Game Notes (PDF)

Game Details
Game 8: No. 5/4 Cornell at Dartmouth
Series Record: Cornell leads, 46-15
Date: Saturday, March 31, 2012
Time: 1:00 p.m.
Field: Scully-Fahey Field
Location: Hanover, N.H.

Game Coverage
Live Stats: www.DartmouthSports.com
Video Webcast: www.DartmouthSports.com
Radio: WHCU 870 AM
Radio Webcast: www.CornellBigRed.com
Television: None

THE MATCHUP — The Cornell lacrosse team will attempt to stay atop the Ivy League standings this weekend when it visits Dartmouth on Saturday, March 31 at 1 p.m. at Scully-Fahey Field. Cornell, fresh off a pair of second half rallys against No. 8 Denver and Penn, will attempt to continue its recent dominance of the Big Green. Cornell has won 13 of the last 14 contests between the teams.

SERIES HISTORY VS. DARTMOUTH — The Cornell and Dartmouth rivalry began in 1946 with an 8-7 victory for the Big Red. The Big Green won the next six meetings over a 10-year span, but have won only nine times since 1957. The Big Red dominates the all-time series record, 46-15, and has won 13 of the last 14 meetings, including last season's 19-8 win at Schoellkopf Field.

LOOKING AT THE BIG GREEN — Dartmouth is off to a 2-4 start (0-1 Ivy) after a 15-10 loss to Harvard on Saturday. The Big Green is averaging nearly 10 goals per game offensively, but has surrendered nearly 13 per contest on the defensive side of the ball. Drew Tunney leads the team in assists (14) and points (23), while Chris Costabile has a team-best 12 goals. Face-off man Alex Del Balso has won 60 face-offs and has a team-high 33 ground balls. In goal, Fergus Campbell has a 12.45 goals against average and a .466 save percentage. The Big Green has allowed an average of 15.0 goals in its four-game skid, including surrendering 20 at Duke. Third-year head coach Andrew Towers is 1-1 against the Big Red and is 12-21 overall.

A WIN OVER DARTMOUTH WOULD –
• improve head coach Ben DeLuca's career record to 21-4.
• make Cornell 7-1 to start a season for the first time under DeLuca and the sixth time in the last seven years overall.
• improve the Big Red to 3-0 in Ivy League play for the fifth time in the last six seasons.
• give the Big Red 14 wins over the Big Green in the last 15 meetings.
• extend Cornell's win streak to seven games in Hanover, N.H.

LAST TIME VS. THE BIG GREEN –
•  Rob Pannell reached a personal milestone, registering his 200th career point, as he led the No. 7 Big Red men's lacrosse team to a 19-8 victory over Dartmouth at Schoellkopf Field.
• The Big Red used a six-goal run over a span of 4:25 early in the second quarter to blow open a tied game and take an 11-2 lead into halftime.
• Pannell tallied a career-high nine points on five assists and four goals, with his milestone point coming on his final assist of the day.
• Sophomore Steve Mock tallied a personal-best five goals, while Roy Lang scored twice.
• Defensively, the Big Red was outstanding, registering 11 caused turnovers on 19 of Dartmouth's miscues and allowing the Big Green to clear the ball successfully just 14-of-20 times.
• Mike Bronzino, Thomas Keith and Joe Paoletta each had two caused turnovers.
• The defense was ably backed by goalie AJ Fiore, who registered nine saves and allowed just six goals in 45:00 before giving way to Andrew West, who finished with three saves and two goals-against.
• The Big Red held the edge in shots (46-35), ground balls (41-26) and face-offs (15-of-29).
• Keith and Lang both picked up a game-high five ground balls and rookie Doug Tesoriero won a career-high 11 face-offs (11-of-16).
• Dartmouth was led by Nikkie Dysenchuk's three goals, while Kip Dooley finished with two assists and one goal.
• In goal, Fergus Campbell, who posted a career-high 23 saves vs. the Big Red last season, stopped just 10 shots and allowed 16 goals in 50:30.

