Game Notes (PDF)

GAME #15: No. 2 Cornell vs. No. 17/18 Harvard
FACE OFF: Sunday, May 8, at Noon
SITE: Schoellkopf Field (Ithaca, N.Y.)
2011 Records: Cornell (12-2, 6-0 Ivy); Harvard (10-5, 3-3 Ivy)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 61-23
LAST MEETING: Cornell won 13-12, April 9, 2011 in Cambridge, Mass.

RADIO: WHCU 870 AM (Barry Leonard, play-by-play; Tom LaFalce & Howie Borkan, color commentary)
LIVE STATS: http://livestats.prestosports.com/ivyleague/
LIVE AUDIO: http://www.cornellbigred.com/showcase/
LIVE VIDEO: http://www.ESPN.3.com
TELEVISION: ESPNU (Time Warner Ch. 108 in Ithaca; DirectTV Ch. 208)

THE MATCHUP – The No. 2 Big Red will play in its second consecutive Ivy League tournament championship game when it plays host to No. 17/18 Harvard on Sunday, May 8 at noon. The game will be available to a nationwide audience on ESPNU, as well as online at ESPN3.com. Live stats will be provided through the Ivy League Office and fans in Ithaca can hear Barry Leonard provide the call alongside Tom LaFalce and Howie Borkan on WHCU 870 AM. Live audio will also be provided at as part of Cornell's RedCast subscription package. Live video will not be available through RedCast due to ESPN's exclusive broadcast rights.

THE SERIES VS. HARVARD – Although official Ivy League play began in 1956, the Cornell and Harvard rivalry dates back nearly as far as both teams' lacrosse programs, as the two squads first squared off in the 1895 season. The Big Red won that first meeting, 2-1, and has dominated the series ever since, holding a 61-23 overall record against the Crimson, and is currently riding a 13-game winning streak.

LOOKING AT THE CRIMSON – Harvard, under the direction of first-year head coach Chris Wojcik, has won its last three outings to improve to 10-5 on the season. The Crimson pulled off the 12-8 upset over Penn in the conference tournament semifinal to advance to the title game. Dean Gibbbons leads the squad with team-highs in points (58) and assists (28), while Jeff Cohen has a team-best 31 goals. Kevin Vaughan and Daniel Eipp have 19 goals and 16 goals, respectively, as part of a well-balanced offense. In goal, Harry Kreiger has started all 15 games, and has seen his numbers improve significantly since the first meeting with Cornell, posting an 8.96 GAA and a .541 save percentage.

A WIN OVER HARVARD WOULD –
• give Cornell its first-ever Ivy League tournament championship and the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
• be the 14th-straight victory against the Crimson, dating back to a loss during the 1999 season.
• make Cornell 62-23 all-time against Harvard.
• be the 690th victory in program history.
• make the Big Red to 13-2 on the season and improve Cornell's current winning streak to 10 games.
• make the members of the senior class 5-0 vs. Harvard.

IVY KINGS – Since Ivy League play began in 1956, Cornell has won a conference-high 26 titles, including the most undefeated crowns (16) of any team. The Big Red also has the best Ivy League record of any team in the conference at 232-95-1 (.709).

LAST TIME VS. THE CRIMSON –
• A disastrous third quarter and a wild fourth quarter was salvaged when David Lau found the back of the net with 1:18 left on the clock to hand Cornell a 13-12 victory on April 9 in Harvard Stadium.
• The game was the third consecutive won by a score of 13-12 over the Crimson.
• Senior defender Max Feely sealed the victory when he intercepted a Harvard pass with time winding down.
• Lau finished the game with a career-high eight points with five goals and three assists, scoring the game-tying and game-winning goals for the Big Red.
• Steve Mock chipped in three goals, two of which came in the crucial fourth quarter, while Jack Dudley had one of his best games with two goals and one assist.
• In goal, AJ Fiore made eight saves and allowed nine goals in 40:53 before Andrew West came on in relief. The rookie netminder finished with three saves and allowed three goals to earn his first career victory. Crimson goalie Harry Krieger stopped 14 shots in the loss.
• Harvard was led by Ryan Stevens and Kevin Vaughan with four and three goals, respectively, while Dean Gibbons handed out three assists.
• The Crimson's Jeff Cohen had his 34-game point scoring streak ended by the Cornell defense.
• Cornell held the edge in shots (48-35), and face-offs (16-of-28), but Harvard had more ground balls (35-27).
• The game featured five ties after halftime and the Big Red overcame a two-goal deficit twice in the fourth quarter to earn the win.

