GAME #7: No. 2 Cornell at No. 15/16 Bucknell
FACEOFF: Tuesday, March 19, at 4:00 p.m.
SITE: Schoellkopf Field (Ithaca, N.Y.)
2013 Records: Cornell (6-0, 0-0 Ivy League); Bucknell (6-1, 2-0 Patriot)
SERIES RECORD: First Meeting
LAST MEETING: First Meeting

RADIO: WHCU 870 AM
LIVE STATS: http://www.sidearmstats.com/cornell/mlax/scoreboard.aspx
LIVE AUDIO: http://www.cornellbigred.com/showcase/
LIVE VIDEO: http://www.cornellbigred.com/showcase/
TELEVISION: None

Game Notes (PDF)

THE MATCHUP — The No. 2 Big Red men's lacrosse team will open a four-game home stand when it welcomes No. 15/16 Bucknell to Schoellkopf Field this afternoon. Cornell is currently riding a six-game winning streak, its best start since the 2007 season, while Bucknell has won five in a row with its only blemish coming in a one-goal decision at Mount St. Mary's. The game can be viewed online at www.CornellBigRed.com/showcase and fans in the Ithaca area can hear the game on WHCU 870 AM with Barry Leonard and Ken Entenmann '85 on the call.


SERIES HISTORY VS. BUCKNELL — Today's game is the first-ever meeting between Cornell and the Bison in men's lacrosse.

LOOKING AT THE BISON — Bucknell has jumped up to No. 15 in the USILA Coaches Poll following an impressive week in which it defeated UMass (7-4), Drexel (17-8) and Lafayette (13-6).  The Bison feature one of the best defenses in the nation, allowing opponents just 25 shots and a mere 6.86 goals per game. Senior goalie Kyle Feeney has been impressive, playing all but 17 minutes on the season and posting a .587 save percentage to go along with a 6.71 goals-against average. The team features several potent finishers, with four players registering double-digit goals, led by Thomas Flibotte and Todd Heritage with 19 and 18 goals, respectively. Getting them the ball is David Dickson, who leads the team with 22 assists. A solid team from top to bottom, one potential area of weakness is the midfield where three different players have combined to win just 61-0of-148 restarts (.412).  Ryan Gutowski has taken the majority of draws for the team and has posted a .435 winning percentage (37-of-85).
 
CORNELL VS. THE PATRIOT LEAGUE – The Big Red is 63-55-4 all-time vs. the current members of the Patriot League, thanks mostly to a 39-7-1 record vs. Colgate. Cornell is 15-24 all-time vs. Army, 4-9-3 vs. Lehigh, and 5-15 vs. Navy. The Big Red has never faced Bucknell, Holy Cross, or Lafayette in men's lacrosse ... Head Coach Ben DeLuca is 2-1 against the Patriot League.

A WIN OVER BUCKNELL WOULD –
• improve head coach Ben DeLuca's career record to 30-7 and 1-0 vs. the Bison.
• make DeLuca 3-1 against the Patriot League.
• be Cornell's third consecutive victory against a Patriot League team.
• be the 707th win in program history.
• make Cornell 7-0 to start a season for the first time since the 2007 campaign.

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. Now in his third season with Cornell, he holds a 29-7 overall record.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK BRIGADE – Through the first four weeks of the season, Cornell has had four players named the Ivy League Player of the Week. Rob Pannell has earned the honor twice (Feb. 25, March 11), while Jason Noble (March 4) and Steve Mock (March 18) have earned the award one time apiece.

WE'RE NUMBER ONE – The Cornell offense ranks first in the nation with 15.17 goals per game.

TOP 10 NATION – The Big Red ranks in the top 10 nationally in several statistical categories, including scoring offense (first – 15.17), scoring defense (sixth – 8.00), man-down defense (seventh - .792), assists per game (10th – 7.33), points per game (third – 22.5), ground balls per game (second – 36.5) and shot percentage (second - .327).

IVY OPENERS – The Big Red's victory at Yale on March 16 marked the 58th Ivy League season opener for Cornell men's lacrosse. Since the league began play in the 1956 season, the Big Red has posted a 43-15 record in Ivy League openers, including winning its last 14, dating back to the 1999 season when it fell to the Bulldogs, 7-6. More often than not, Cornell has met either Yale or Harvard in the conference opener, playing a different school on only six occasions.

MOCK FROM PANNELL – So far this season, Rob Pannell has been credited with the assist on 11 of Steve Mock's 19 goals (58 percent). Of the 90 goals Mock has scored while playing with Pannell (14 were scored during Pannell's injury in 2012), 35 have been assisted on by Pannell (39 percent).

NON-CONFERENCE WINS — Cornell owns a 46-10 record in its last 56 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.

