 4 Penn (10-6). Under head coach
Jenny Graap, the Big Red is 34-67 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 was 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 by 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 returns to action when it visits Dartmouth on Saturday, April 9 at noon in Hanover, N.H. The squad will return home to face Brown on Saturday, April 16 at 1 p.m. at Schoellkopf Field.
