ITHACA, N.Y. – Another difficult contest awaits No. 15/17 Cornell on Saturday afternoon as No. 11/12 Loyola-Maryland visits Schoellkopf Field. The Big Red, playing its first non-Ivy League game in three weeks, will look to get back into the win column after a tough loss last weekend to Dartmouth.
GAME INFORMATION
GAME #11: No. 15/17 Cornell vs. No. 11/12 Loyola-Maryland
GAME TIME: Saturday, April 14, 1 p.m.
GAME SITE: Schoellkopf Field (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Loyola leads 3-2
LAST MEETING: No. 6 Loyola won 14-8 on March 11, 2011
2011-12 RECORDS: Cornell (7-3, 3-2 Ivy League); Loyola (8-3, 4-0 BIG EAST)
LIVE STATS: CornellBigRed.com
LIVE VIDEO: CornellBigRed.com/showcase
ABOUT THE BIG RED
Despite two losses in its last three games, Cornell still holds a 7-3 record on the season and is in solid position to make the Ivy League Tournament. Already with more goals than it scored in all of 2011 and 2010, the Big Red is averaging 14.30 goals per game which puts it 13th in the nation in that category. A senior-heavy team with 10 returning starters, Cornell is hoping to make the Ivy League Tournament for the first time since 2010.
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 LOYOLA
The Greyhounds, based in Baltimore, are currently 8-3 on the year, 2-0 in the BIG EAST Conference and ranked in the country's two national polls. Already having played a tough schedule with games against Virginia, Johns Hopkins, Penn State, James Madison, Georgetown and Notre Dame, the Greyhounds are proving to be a team that might be a player in the national scene come May. The team scores 12.27 goals per game and allows just 9.64. Marlee Paton leads the way with 27 goals and 20 assists for 47 points. Just behind her is Annie Thomas with 21 goals and 16 assists. Goalie Kerry Stoothoff has a 9.21 goals against average.
Jen Adams, a 2001 graduate of Maryland, is now in her fourth year coaching the Greyhounds.
THE SERIES WITH LOYOLA
Loyola has a slight 3-2 lead in the all-time series with Cornell, and the Big Red would even that series with a win on Saturday. Cornell began the series well, winning the first two games in 2007 and 2008, but the Greyhounds have claimed victory in each of the last three years. During the 2011 season, the No. 6 Greyhounds won 14-8 despite four goals and two assists from
Jessi Steinberg.
A WIN AGAINST LOYOLA WOULD…
…make Cornell 3-0 after a loss…even the lifetime series against the Greyhounds at 3-3…be Cornell's first win against Loyola since 2008…be the team's third win this year over a ranked opponent…improve Cornell's home record to 3-2…increase the Big Red's non-conference mark to 5-1.
MARYLAND MEMBERS
Cornell's roster is filled with eight players from Maryland, more than any state except New York, which also has eight. Of those Maryland players, three live within half an hour of Loyola's Baltimore campus:
Skylar Fidel (Owings Mills),
Gabby Weintraub (Towson) and
Kristen Carr (West Friendship).
CHARITABLE DONATION
The Big Red announced on Thursday that it had raised more than $2,000 toward breast cancer research thanks to the efforts of its “Pink” game on Saturday against Dartmouth. Cornell's funds will all be donated to the Cancer Resource Center of the Finger Lakes.
TIGERS BEAT
Cornell's 13-12 overtime victory at Princeton last Saturday was just the team's fourth victory ever against the Tigers. Cornell, though, has now beaten Princeton in its last two trips to New Jersey.
OVERTIME SUCCESS
The Princeton win was Cornell's first overtime game of the year and was its first road overtime win since April 10, 1993 at Yale. Cornell last played in overtime on March 20, 2011 against No. 6 Notre Dame. In that game Cornell also emerged victorious by a 6-5 margin. The team – which has won its last three overtime games – last lost in an extra period on Feb. 24, 2007 against Rutgers.
NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Senior attack
Jessi Steinberg was been named the WomensLax.com Player of the Week on April 2. Steinberg earned the award thanks to a four-goal, one-assist effort against Princeton. Her fourth goal of the game proved to be the overtime game-winner.
SCORCHING SCORING PACE
The Big Red had already eclipsed its goal totals from the last two seasons. Averaging over 14 goals per game this year, the Big Red is on pace to score 215 goals by the end of the regular season. That mark would surpass the team record for goals in a season – 210, set in 2000 – by five goals.
QUICK ON THE DRAW
Senior midfielders and co-captains
Shannon McHugh and
Katie Kirk are slowly moving up the Big Red's all-time draw control list. Kirk slid into a tie for seventh in team history with her 87th draw control of her career against Dartmouth. She is three shy of sixth. McHugh, meanwhile, is now in 10th place all-time and would move up to ninth with two more draw controls.
TOUGH STRETCH
The Big Red is in the middle of the toughest portion of its schedule, playing five consecutive games against ranked opposition. No. 8 Penn, No. 16 Princeton, No. 6/10 Dartmouth, No. 11/12 Loyola and No. 2 Syracuse are all playing Cornell in a four-week span. Cornell is 1-2 so far, dropping a one-goal game to Penn, beating Princeton by one goal in overtime and then losing by two to Dartmouth.