LAST TIME OUT –
• Cornell shook off an early first half deficit thanks to an outstanding defensive performance to advance to the Ivy League championship final at Schoellkopf Field for the second straight year after an 11-7 victory over Yale on Friday evening.
• For the second game in a row, Cornell watched the visitors jump out to an early lead, but used a ferocious defense to hold the Bulldogs scoreless for a span of 29:06 from the end of the first until the third quarter to turn a 4-1 deficit into an 8-4 lead.
• Cornell earned credit for 15 caused turnovers, including three by Jason Noble and two apiece by Mike Bronzino and Roy Lang.
• Bronzino added six ground balls and three other players posted four each.
• AJ Fiore made 10 saves over the final three quarters and posted 11 for the game in picking up the win between the pipes.
• All-American Rob Pannell had a goal and five assists to lead the offense, while Roy Lang, Mike O'Neil and Steve Mock registered hat tricks.
• Cornell held a 37-29 shot advantage, including a 20-11 edge in the middle two quarters.
• For Yale, Matt Gibson's three goals made him the only multi-point scorer.
• Cole Yeager (10-of-14) and Dylan Levings (6-of-7) helped the visitors dominate faceoffs, winning 16-of-22 restarts on the evening.
• Johnathan Falcone made nine saves.

MEET THE NEW BOSS — Ben DeLuca was named the Richard M. Moran Head Coach of Cornell Lacrosse this past summer. After spending 10 years as first an assistant, then an associate head coach of the Big Red program, he has posted a 12-2 record and led Cornell to an undefeated Ivy League season in his first year at the helm. The 10th head coach in program history, DeLuca played for, or coached under Cornell's last three coaches – Richie Moran, Dave Pietramala, and Jeff Tambroni. DeLuca earned four letters on defense for the Big Red, serving as captain his senior year and went on to be named the team's outstanding senior athlete for his leadership and dedication on and off the field.

PLAYER OF THE YEAR FOR PANNELL – For the second straight year, Cornell's Rob Pannell has been selected as the unanimous Ivy League Player of the Year and a first-team All-Ivy selection. Pannell is the 16th Big Red player in men's lacrosse program history to earn Player of the Year honors and is just the second Cornellian to win the award twice in his career, joining Eamon McEneaney (1975, '77). Cornell has won the Ivy League Player of the Year award in six of the past 11 seasons.

TICKLE THE (ALL) IVY – Cornell placed six players on the various All-Ivy teams, joining Yale as the most of any team in the conference. Attackman Rob Pannell (unanimous), midfielder Roy Lang (unanimous) defender Max Feely were all first-team selections, while attackman David Lau was named to the second team. The sophomore defensive duo of Jason Noble and Mike Bronzino were both honorable mention All-Ivy selections.

AND THEN THERE WAS ONE — With its 9-7 victory over Princeton, Cornell capped the 16th undefeated Ivy League season in program history, its first since the 2007 campaign. That accomplishment made head coach Ben DeLuca only the second coach in the history of the Ivy League to post an undefeated Ivy record in his first season, joining Ned Harkness (Cornell; 1966).

G-A-P LEADER – Rob Pannell is the first Cornell player to lead the team in goals, assists and points since David Key in 2001.

LONG TIME GONE – The Big Red played three straight road games in a stretch of 27 games between home contests with Dartmouth on April 2 and Princeton on April 30. That is the longest stretch away in a single season since 1992 when the Big Red played four away games also in a span of 27 days.

IT'S A CLINCH — With its 18-5 victory over Brown on April 23, the Big Red claimed the outright Ivy League title, winning at least a share of the crown for the ninth straight season, the longest stretch since winning 10 straight championships between 1974-83. Cornell's nine consecutive regular season Ivy League titles is the longest current stretch by any men's lacrosse team in any conference in the nation.