MOVING ON UP – With his nine points vs. Hobart on Feb. 24, 2013, Pannell moved into second place in Cornell history, surpassing Eamon McEneaney (256; 1975-77) for career points. He needs six more points to overtake Mike French (296; 1974-76) and become the Big Red's all-time leader.

LEADING MAN – With his four assists at Virginia on March 9, 2013, Rob Pannell moved into first place in Cornell history for career assists, passing Eamon McEneaney '77 (164).

THE CENTURY MARK – In the 2013 season opener against Hobart, senior attackman Steve Mock became the 39th player in Cornell history to reach 100 career points. On March 16 against Yale, he became just the seventh Cornell player all-time to accumulate 100 career goals.

NATIONAL CAREER ASSISTS LEADER – Rob Pannell is the national leader in career assists with 171. That is 75 more assists than Lehigh's David DiMara, who sits in second place with 96.

GAINING ON GOALS LIST – Rob Pannell is currently in sixth place in Cornell history with 120 career goals and needs just five more to match Jon Levine (1975-76) in fifth place … Steve Mock currently ranks right behind Pannell in seventh place overall with 104 career goals.

IVY MARKS IN SIGHT – With his assault on the Cornell record book nearly complete, Rob Pannell has the all-time Ivy League points and assists records in his sight. He ranks third in conference history in both categories, needing just four more assists to surpass Princeton's Kevin Lowe (1991-94) and six more points to pass Cornell's Mike French (1974-76). Brown's Darren Lowe (1989-92) is the Ivy League all-time leader in points (316) and assists (205).

THE 300 – Rob Pannell needs just nine points to become the seventh player in the history of NCAA Division I men's lacrosse to register 300 career points.

BALANCED OFFENSE – During the 2012 season, the Big Red showed tremendous balance in its scoring with the attack accounting for 73 goals and 38 assists (111 points), while the midfielders and defensive players combined for 81 goals and 35 assists (116 points). So far this season, Cornell has gotten 77 points from its attack and 58 points from its midfield and defense.

HOME IS WHERE THE WINS ARE — Since 2001, the Big Red has gone 73-15 at Schoellkopf Field, including perfect slates in 2013 (2-0), 2011 (8-0), 2009 (6-0), 2007 (7-0) and 2005 (6-0).

RANKED OPPONENTS – Six of Cornell's 2013 opponents are ranked in the current USILA Coaches Poll, including a current stretch of four foes in a row, dating back to its game at #8/9 Virginia and concluding with this Saturday's contest with #9/7 Penn.

WIN NO. 700 – Cornell's 12-6 victory over Syracuse on April 10, 2012 was the 700th win in program history. The Big Red is now 706-443-27 all-time, and its 706 victories rank seventh among the winningest programs in collegiate lacrosse.

THE NATURAL – Sophomore Matt Donovan registered a natural hat trick against Canisius on March 5, scoring three times in the span of 1:49 in the fourth quarter. It was the Big Red's first natural hat trick since Scott Austin posted three consecutive goals in a span of 4:39 in the fourth quarter of an 18-7 victory against Yale on March 20, 2010. Of Donovan's three goals, one was a man-down, one was a man-up and one was at even strength.

A NOBLE EFFORT – After holding the reigning Tewaaraton Trophy winner to just one meaningless assist and only three shots, none of which were one goal, in Cornell's 19-3 victory against Colgate, Jason Noble was named the Ivy League Co-Player of the Week. He is the first defensemen to win the award since Brown's Peter Fallon on April 26, 2010.

11th Heaven – For the 11th time in his career, Rob Pannell has earned one of the Ivy League's weekly honors, as he was named the conference's Player of the Week on March 11. The senior attackman was named Rookie of the Week twice during his freshman season and has gone on to pick up nine Player of the Week awards, including twice already this season.

GOOD OFF THE GROUND – The Big Red ranks second in the nation with 36.5 ground balls per contest, thanks in large part to Thomas Keith (20th – 6.17 gbpg.) and Doug Tesoriero (28th – 5.5 gbpg.).

HUMAN VACUUM – Jason Noble has been the Big Red's most consistent ground ball guy, registering at least one ground ball in all but one game during his career. He currently has the longest streak on the team at 43 games.

SINGLE-DIGIT DEFENSE – Since his time as the defensive coordinator of the Big Red began during the 2002 season as an assistant coach, now-head coach Ben DeLuca has led a defensive unit that has held opponents to single-digits in 116-of-171 games (.678).

RULE FOLLOWERS – In the 69 games played since the start of the 2009 season, the Big Red has been flagged for more penalties than its opponents on just 20 occasions.

NEXT UP – The Big Red will continue its four-game home stand this weekend when it welcomes No. 9/7 to Schoellkopf Field on Saturday, March 23, at 1 p.m.