ITHACA, N.Y. – The Sunshine State was not kind to Cornell in the team's first game, but the Big Red women's lacrosse team will look to split its spring break trip to Florida with a win against Jacksonville on Tuesday. The Big Red and Dolphins are set for a first draw at 12 p.m.

GAME INFORMATION
GAME #7: No. 18 Cornell at Jacksonville
GAME TIME: Tuesday, March 20, 12 p.m.
GAME SITE: D.B. Milne Field (Jacksonville, Fla.)
SERIES RECORD: Teams have never met.
LAST MEETING: Teams have never met.
2011-12 RECORDS: Cornell (5-1, 2-0 Ivy League); Jacksonville (6-1, 1-0 Atlantic Sun)
LIVE STATS: JUDolphins.com
LIVE VIDEO:  JUDolphins.com

ABOUT THE BIG RED
Cornell is off to its best start in four seasons with a 5-1 record. The team began the year 5-0 before a loss last weekend to Notre Dame, but the Big Red's Ivy League record is still unblemished. Cornell is averaging nearly 15 goals per game this year and scored 21 against Canisius just a week ago. The 2012 edition of the Big Red is one year removed from a 6-8 campaign, but with a large group of nine experienced seniors and 10 returning starters, Cornell is expecting to compete in the challenging Ivy League.

HEAD COACH JENNY GRAAP
Jenny Graap returned to her alma mater in 1997 with one goal in mind: to build the Cornell women's lacrosse team into a championship contender. Now entering her 15th year at the helm, the 2002 Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association Coach of the Year and 2006 Inside Lacrosse Magazine and IWLCA Northeast Coach of the Year has developed the Big Red women's lacrosse program into one of the most successful in the nation. She has posted a 129-88 record at Cornell and earned her 150th career win against Florida to close the 2011 campaign.

ABOUT JACKSONVILLE
The Dolphins, based in Jacksonville, Fla., are on a six-game winning streak and are 6-1 overall heading into Tuesday's game. Jacksonville's lone loss came by nine goals to nationally ranked Florida to open the season. The Dolphins are averaging an impressive 16.3 goals per game and have eclipsed the 20-goal mark three separate times. Ali Hoffman leads the way with 17 goals and four assists, while Jen Cosgrove is not far behind with 16 goals and three assists. Goalkeeper Karli Tobin has started all seven games and holds a 9.43 goals against average. Jacksonville is in its third year overall as a program.
Mindy McCord, a graduate of Lynchburg College, is in her third year coaching the Dolphins.

THE SERIES WITH JACKSONVILLE
Cornell and Jacksonville have never met in the Dolphins' brief three-year history. In fact, Cornell has not played any of the members of Atlantic Sun in women's lacrosse.

A WIN AGAINST JACKSONVILLE WOULD…
…bring the Big Red's out-of-conference record to 4-1…move Cornell to 1-0 all-time against Jacksonville…equal last season's win total of six.

SCORE FOUR
Senior attack Jessi Steinberg, who led Cornell in scoring last season, is making a habit of scoring at least four goals per game. Against Notre Dame on Saturday, Steinberg recorded her third consecutive game with at least four goals. She currently leads the Big Red with 19 goals through six games, and she has moved up to No. 8 on the team's all-time point-scoring list and No. 6 on its all-time goals list.

CENTURY MARK
Steinberg scored four goals against Columbia on March 10, going over the 100 goal mark for her career with her second score of the contest. If she keeps up her current pace of 3.17 goals per game, she would finish the regular season with 139 goals, good for second all-time in team history.

HUGE SCORING OUTBURST
Cornell's 21-goal outburst last Tuesday against Canisius was the most goals the team had scored in a game since it reached 22 on May 1, 1994 against Rutgers. The Big Red has scored 20 goals in a game just three times in its history, with the third time coming back in 1972 against in its first ever season against William Smith. The 21 goals were tied for the second-most in program history.

NATIONALLY RANKED
Thanks to a 5-1 start, the Big Red is ranked nationally in this week's deBeer Media Poll at No. 18. Cornell slipped two spots from last week, but the team's loss to No. 7 Notre Dame did not hurt it too much in the polls. Cornell actually gained five points, going up from 35 to 40 total points. The Big Red  continues to receive votes in the IWLCA Coaches' Poll.

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Senior captain Jessi Steinberg earned Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week on Monday for a 12-point week featuring nine goals and three assists. The award was the fourth of her career and the team's second weekly award of the season.
Senior captain Cacki Helmer earned Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week last Monday for a terrific week where she had four caused turnovers and eight ground balls to go along with two Big Red victories. Heading into last week, Helmer led the nation in ground balls and caused turnovers per game.

FRIENDLY CONFINES
The Big Red has played 39 home openers in its history after last Saturday's game against Columbia and holds a 25-14 record in those contests. Last season's home opener was an 11-7 loss to Rutgers, and Cornell lost two consecutive home openers before the Columbia win.

FIVE-GOAL EFFORT
Senior attack Jessi Steinberg scored five goals against Canisius on Tuesday all within the first 31:05 of the game. She had a hat trick after 10 minutes and four goals through 27 minutes. The last Cornell player to score five in a game had been Libby Johnson against Colgate last season.