HOME IS WHERE THE WINS ARE — Since 2001, the Big Red has gone 63-14 at Schoellkopf Field, including perfect slates in 2011 (6-0), 2009 (6-0), 2007 (7-0) and 2005 (6-0).

OFFENSIVE ASSAULT – Cornell currently ranks second in the nation in scoring offense (13.00) and has scored in double-digits in 10-of-13 outings.

SINGLE SEASON MARKS FOR PANNELL – Rob Pannell currently has 42 assists on the season, good for eighth in Cornell history, tying his own 2009 mark. Pannell also owns the fourth (51 in 2010) spot on the list … With his 77 points on the season, he needs just three more to tie his career-high (set in 2010) and rank eighth in program history for points in a single season.

CLOSE CALLS — Since the beginning of the 2003 season, Cornell is 27-7 in games that have been decided by a single goal, a mark that was raised as the Big Red defeated Harvard, 13-12, on April 9, 2011, at Harvard Stadium. Of the seven losses, three have come against Syracuse (12-11 on April 11, 2006; 10-9 (OT) in the 2009 national championship game; 8-7 on April 13, 2010).

12-WIN CAMPAIGN – With its win over Yale on May 6, Cornell has registered at least 12 wins in each of the past three seasons.

ELITE COMPANY – Over the span of the past five seasons (2007-11) Cornell has racked up the fourth most wins (62) of any Division I men's lacrosse program, and has posted the fifth best winning percentage (78.5 percent) overall.

TOP DOG —Rob Pannell ranks first in the nation in points (5.46) and assists (2.85) per game and is fifth overall in goals per game (2.62 gpg).

MOCK'S IVY SURGE – Sophomore attackman Steve Mock had some struggles early in the season, but has returned to form with exceptionally strong performances against Ivy League opponents. In five non-conference games, Mock averaged just 1.6 goals per game, a mark that has risen to 3.1 against Ivy League foes.

ROUGH ROAD – The Big Red played against six nationally ranked opponents in just over a month from March 5 to April 12. Five of those six contests occurred away from Ithaca, as Cornell played at Army, vs. Virginia at M&T Bank Stadium, at Yale, at Stony Brook, and at Syracuse with the lone home game coming against Penn on March 26. The Big Red posted a record of 4-2 in those games.

TEWAARATON NOMINEE – For the second straight year, Cornell lacrosse player Rob Pannell has been named one of 25 Tewaaraton Trophy nominees. Five male and five female finalists will be selected from the nominees. Finalists will be invited to the 11th annual Tewaaraton Award ceremony and the trophy will be presented on June 2 at the historic Warner Theatre in Washington, D.C.

200TH POINT – With his assist on Steve Mock's goal at the 9:30 mark of the fourth quarter against Dartmouth on April 2, junior Rob Pannell registered his 200th career point. He is just the third Cornell player to reach that milestone, joining Mike French (296; 1974-76) and Eamon McEneaney (256; 1975-77).

NATIONAL CAREER ASSISTS LEADER – Despite being only a junior, Rob Pannell is currently the national leader in career assists, having posted 135. He has a double-digit lead on second place Jeremy Boltus, a senior at Army that has 124 career assists. Other than Pannell, Virginia's Steele Stanwick (9th) is the only other junior in the top 10.

GOOD OFF THE GROUND – The Big Red ranks 11th in the nation in ground balls per game, thanks in large part to defender Jason Noble, who ranks 34th in the country with 4.62 ground balls per game.

DEFENSIVE DUO – Sophomores Mike Bronzino and Jason Noble are proving to be a dynamic defensive duo, as each rank 25th in the nation with 1.69 caused turnovers apiece.

BALANCED OFFENSE – Cornell's scoring has been fairly balanced this season with the attack accounting for 55 percent of its goals (99-of-180), while the midfield has registered 43 percent (77-of-180). The defense makes up the final two percent (4-of-180).

GOING STREAKING – Junior Rob Pannell has the longest point-scoring streak on the team and second longest in the nation, having registered a point in every game of his collegiate career (49 games). Siena's Bryan Neufeld leads the nation with a 51-game streak.

