ITHACA, N.Y. – Saturday brought a terrific win for the Cornell women's lacrosse team, but there is little time for the Big Red to celebrate. Tuesday brings Syracuse to Ithaca, and the Orange is one of the nation's best teams this season. Cornell and Syracuse face off at 7 p.m.

GAME INFORMATION
GAME #12: No. 13/13 Cornell vs. No. 2/2 Syracuse
GAME TIME: Tuesday, April 17, 7 p.m.
GAME SITE: Schoellkopf Field (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Syracuse leads 10-5
LAST MEETING: No. 18 Syracuse won 13-9 on April 26, 2011
2011-12 RECORDS: Cornell (8-3, 3-2 Ivy League); Syracuse (10-2, 4-0 BIG EAST)
LIVE STATS: Cornell Athletics
LIVE VIDEO:  RedCast

ABOUT THE BIG RED
Cornell continued its terrific season with a 17-10 runaway victory against then-No. 11 Loyola last weekend. The Big Red was ahead by just one goal (8-7) at halftime but pulled away thanks to a six-goal run in the second half. Cornell has already eclipsed its win totals from each of the last two years and its goal totals from each of the last three years, and the team is one win away from matching its 2009 total of nine. A senior-heavy team with 10 returning starters, Cornell is close to making 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 SYRACUSE
The Orange, based in Syracuse, currently 10-2 on the season and undefeated in BIG EAST Conference play, is ranked No. 2 in both of the country's major national polls. Syracuse has already earned wins over seven ranked opponents this season and has won nine games in a row. Syracuse has scored 20 goals in a contest four times this year including its last two games, and the Orange is 2-0 against Ivy League foes including a 22-4 shellacking of Dartmouth last week. Alyssa Murray leads the way for Syracuse with 40 goals and 20 assists for 60 points. Six players on the roster have double-digit goals.
Syracuse is coached by fifth-year leader Gary Gait, a 1990 graduate of Syracuse.

THE SERIES WITH SYRACUSE
The Cornell-Syracuse rivalry goes back 15 years to 1998. Since then, the teams have played once per season, with the Orange winning two out of every three contests. Syracuse has won the last five games in the series to take its 10-5 all-time lead. Cornell's last win against Syracuse came in 2006. When the teams met last year, Syracuse scored the first six goals of the game and Cornell could not quite catch up in a 13-9 loss.

A WIN AGAINST SYRACUSE WOULD…
…be the team's first win against Syracuse in six years…improve Cornell's out-of-conference record to 6-1…make the Big Red's home record 4-2…be the team's fourth win this year over a ranked opponent…bring the team's record against teams from New York up to 4-0.

TWO TOPPLED
The last time Cornell faced a team ranked No. 2 in the country, it pulled off a season-ending upset against Florida on May 1 of last season. The Big Red stunned the visiting Gators, taking leads of 3-0 and 5-1, then holding on for the thrilling victory.

RANK AND FILE
Cornell's victory over Loyola was its third win against a ranked opponent this year. The Big Red started its Ivy League slate with a win over then-ranked Harvard, defeated Princeton on the road in overtime, and then conquered Loyola on Saturday. Cornell's three losses this season have also all come against ranked teams.

CHARITABLE DONATION
The Big Red announced last week that it had raised more than $2,200 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 on 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 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 has already eclipsed its goal totals from the last three seasons. Averaging over 14 goals per game this year, the Big Red is on pace to score 218 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 eight 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 is now all alone in sixth at 92 draw controls and is just five out of fifth place. McHugh, meanwhile, is now tied for ninth place all-time and would move up to eighth three more draw controls.

TOUGH STRETCH
The Big Red is near the end 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 facing Cornell in a four-week span. Cornell is 2-2 so far, dropping a one-goal game to Penn, beating Princeton by one goal in overtime, losing by two to Dartmouth and then upending Loyola by seven.

FAST STARTS
The Big Red has been making a habit of beginning games with early leads. In five of the team's 11 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 11 games this season, three Cornell players have scored a point in every contest. Jessi Steinberg and Caroline Salisbury have each tallied at least one point in 11 contests. Shannon McHugh, who missed the Columbia game on March 10, has scored in all 10 games she has played.

FREE POSITION SUCCESS
The Big Red has taken 53 free position shots this season and converted on 28 of them, giving the team a 52 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 3.36 goals per game, she would finish the regular season with 142 goals, just two short of  Jaimee Reynolds for first all-time in team history. Currently fourth in team history for goals, she will move into sole possession of third with three more.

NATIONALLY RANKED
Cornell is now ranked No. 13 in the IWLCA Coaches' poll after coming in at No. 15 last week. In the deBeer Media Poll, Cornell shot up five places to No. 12 after spending the last three weeks at No. 17.

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 37 goals already this season, but Olivia Knotts has surpassed Kirk's second-best 22 from last year by five. This year, nine different players have contributed at least six goals: Steinberg (37), Knotts (27), Caroline Salisbury (27), Shannon McHugh (14), Katie Kirk (12), Amanda D'Amico (10), Lindsay Toppe (seven), Chelsea Rowe (seven) and Lauren Halpern (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 contest, Knotts and Salisbury kept the streak alive by each scoring three times. Knotts (three), Steinberg (four) and Salisbury (five) all reached the three-goal plateau on Saturday against Loyola.

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 14.55 goals per game puts it at 12th in the country. Cornell's 14.45 draw controls per game also has the team 10th nationally. Cornell is also in 17th with a .727 win percentage.
Individually, Jessi Steinberg sits in 10th in the nation with her 4.91 points per game and is also tied at 10th with 3.36 goals per game. Cacki Helmer's 3.09 ground balls per game keeps her in seventh nationally.

IVY STATISTICS
The Big Red continues to lead the Ivy League in goals per game with 14.55 and is second in assists per game with 5.82.  The team scores more points per game (20.36), wins more draws (14.45) and takes more shots (30.64) per game than any team among the Ancient Eight. The team is also second in the Ivy League in ground balls per game (16.18).
As an individual, Jessi Steinberg leads the league in goals per game (3.36) while Olivia Knotts' 2.45 goals per game puts her in a tie for sixth. Caroline Salisbury is sixth in the Ivy League with 1.27 assists per contest, just behind Steinberg's 1.55 and tie with Knotts. Cacki Helmer is league's best player with 3.09 ground balls per game, and Shannon McHugh's 3.50 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 Loyola:
• Shannon McHugh scored her 70th career point.
• Olivia Knotts scored her 40th career goal.
• Katie Kirk earned her 75th point.
• Jessi Steinberg moved to fourth all-time in team history for goals.

Approaching career numbers:
• Katie Kirk will reach 40 caused turnovers and 75 points with two more of each.
• Courtney Gallagher's next save will be her 40th.
• Kelly Lang and Shannon Tierney's next goals will be their 10th.
• Cacki Helmer is four ground balls shy of 100.

UP NEXT
The Big Red closes out its home schedule with a game against Yale at noon on Saturday. Cornell then has two road games to finish out the regular season at Binghamton and Brown next week.