RECAPPING THE PENN GAME –
•  Penn launched itself to a 7-2 lead early in the second quarter, but Cornell methodically chipped away before outscoring the Quakers 8-0 in the final period to earn a 16-11 comeback win at Franklin Field.
• Freshman Matt Donovan snapped out of a mini-offensive funk with three goals and two assists, while both Steve Mock and Connor English scored three goals and added a helper. Chris Langton recorded a hat trick, Roy Lang found the back of the net twice and Mitch McMichael assisted on a pair of extra-man goals in the win.
• Thomas Keith was again outstanding off the ground with six ground ball wins, while Lang added four and also caused three turnovers.
• Jason Noble also caused three turnovers and helped the late face-off success, winning 5-of-12 on the day.
• Saves were hard to come by on both ends, and sophomore Andrew West made four in picking up the win.
• Penn's Dan Savage and Anthony Adler each had three goals and an assist, while the combination of Danny Feeney (10-of-14) and Joe McCallion (11-of-18) won a combined 21-of-32 face-offs to give the Quakers the early advantage.
• The Big Red trailed at the end of one (5-2), at the half (86) and after three (11-8) before Cornell picked up the pace and dominated the fourth. Cornell held a decisive 14-1 shot advantage, caused seven turnovers by the Quakers and ran out the clock on Penn's hopes for a second win over a top 10 win this season. Each of its five losses have come against a top 20 team.

WEEKLY HONORS I – After opening the season with home wins over Binghamton and Army, senior Rob Pannell was named Ivy League Player of the Week, while freshman Matt Donovan earned Ivy League Rookie of the Week on March 5. Pannell scored 16 points in the two wins, including posting the first 10-point contest by a Cornell player since 1995 with a six-goal, four-assist effort vs. Binghamton. Donovan had five goals and three assists in his first two collegiate games, including four goals and two assists in the win over Army.

WEEKLY HONORS II – For the second time this season, Cornell men's lacrosse players swept the Ivy League weekly awards, this time on March 26. Junior attackman Steve Mock was named Ivy Player of the Week, while freshman attackman Matt Donovan was named Ancient Eight co-Rookie of the Week. Mock scored four goals and assisted on three others as the Big Red knocked off No. 8 Denver in overtime before rallying for a 16-11 win at Penn. Donovan earned his second rookie of the week nod of the season after posting three goals and two assists in two starts for the nationally ranked Big Red.

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 234-95-1 (.711).

ELITE COMPANY – Over the span of the past six seasons (2007-12), Cornell has racked up the third most wins (71) of any Division I men's lacrosse program, and has posted the third best winning percentage (78.9 percent) overall.

HEADING FOR WIN NO. 700 – Cornell's 16-11 victory over at Penn on March 24, 2012 was the 697th win in program history. The Big Red is 697-443-27 all-time, and its 697 victories rank seventh among the winningest programs in collegiate lacrosse.

NEXT TO 100? – Junior attackman Steve Mock is looking to become the 39th player to reach 100 career points in school history and enters the Dartmouth contest with 88 (77 goals, 11 assists). He also is 23 goals away from becoming the seventh Cornell player with 100 goals. Rob Pannell became the sixth 100-goal scorer earlier this season.

A FIRST FOR EVERYTHING – Big Red head coach Ben DeLuca has a career 20-4 record, with three of the four losses have come against Virginia, with each coming at neutral sites (the 2011 and 2012 Face-Off Classic at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, 2011 NCAA tournament quarterfinals at Hofstra's Shuart Stadium). Cornell's only other loss under DeLuca was at Army early in the 2011 campaign.

POWER 10 – Rob Pannell became the first Cornell player to score 10 points in a game with his six-goal, four-assist effort in the season-opening win over Binghamton since Chris Danler also posted 10 points in a win over Army during the 1995 campaign.

NINE IS FINE – Offensively, Cornell has scored at least nine goals in 22 of the 24 games under head coach Ben DeLuca, with 19 games in double figures. The Big Red has surrendered fewer than nine goals 14 times during that same span. Cornell scored eight goals in a 9-8 overtime loss to No. 1 Virginia on March 10, 2012, snapping a streak to 20 consecutive games of at least nine goals.

RECAPPING 2011 – In his first season at the helm of the program, head coach Ben DeLuca led the Big Red to a 14-3 record and a trip to the NCAA quarterfinals. Cornell ranked as high as No. 2 in the nation as it won its ninth consecutive Ivy League title with a perfect 6-0 conference mark, the longest stretch since Cornell won 10-straight championships between 1974 and 1983. The Big Red's nine consecutive regular-season Ivy titles is the longest current stretch by any men's lacrosse team in any conference. Cornell then went on to win its first-ever Ivy League tournament title. DeLuca became 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) and is the first coach in Cornell men's lacrosse history to lead the Big Red to the NCAA tournament in his first season. Following the season Rob Pannell '12 was selected as a first-team All-American and was named the USILA Player of the Year, the USILA Attackman of the Year, the unanimous Ivy League Player of the Year, a Tewaaraton Trophy finalist and a nominee for an ESPY in the category of Best Collegiate Male Athlete. Pannell was joined on the All-American list by Max Feely '11, Roy Lang '12 and Jason Noble '13. The quartet was also named All-Ivy, along with Mike Bronzino '13 and David Lau '11.