SINGLE-DIGIT SUCCESS – Since 2000, Cornell has posted a 111-13 record (89.5 percent) when holding its opponent to less than 10 goals.

RULE FOLLOWERS – In the 49 games played since the start of the 2009 season, the Big Red has been flagged for more penalties than its opponents on just 13 occasions.

MOVING ON UP – With his three assists vs. Syracuse on April 12, Rob Pannell moved into second place in Cornell history for career assists. He currently needs 30 more assists to pass Eamon McEneaney and become the Big Red's all-time leader … With his eight points vs. Stony Brook on March 22, Pannell moved into third place in Cornell history, surpassing with Ryan Hurley (179; 2007-10) for career points. He needs 33 more points to surpass Eamon McEneaney (256; 1975-77).

THRICE AS NICE – Twice this season, the Big Red has won three straight Ivy League Player of the Week accolades. The first time happened from March 7 through March 21, with the second streak happening between April 4 and April 18. During the first set, junior attackman Rob Pannell earned the award on March 7 & March 14 before sophomore attackman Steve Mock was honored on March 21 … Pannell was instrumental in the second streak as well, with honors on April 4 and April 18 sandwiched around an award for senior attackman David Lau.

AND THE WINNER (AGAIN) … – Rob Pannell earned his fourth Ivy League Player of the Week award of the season on April 18 after registering six points to help the Big Red upset then-No. 1 Syracuse, 11-6, at the Carrier Dome. Five of Pannell's six points came in the first half as Cornell built a commanding 7-2 lead that it would not relinquish.

LAU WINS NATIONAL ACCOLADE – Senior attackman David Lau earned Nike Player of the Week Honors on April 12 after he led the Big Red to a 13-12 victory at Harvard. Lau scored the final two goals of the game, first tying the game at 12-12 and then putting the Big Red up 13-12 with just 1:18 to play. He registered five goals and three assists and he was extremely efficient throughout, taking only seven shots and putting six on goal. He also picked up a game-high four ground balls and caused one turnover.

LAU'S PERFORMANCE IN PERSPECTIVE – David Lau finished the Harvard game with a career-high eight points with five goals and three assists. He became the first Big Red player other than Rob Pannell to register eight points and three assists since Ryan Hurley tallied nine points against Dartmouth on April 12, 2008 and Mitch McMichael handed out three assists vs. Canisius on March 9, 2009.

MIDFIELD MEN – The offensive midfield remains nearly unchanged from a season ago, with five of the top six players - Jack Dudley and All-Ivy selection David Lau, as well as returning starters Roy Lang, Chris Langton and Ross Gillum - returning. As a group, four of the five ranked among Cornell's leading scorers a season ago and they accounted for 67 percent of the scoring that came out of the offensive midfield in 2010.

ON THE DEFENSIVE – The Big Red returns all three starting defensemen from a season ago, including All-American Max Feely, preseason All-American Jason Noble, and Mike Bronzino.

BACK IN NET – Incumbent starter AJ Fiore returns to backstop the Big Red this year. So far this season, he has posted a 10-2 record to go along with an 8.44 goals-against average and a .509 save percentage. As a rookie, he posted an 11-6 record, finished the year ranked first in the Ivy League and 15th in the nation in goals-against average (8.69) and was third in the conference and 23rd in the nation in save percentage (.545).

DEFENSIVE STOPPER – Max Feely turned some heads on March 12 when he shut down Virginia's Steele Stanwick, holding the junior attackman without a goal or an assist. At the time, Stanwick ranked third in the nation in points per game and had registered at least seven points in the three games prior to his meeting with the Big Red … One week later, Feely held Yale's Brian Douglass to one single assist. At the time, Douglass ranked second in the country with 4.75 points per game.