BALANCED SCORING
Last season, Jessi Steinberg led the team with 38 goals, nearly doubling Katie Kirk's second-best mark on the team of 22. So far this year, eight different players have contributed at least five goals: Steinberg (19), Olivia Knotts (16), Caroline Salisbury (13), Shannon McHugh (seven), Amanda D'Amico (six), Katie Kirk (five), Lindsay Toppe (five) and Lauren Halpern (five) are making sure the Big Red attack is dangerous all over. Last season, only six players all year reached the five-goal mark.

HATS OFF
Cornell has had a player record a hat trick in all four of its games this year. In the season opener at Rutgers, Olivia Knotts scored the game-winning goal with 52 seconds left to complete her hat trick. Amanda D'Amico got her third goal late against Harvard. Against Colgate on Wednesday, Caroline Salisbury and Sarah Hefner each earned a hat trick, and Salisbury had four goals to her name. In the home opener against Columbia, Jessi Steinberg scored four times, Katie Kirk has three goals and Knotts had her second hat trick of the season. Against Canisius last Tuesday, Steinberg scored five goals while Salisbury had three. In the Notre Dame contest on Saturday, both Knots (five) and Steinberg (four) eclipsed the three-goal mark.

CLEARLY PERFECT
The Big Red went a flawless 19 of 19 on clear attempts against Colgate on March 7, marking the first time the team did not have a failed clear since April 23, 2011 against Yale. Cornell has a .913 clear percentage so far this season and had two perfect clear games (at Yale, vs. Princeton) last season.

FIRST TIME'S THE CHARM
Goalkeeper Courtney Gallagher had played in seven games for Cornell over the course of her career, but she had never started until last Wednesday at Colgate. The junior from Yardley, Pa., made seven saves in her first ever complete game and earned her first career victory. It took her just four more days to earn her second career victory when she started against Columbia on Saturday.

TEWAARATON WATCH LIST
Jessi Steinberg has been named to the 2012 Tewaaraton Award Watch list, InsideLacrosse.com announced last week. Steinberg, who led the team in scoring last season with 42 points, is now in the early pool of players who will be considered for the Tewaaraton, college lacrosse's highest individual honor. Steinberg was one of 53 players named to the list across all three divisions of women's lacrosse.

IVY STATISTICS
The Big Red currently leads the Ivy League in goals per game with 14.67 and is second in assists per game with 5.67. The Big Red's 15.67 ground balls per game put it third in the Ivy League, and its 20.33 points per game ranks the team second in the league as well. Cornell also takes more shots per game (31.83) and wins more draws (14.33) than any other team in the league.
Individually, Jessi Steinberg is third among the Ancient Eight with 3.17 goals per game. Caroline Salisbury is fifth with 1.50 assists per game. Cacki Helmer leads the league with 3.83 ground balls per game, and Shannon McHugh's 4.20 draw controls per game puts her in third among Ivy competition.  Helmer is also second in the conference with 2.17 caused turnovers per game.
Freshman Carly Gniewek, who has played just 38 minutes this season, is second in the league in goals against average (6.39). Kyla Dambach is in fifth with a 9.20 GAA and Courtney Gallagher is in sixth with a 9.43 GAA. Dambach's .438 save percentage puts her fifth in the league, and Gniewek is second in that category with a .600.

OH CAPTAIN MY CAPTAIN
Four Big Red players have been named captains for the 2012 season. Senior defender Cacki Helmer, senior midfielders Katie Kirk and Shannon McHugh, and senior attack Jessi Steinberg will be leading Cornell all season.

SENIOR CLASS
The Big Red will have a strong senior class of nine players. In addition to the four players listed above as captains, goalie Kyla Dambach, midfield/attack Shannon Tierney, midfield/defense Ali O'Neil, midfield/defense Beth Halayko and attack Olivia Knotts make up an experience core at the heart of the Big Red this season.

NEW KIDS ON THE HILL
Cornell's freshman class is eight deep this year. In goal, Carly Gneiwek will see her first college season. On defense, Gabby Weintraub, Christine Ferguson and Kristen Carr are new to the roster. In the midfield, Skylar Fidel, Sarah Hefner and Claire MacManus will be gracing the roster. Lindsay Toppe is the lone freshman attack this season.

CORNELL BY STATE
The Big Red's 29 players hail from eight different states. Eight players apiece come from New York and Maryland. The lone west-coaster is Kelly Lang from Mill Valley, Calif.

LAST TIME OUT
Cornell suffered its first loss of the season as No. 7 Notre Dame did what the Big Red usually does by jumping out to an early lead. Notre Dame controlled the contest 12-6 at halftime and held on for a 17-13 win at the Wide World of Sports complex in Orlando, Fla. The game was Cornell's first against a ranked opponent all year.

CAREER NUMBERS WATCH
Against Notre Dame:
• Amanda D'Amico recorded her 10th draw control.
• Jessi Steinberg scored her 110th goal.
• Katie Kirk earned her 75th draw control.
• Olivia Knotts scored her 30th goal.
• Caroline Salisbury's next goal will be her 30th.
• Shannon McHugh won her 70th draw control.

Approaching career numbers:
• Kyla Dambach's next ground ball would be her 40th.
• Two more caused turnovers would make 50 for Cacki Helmer.
• Beth Halayko is one draw control away from 10.
• Olivia Knotts is three points away from 50.

UP NEXT
After more than a week away from Ithaca, the Big Red returns home on Saturday for a crucial Ivy League contest against No. 9 Penn.