THE HEAD COACH — After spending 10 years as first an assistant, then an associate head coach of the Big Red program, Ben DeLuca was named the Richard M. Moran Head Coach of Cornell Lacrosse prior to the 2011 season. In his first campaign, he led Cornell to a 14-3 record, an undefeated Ivy League season, an Ivy League tournament title and the team's eighth consecutive trip to the NCAA tournament. 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.

QUICK START – Cornell scored 54 goals in its first three games of 2012, the most in three games to open a season since the 1976 national championship squad netted 60 goals in its first three contests (defeated Adelphi 24-8, Massachusetts 22-10, Rutgers 14-6). That Big Red squad went a perfect 16-0 and averaged 17.3 goals per game for the entire season, reaching double digits in each game and never being played within three goals. 

FOR STARTERS - Cornell is now 62-50-5 all-time in season openers after knocking off Binghamton 17-12 on Feb. 28, 2012.

EMPIRE STATE OF MIND – Cornell has traditionally been very successful against collegiate teams from New York state, posting an all-time record of 269-157-7 (.629). Head coach Ben DeLuca has posted a record of 8-1 (.889) vs. teams from the Empire State … The Big Red faced six teams from New York state (5-1) in 2011 and is 3-0 already this season.

PRESEASON ALL-AMERICANS – Cornell had four players named to the 2012 Face-Off Magazine Preseason All-American list. Rob Pannell, Roy Lang and Jason Noble were all named first-team selections, while Mike Bronzino picked up an honorable mention selection.

FRESH FACES – The Big Red added 12 newcomers to the 2012 roster, six of which earned high school All-American honors. The group is comprised of six attackmen, three defensemen, two midfielders and one goalkeeper. Additionally, the players represent seven states and one Canadian province with three players hailing from New Jersey and New York, two from Maryland, and one each from California, Ohio, Tennessee and Alberta.

U-19 TEAM – This past summer, Cornell rookie Connor Buczek was selected to represent the United States on its U-19 team, which will participate in the Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL) Under-19 World Lacrosse Championship in Turku, Finland, in July 2012.  

MUSTACHE MADNESS – This past November, the members of the Big Red men's lacrosse team participated in Lacrosse Mustache Madness to benefit the HEADStrong Foundation. As a team, Cornell raised $11,363.85, the second most of any Division I men's lacrosse team in the nation, trailing only Syracuse, which raised $13,513.42.

EIGHT STRAIGHT NCAAS – The Big Red went to the NCAA tournament for the eighth straight season after earning the Ivy League's automatic berth with a 15-6 victory over Harvard in the conference tournament title game on May 8, 2011. Cornell advanced to the quarterfinals by defeating America East tournament champion Hartford, 12-5, but fell to eventual national champion Virginia.

PANNELL IS USILA TOP WINNER – Rob Pannell was named the USILA's 2011 Lt. Raymond Enners Award winner as the Division I national player of the year and repeated as the Jack Turnbull Award winner as the Division I national attackman of the year. Pannell became just the 11th repeat winner in the 65-year history of the Turnbull Award and is the first-ever Cornellian to win the award twice in his career.

ESPY NOMINATION – Rob Pannell was nominated for a 2011 ESPY in the category of Best Male College Athlete. The ESPYs, an award show hosted by ESPN, is a celebration of the best sports moments and athletes of the year. The 2011 ESPYs was hosted by Seth Meyers and took place on Wednesday, July 13 at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles, Calif.

TEWAARATON FINALIST – Cornell lacrosse player Rob Pannell was named one of five finalists for the 2011 Tewaaraton Trophy, joining Jeremy Boltus (Army), John Galloway (Syracuse), Steele Stanwick (Virginia) and Joel White (Syracuse). He became the Big Red's first Tewaaraton Trophy finalist since Max Seibald '09 was a two-time finalist in 2007 and 2009.

TEWAARATON WATCH LIST, 2012 – Cornell senior men's lacrosse players Roy Lang and Rob Pannell have been named to the 2012 Tewaaraton Trophy Watch list. The duo are among 72 total players in all divisions and highlight the early contenders for the 2012 Tewaaraton Award.

PANNELL'S GOT SENIOR CLASS – Cornell senior attackman Rob Pannell has been named one of 20 finalists for the 2012 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award. The award, given to a senior Division I student-athlete, must have notable achievements in four areas of excellence – community, classroom, character and competition.

PLAYER OF THE YEAR FOR PANNELL – For the second straight year, Cornell's Rob Pannell was 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) and defender Max Feely were all first-team selections, while attackman David Lau was named to the second team.  The defensive duo of Jason Noble and Mike Bronzino were both honorable mention All-Ivy selections.

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.