NEUTRAL ZONE – Since the start of the 2006 season, the Big Red is 10-5 in neutral site games, with two victories over Notre Dame (Chicago, 2006 and Long Island, 2007), a single victory over Albany (Princeton, 2007), Navy (Long Island, 2008), Denver (Dallas, 2008), Harvard (Foxboro, 2009), Princeton (Hempstead, 2009), Virginia (Foxboro, 2009), Hobart (Syracuse, 2010) and Army (Stony Brook, 2010). The five losses came at the hands of Duke in the 2007 national semifinal (Baltimore, Md.), Syracuse in the 2009 national championship (Foxboro, Mass.), Dartmouth during the 2010 season (Foxboro, Mass.), Notre Dame in the 2010 national semifinal (Baltimore, Md.) and Virginia at the 2011 Konica Minolta Face-Off Classic (Baltimore, Md.).

NON-CONFERENCE WINS — Cornell owns a 36-9 record in its last 45 regular-season non-conference games, dating back to the Big Red's 16-14 victory over Syracuse in the Carrier Dome on April 12, 2005.

EMPIRE STATE OF MIND – Cornell has traditionally been very successful against collegiate teams from New York state, posting an all-time record of 266-157-7 (.627). Head coach Ben DeLuca has posted a record of 5-1 (.833) vs. teams from the Empire State … The Big Red has faced six teams from New York state (5-1), with none others left on the schedule.

BUILDING A LEAD – The Princeton contest was the first game of the season in which the Big Red trailed at the end of the first quarter. It was also the only game this season in which it trailed at halftime.

HALFTIME COMEBACK – Prior to the victory over Princeton, the Big Red had lost seven straight contests when trailing at halftime, dating back to March 22, 2008 when Cornell trailed Yale 6-4 at halftime before defeating the Bulldogs, 8-7.

ENDING A SINGLE DIGIT STREAK – Cornell had lost seven-straight games in which it had scored less than 10 goals prior to defeating Princeton, 9-7, on April 30.

RUNNING INTO A BRICK WALL – Princeton's Tyler Fiorito made 20 saves, but the Big Red still managed to earn the 9-7 victory on April 30. It was the first victory in a game in which an opposing goalie made 20+ saves since defeating Army, 9-8, on Feb. 28, 2009 (Tom Palesky; 22).

FRESH FACE FACE-OFF – In a three-game span against Stony Brook, Penn and Dartmouth, Cornell had a different player register a career-high in face-off wins. The streak began as Mitch McMichael won 13 face-offs vs. the Seawolves on March 22. That weekend, Jason Noble won eight restarts against the Quakers. Doug Tesoriero ended the streak by winning 11 face-offs against the Big Green.

DARTMOUTH DOMINATION – Since 1998, the Big Red has posted a 13-1 record against Dartmouth, with the lone loss coming last season. Cornell's 19 goals against the Big Green on April 2 was nothing unusual, as the Big Red has registered 15 or more goals in half of the meetings since 1998. Likewise, Cornell's average margin of victory during that span has been seven goals.

OVERTIME NOTES – With its overtime game vs. Penn on March 26, Cornell has played at least one overtime game in each of the past five seasons, dating back to a 12-11 triumph over Albany in the 2007 NCAA quarterfinals. During that span, the Big Red has posted a 5-2 record in overtime games.

NOBLE IN THE MIDDLE – Defender Jason Noble put in an impressive effort at the face-off circle against Penn on March 26, winning 8-of-10 restarts in the finals 21 minutes of action to help the Big Red to a 13-12 overtime victory against the Quakers. Noble now has 19 face-off wins on the season, the most by a Cornell defenseman since Brett Wilderman won 25-of-55 in 1999.

WIN NO. 685 – Cornell's 13-12 victory over Harvard on April 9, 2011 was the 685th win in program history. The Big Red is 689-442-27 all-time, and its 689 victories rank seventh among the winningest programs in collegiate lacrosse.

FLAWLESS DEFENSE – The Big Red did not commit a single penalty vs. Canisius on March 9, marking the first time since the 2010 season-opener against Hobart, a span of 20 games, that Cornell was not flagged.

BRONZINO BONANZA – Sophomore defender Mike Bronzino tallied two goals against Hobart in the season opener, becom¬ing the first Big Red close defender to score twice in a single game since Ryan McClay scored twice against the Statesmen on May 4, 2002. In Cornell's next game against Binghamton, he registered two assists.

