Game Notes I Live Stats I 2011 Roster I 2011 Schedule and Results I 2011 Statistics
GAME INFORMATION
Game #12: Cornell at Yale
Date/Time: Saturday, April 23 at 1 p.m.
Site: Reese Stadium, New Haven, Conn.
2011 Records: Cornell (4-7, 2-4 Ivy); Yale (2-10, 0-5 Ivy)
Series Record: Yale leads 19-13
Last Meeting: Cornell won 12-5, April 25, 2010 in Ithaca, N.Y.
HEAD COACH JENNY GRAAP '86
Cornell head coach Jenny Graap is in her 14th season at Cornell (127-87, .593) and 18th overall (148-131, .530) 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 Cornell women's lacrosse team will close out its 2011 Ivy League season when it visits Yale on Saturday, April 23 at 1 p.m. at Reese Stadium in New Haven, Conn. The Big Red will look to win at least three Ancient Eight contests for the 14th straight campaign under head coach
Jenny Graap after reaching that total just four times in the first 18 years of conference play. Cornell will also attempt to extend its win streak over the Bulldogs to four games. Senior captain
Libby Johnson enters the weekend just two points shy of joining the school's top 10 career scoring list. With 128 points, she is just two points shy of Ginny Miles' total of 130 for 10th place.
SCOUTING THE BIG RED: Cornell is 4-7 (2-4 Ivy) so far in 2011, though five of its losses have come against top 20 teams. Led by junior Tewaaraton Trophy candidate
Jessi Steinberg (30-4-34) and two-year captain
Libby Johnson (18-7-25), the Big Red offense is scoring nearly nine goals per contest and averaging more than 27 shots per game. Sophomore
Kate Ivory paces the defense in ground balls (26) and caused turnovers (21), while Steinberg has a team-best 20 draws, with
Katie Kirk (19-3-22) has won 18. In goal,
Kyla Dambach (11.53 GAA, .370 save percentage) and
Courtney Gallagher (9.11 GAA, .406 save percentage) each have seen significant time between the pipes. Head coach
Jenny Graap '86 is in her 14th season at her alma mater and has directed the program to a 127-87 record over that span, including three NCAA tournament appearances, a Final Four appearance and an Ivy League title.
SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS: Yale enters the weekend with a 2-10 overall record (0-5 Ivy) after dropping the program's first-ever contest against Columbia last weekend, falling to the Lions 10-3 for its third straight defeat. The Bulldogs are scoring just 5.2 goals per game, but has a narrow loss to Dartmouth (9-8) on its resume. Sophomore Devon Rhodes leads the team in goals (15), points (19) and draw controls (17), while junior Caroline Crow has 16 points on 12 goals and four assists. Senior defender Fielding Kidd paces the squad in ground balls (20), while senior Kaitlyn Flatley has 19 to go along with a team-high 15 caused turnovers. In goal, junior Whitney Quackenbush had a 10.84 GAA and a .455 save percentage. Third-year head coach Anne Phillips has posted a 13-30 record on the Yale sidelines.
LAST TIME VS. YALE: On a cold and rainy Senior Day, it was a sophomore that put the Cornell women's lacrosse team into next weekend's Ivy League tournament, as
Jessi Steinberg tallied six goals to lead the Big Red to a 12-5 victory over Yale at Schoellkopf Field. In addition to Steinberg's productive day, the Big Red got three goals and one assist from
Katie Kirk, as well as two goals and one assist from
Libby Johnson.
Tissy O'Connor also registered one assist for Cornell. Caroline Helmer was again outstanding with four ground ball wins, two draws and a caused turnover. In between the pipes, senior
Kristen Reese made the start and earned the win, before giving way to
Kyla Dambach, who finished the day with six saves and just three goals allowed. Yale was led by Jessica Sturgill's three goals, while Devon Rhodes and Kaitlyn Flatley each tallied once. All five Bulldog scores were unassisted. Whitney Quackenbush finished the day with six saves in the loss. Cornell held the edge in shots (22-16), ground balls (17-9) and draw controls (10-9). The Big Red also forced 14 Yale turnovers and allowed the Bulldogs to clear the game safely just 9-of-15 times. Cornell turned the ball over 10 times and cleared the ball successfully 12-of-13 times.
THE SERIES: Yale holds a 19-13 edge in the series that dates back to the origination of Ivy League women's lacrosse in 1980. Cornell is 8-5 in the last 13 meetings between the teams, including a 12-5 Big Red victory last season in Ithaca. Five of the last seven contests between the teams have been decided by two goals or less.
LAST TIME OUT: Cornell got an outstanding nine-save effort from junior goalkeeper
Kyla Dambach and balanced scoring throughout to help the Big Red knock off Brown 14-7 on Saturday afternoon at Schoellkopf Field. The victory was the 12th consecutive for Cornell in its series against Brown. Dambach made nine saves, including six in the second half to stave off any Brown thoughts of a rally, and added two ground balls.
Jessi Steinberg scored four goals on the offensive end, while
Libby Johnson had a pair of goals and two assists.
Shannon Tierney had two scores and an assist,
Olivia Knotts had a goal and an assist and
Shannon McHugh and
Katie Kirk each tallied twice.
Caroline Salisbury added a goal. McHugh also caused four turnovers in the victory. The Big Red held a 30-21 advantage in shots, won the ground ball battle 16-7 and forced Brown into a miserable 9-of-16 afternoon attempting to clear the ball. Five of Cornell's goals came on free-position shots. Paris Waterman led Brown with three goals, while Tara Rooke scored twice for her first two goals of the year. Julia Keller added a goal and an assist. Both Bre Hudgins and Alexa Caldwell had three draws apiece for the Bears, which won 14 of the 23 draw attempts. Isabel Harvey started and made seven saves before giving way to Maggie Suprey, who played the final 8:15 and allowed two goals.
20-20-20: Sophomore
Kate Ivory is closing on on becoming the third Big Red player in school history to record at least 20 ground balls, 20 caused turnovers and 20 draw controls in the same season. Ivory enters her final three games needing to win five draws, having already reached the mark in ground balls (26) and caused turnovers (21). Four-time All-American Jaimee Reynolds hit the milestone in each of her four seasons (1999-2000-2001-2002), while Cari Hills hit 20 in each category in 1998.
JOHNSON JUMPS INTO TOP 10: Senior
Libby Johnson's 40 career assists is already eighth on the school's career list and enters the weekend needing just two points to move into the top 10 on the school's all-time scoring list. She has scored 128 points in her four seasons, just shy of Ginny Miles' 130, good for 10th all-time. With three games remaining and her season average of 2.2 points per game, Johnson would end her career eighth at Cornell with 135 points if she hits her average the rest of the way.
STEINBERG HITS 100: With a four-goal effort against Princeton, junior attack
Jessi Steinberg crossed the 100-point mark for her career. She became the 18th player in school history to hit that milestone and joined classmate
Libby Johnson (124 points). Steinberg has since lifted that total to 107 points.
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 visits Syracuse (Tuesday, April 26 at 7 p.m.) before returning home for Senior Day against Florida on Sunday, May 1 at noon.