OFFENSIVE ASSAULT – Cornell finished the 2011 season ranked second in the nation in scoring offense (12.71) and scored in double-digits in 13-of-17 outings.

HOME IS WHERE THE WINS ARE — Since 2001, the Big Red has gone 69-14 at Schoellkopf Field, including perfect slates in 2011 (8-0), 2009 (6-0), 2007 (7-0) and 2005 (6-0). Cornell is currently riding a 13-game home win streak.

11-WIN CAMPAIGN – The Big Red has posted at least 11 wins in each of the last seven seasons. Virginia is the only other team in the nation to accomplish that feat. 

200TH POINT – With his assist on Steve Mock's goal at the 9:30 mark of the fourth quarter against Dartmouth on April 2, 2011, 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 – Rob Pannell is the national leader in career assists. He currently has 149, 33 more than Virginia's Steele Stanwick, who sits in second place with 116.

GOOD OFF THE GROUND – The Big Red finished the 2011 season ranked sixth in the nation in ground balls per game, thanks in large part to defender Jason Noble, who ranked 41st in the country with 4.18 ground balls per game.

DEFENSIVE DUO –Jason Noble and Mike Bronzino finished the season ranked 21st and 34th in the nation, respectively, in caused turnovers. Noble averaged 1.76 and Bronzino averaged 1.53 caused turnovers per game.

CHAMPIONSHIP LINEAGE – Two players on the 2012 Cornell roster have fathers that have won a national championship with the Big Red – Cody Levine (Jon '76) and Matt Taylor (Joe '80). Jon Levine was 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.

TESORIERO'S TAKES – Through the first seven games of the 2011 season, Doug Tesoriero went 12-of-26 in the face-off circle for a .462 winning percentage. In the 10 final games of the season, he took the most face-offs on the team, winning .579 of his chances (77-of-133). He has picked up right where he left off, winning 67-of-121 face-offs (.554) in the first seven games of 2012, winning 33 total ground balls.

CLOSE CALLS — Since the beginning of the 2003 season, Cornell is 29-8 in games that have been decided by a single goal, a mark that was raised as the Big Red defeated Denver, 9-8, in overtime on March 20, 2012, at Hifstra's James M. Shuart Stadium. Of the eight 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).

RULE FOLLOWERS – In the 59 games played since the start of the 2009 season, the Big Red has been flagged for more penalties than its opponents on just 17 occasions.

BALANCED OFFENSE – Cornell's scoring was fairly balanced last season with the attack accounting for 58 percent of its goals (124-of-216), while the midfield registered 40 percent (87-of-216). The defense made up the final two percent (5-of-216).

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).

SINGLE-DIGIT SUCCESS – Since 2000, Cornell has posted a 117-14 record (89.3 percent) when holding its opponent to less than 10 goals … The Big Red had its 16-game win streak in games limiting opponents to single digit goals snapped in a 9-8 overtime loss to No. 1 Virginia.

NON-CONFERENCE WINS — Cornell owns a 40-10 record in its last 50 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.

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, 2011.

OVERTIME NOTES – With its overtime game vs. Virginia on March 10, 2012, Cornell has played at least one overtime game in each of the past six seasons, dating back to a 12-11 overtime triumph over Albany in the 2007 NCAA quarterfinals. During that span, the Big Red has posted a 6-3 record in overtime games.

OH CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN – For the second straight season, senior Rob Pannell will serve as captain of the Big Red men's lacrosse team.

NEUTRAL ZONE – Since the start of the 2006 season, the Big Red is 10-7 in neutral site games, with two victories over Notre Dame (Chicago, 2006 and Long Island, 2007), and 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 three times, including twice during the 2011 season (Konica Minolta Face-Off Classic in Baltimore, Md. and the national quarterfinals in Hempstead, N.Y). The Cavaliers also won a 9-8 overtime decision in the 2012 Konica Minolta Face-Off Classic in Baltimore, Md.

HARD HAT – Jason Noble was selected to carry the Hard Hat for the 2012 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.

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

GEOGRAPHY LESSON – The 47 players on the 2012 Big Red roster hail from 13 different states –California, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, and three Canadian provinces – Alberta, 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.

NEW TO THE STAFF – Mark Wittink '00, a Big Red teammate of Ben DeLuca, has joined the Cornell coaching staff as a volunteer assistant coach. On the field Mark assists with the goalies, midfielders and face-off wings. He also assists in scout team preparation in practice. On game day Mark assists with the face-offs and substitution box. Off the field, Wittink has played an instrumental role in the Big Red's social media efforts, including coordinating the team's Twitter and Facebook pages.

NEXT UP – Cornell returns home to face Harvard on Saturday, April 7 at 1 p.m. at Schoellkopf Field.