FOR STARTERS - Cornell is 61-50-5 all-time in season openers … Including 2011, the Big Red has played Hobart 15 times to start a season, posting an 8-7 record against the Statesmen in those games.

PRESEASON ALL-AMERICANS – Cornell had three players named to the 2011 preseason All-American list. Rob Pannell was named a first-team selection, while Max Feely was a second-team choice and Jason Noble was named an honorable mention selection.

OH CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN – Senior Jack Dudley and junior Rob Pannell will serve as captains for the 2011 season.

HARD HAT – Roy Lang has been selected to carry the Hard Hat for the 2011 season. The tradition of the Hard Hat began in the fall of 1999. Midway through the fall season, a player is selected to carry the Hard Hat for the year. The recipient is someone that the coaches feel demonstrates a blue-collar approach to the game of lacrosse; he is driven and selfless, not the most talented player on the field, but consistently the hardest worker. He puts the team first, and embodies how the coaches want Cornell players to act and respond on or off the field.

CHAMPIONSHIP LINEAGE – Four players on the 2011 Cornell roster have fathers that have won a national championship with the Big Red – David Lau (George '78), Cody Levine (Jon '76), Shane O'Neill (John '76) and Matt Taylor (Joe '80). George Lau was a two-time winner as part of both the 1976 and 1977 national championship squads. Jon Levine and John O'Neill joined him on the 1976 team, while Joe Taylor was on the 1977 squad … Additionally, Connor Entenmann's father Ken was on Cornell's national semifinalist team in 1982, while Cole McCormack and Mike O'Neil each have uncles (Brian McCormack and Geoff Hall, respectively) that played together on the Big Red's national runner up squads in 1987 and 1988.

SISTER ACT – Junior Roy Lang and freshman Mike O'Neil each have a sister on the Big Red women's lacrosse team. Lang's sister Kelly is a sophomore, while O'Neil's sister Aly is a junior.

GEOGRAPHY LESSON – The 43 players on the 2011 Big Red roster hail from 11 different states – California, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Virginia and Washington – as well as the District of Columbia, and two Canadian provinces – British Columbia and Ontario.

GEOGRAPHY LESSON, PART TWO – Since 1950, the Big Red has had players from 33 different states – Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

ATTACKMAN OF THE YEAR - For the first time since 1987, a member of the Cornell men's lacrosse team won the USILA's Jack Turnbull Award as the outstanding attackman in Division I, as Rob Pannell took home the award. He became just the seventh sophomore in the 64-year history of the award to earn the honor. Pannell joins an elite list, becoming the fourth Cornell player to win the Turnbull Award, joining Eamon McEneaney '77, Mike French '76, and Tim Goldstein '87.

BIG RED INTERNATIONAL – Brad Kamedulski '10 (Poland), Scott Lee '02 (Korea), Ryan McClay '03 (USA), Max Seibald '10 (USA), and Sten Jernudd '14 (Sweden) all participated in the FIL Championships this summer in Manchester, England. McClay and Seibald won gold medals with Team USA and were both named to the All-World team following the tournament. Jernudd was also honored with a selection to the All-Presidents team as one of the top players in the tournament from a team that did not advance to the medal round.

RECAPPING 2010 – The Big Red advanced to the national semifinal game for the second straight year, and third time in the last four seasons. Although Cornell fell to Notre Dame, 12-7, the Big Red made its presence felt in the lacrosse community with its incredibly young squad impressing all spectators. Cornell finished the year with a 12-6 record overall and a mark of 4-2 in the conference, earning a share of its eighth straight Ivy League title, the longest stretch since Cornell won 10-straight championships between 1974 and 1983. Cornell's eight consecutive regular season Ivy titles is the longest current stretch by any men's lacrosse team in any conference. The Big Red earned an at-large bid to the 2010 NCAA men's lacrosse tournament, garnering a seventh seed. In the first round, Cornell defeated Loyola, 11-10, in triple overtime to advance to the quarterfinals before beating Army, 14-5, to earn a trip to the Final Four.

UP NEXT – The Big Red will learn of its NCAA tournament fate on Sunday, May 8 when the NCAA Men's Lacrosse Selection Show airs live on ESPNU at 9 p.m. EST.