FAST STARTS
The Big Red has been making a habit of beginning games with early leads. In five of the team's 10 contests this season, Cornell has taken at least a three-goal lead before the other team has been able to score. Cornell has held leads of 6-0, 5-1, 4-0 (twice) and 3-0 (twice) this year and has held on to win five of those six games. Only Notre Dame was able to take a multi-goal lead on the Big Red before it managed a goal.
SCORING STREAKS
Through eight games this season, three Cornell players have scored a point in every game.
Jessi Steinberg and
Caroline Salisbury have each tallied at least one point in 10 contests.
Shannon McHugh, who missed the Columbia game on March 10, has scored in all nine games she has played.
FREE POSITION SUCCESS
The Big Red has taken 47 free position shots this season and converted on 24 of them, giving the team a 51 percent success rate. Cornell is on pace to finish the season with over 50 percent conversion on free position shots for the first time since 2007.
GOALS, GOALS, GOALS
The Big Red's 22-goal outburst at Jacksonville on March 20 tied the team's all-time record, set on May 1, 1994 against Rutgers. Cornell had scored 20 goals in a game just twice in its history before this season, but after the Jacksonville contest the Big Red had scored 20 goals twice in eight days. Cornell also recorded a 21-goal effort against Canisius on March 13.
OFFENSIVE DEFENSEMAN
Besides all the usual suspects getting in on the scoring against Jacksonville on March 20, Cornell senior defenseman
Cacki Helmer also scored. The goal, just the second of her four-year career, came on her first shot of the season. With time winding down in the first half, Helmer sprinted across the restraining line, headed right for the net, and fired past the Dolphins keeper to give Cornell a 12-7 lead at halftime. She took just the fourth shot of her career against Dartmouth on Saturday and had it saved.
CENTURY MARK
Senior attack
Jessi 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 3.44 goals per game, she would finish the regular season with 142 goals, two short of Jaimee Reynolds for first all-time in team history.
NATIONALLY RANKED
The Big Red moved up again this week in the IWLCA Coaches' Poll despite the loss to Dartmouth, coming in one spot higher than last week at No. 15. In the deBeer Media Poll, Cornell stayed put at No. 17 for the third consecutive week.
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Senior captain
Jessi Steinberg earned Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week on March 19 for a 12-point week featuring nine goals and three assists. The award was the second 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 on March 12 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.
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. Steinberg is at 33 goals already this season, but
Olivia Knotts has surpassed Kirk's second-best 22 from last year by two. This year, nine different players have contributed at least six goals: Steinberg (34), Knotts (24),
Caroline Salisbury (22),
Shannon McHugh (13),
Katie Kirk (10),
Amanda D'Amico (nine),
Lindsay Toppe (seven),
Lauren Halpern (six) and
Chelsea Rowe (six) 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 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 March 7,
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, Steinberg scored five goals while Salisbury had three. In the Notre Dame contest, both Knotts (five) and Steinberg (four) eclipsed the three-goal mark.
At Jacksonville, Steinberg (three), Knotts (four) and D'Amico (three) continued the impressive streak that has now lasted more than half of the 15-game season. Steinberg also kept the streak alive against Penn when she scored five goals for the second time this year. Against Princeton, four players recorded a hat trick: Steinberg (four goals), McHugh, Salisbury and Kirk. In the Dartmouth conteset, Knotts and Salisbury kept the streak alive by each scoring three times.
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 .889 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 March 7 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 March 10.
NATIONAL NUMBERS
Through last weekend's games, Cornell ranks near the top of the country in multiple statistical categories. The Big Red's scoring offense of 14.30 goals per game puts it at 13th in the country. Cornell's 14.40 draw controls per game also has the team 13th nationally. Cornell is also in 19th with a .700 win percentage.
Individually,
Jessi Steinberg sits tied for eighth in the nation with her 4.80 points per game and is also tied at 14th with 3.30 goals per game.
Cacki Helmer's 1.80 caused turnovers per outing has her in 17th place in the country and her 3.00 ground balls per game keeps her tied for 11th nationally.
IVY STATISTICS
The Big Red continues to lead the Ivy League in goals per game with 14.30 and is second in assists per game with 5.90. The team scores more points per game (20.20), wins more draws (14.40) and takes more shots (30.80) per game than any team among the Ancient Eight.
As an individual,
Jessi Steinberg leads the league in goals per game (3.30) while
Olivia Knotts' 2.40 goals per game puts her in seventh.
Caroline Salisbury is sixth in the Ivy League with 1.40 assists per contest, just behind Steinberg's 1.50 and ahead of Knotts' 1.30.
Cacki Helmer is league's best player with 3.00 ground balls per game, and
Shannon McHugh's 3.67 draw controls per game has her in fourth.
TEWAARATON WATCH LIST
Jessi Steinberg has been named to the 2012 Tewaaraton Award Watch list, InsideLacrosse.com announced before the season. 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.
CAREER NUMBERS WATCH
Against Dartmouth:
Approaching career numbers:
UP NEXT
The Big Red finishes its toughest stretch of the regular season when No. 2 Syracuse comes to Ithaca on April 17 for a 7 p.m. contest at Schoellkopf Field. Cornell then plays its second-to-last Ivy League game against Yale at noon on April 21.
