GAME #8: No. 2 Cornell vs. No. 9/7 Penn
FACEOFF: Saturday, March 23, at 1:00 p.m.
SITE: Schoellkopf Field (Ithaca, N.Y.)
2013 Records: Cornell (6-1, 1-0 Ivy League); Penn (5-1, 1-0 Ivy)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 62-22-3
LAST MEETING: Cornell won, 16-11 on March 24, 2012 (Philadelphia, Pa.)

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

Game Notes (PDF)

THE MATCHUP — Coming off its first loss of the season on Tuesday, the No. 2 Big Red men's lacrosse team will look to get an early jump in the Ivy League standings when it welcomes No. 9/7 Penn to Schoellkopf  Field on Saturday, March 23 at 1 p.m. Both teams sit atop the conference standings, along with Brown, with identical 1-0 Ivy League records, as Cornell defeated Yale and the Quakers beat Princeton last weekend.

SERIES HISTORY VS. PENN — The Cornell and Penn rivalry is the second-oldest in the Ivy League, beginning in the Quakers' second varsity season, 1901. The Big Red, which had already been fielding a team for nine seasons, took the 3-1 victory, the first of six-straight for Cornell. The two programs began playing each other regularly in 1920, meeting nearly every season since. The 2013 edition will be the 88th meeting in the series history, with the Big Red holding a dominating 62-22-3 record overall, including winning the last six meetings.

LOOKING AT THE QUAKERS — Penn has jumped into the top 10 in both national polls after rattling off three consecutive victories against No. 17 Lehigh, Villanova and No. 7 Princeton. The Quakers are 5-1 on the season, with its only blemish coming at No. 10 Denver (15-12) on March  2. Penn lost three of its top five scorers from a year ago, as well as a starting All-Ivy defenseman, but still features plenty of talent up and down the field.  Leading the team in points is Tim Schwalje (10 goals, 11 assists), while Issac Bock and Zack Losco have 11 and 10 goals, respectively. Danny Feeney has emerged as the team's top faceoff man, winning 53 percent (48-of-91), with Joe McCallion providing back up and winning 44 percent (19-of-43).  Brian Feeney, Danny's twin brother, has been Penn's starter for practically his entire career and this season is no different, as the junior has played every minute and posted a .556 save percentage to go along with an 8.67 goals-against average.

A WIN OVER PENN WOULD –
• improve head coach Ben DeLuca's career record to 30-8 and 3-0 vs. the Quakers.
• make Cornell 6-1 to start a season for the second time in three seasons under DeLuca.
• improve the Big Red to 2-0 in Ivy League play for the seventh straight year.
• extend its win streak over the Quakers to seven games.
• be the 707th win in program history.

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 29-8 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 opened the week ranked first in the nation with 15.17 goals per game.

TOP 10 NATION – The Big Red opened the week ranked 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).

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 46-11 record in its last 57 regular-season non-conference games (81%), 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 two 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 173. That is 76 more assists than Lehigh's David DiMara, who sits in second place with 97.

GAINING ON GOALS LIST – Rob Pannell is currently in sixth place in Cornell history with 122 career goals and needs just three 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 two more assists to surpass Princeton's Kevin Lowe (1991-94) and two 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 five 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 84 points from its attack and 62 points from its midfield and defense.

HOME IS WHERE THE WINS ARE — Since 2001, the Big Red has gone 73-16 at Schoellkopf Field, including perfect slates in 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 706-444-27 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.

NOBLE'S GOT SENIOR CLASS – Jason Noble has been named a candidate for the 2013 Senior CLASS Award in men's lacrosse. One of 20 candidates who excel both on and off the field, Noble is an All-American defender for the Big Red. To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence – community, classroom, character and competition.

TEWAARATON TROPHY WATCH – The Tewaaraton Foundation has announced the 2013 Tewaaraton Award men's watch list and a trio of Cornell players – Connor English, Steve Mock, and Rob Pannell – have made the initial cut. The list includes the top players across all three divisions of NCAA lacrosse and highlights the early contenders for the 2013 Tewaaraton Award.

EMPIRE STATE OF MIND – Cornell has traditionally been very successful against collegiate teams from New York state, posting an all-time record of 274-157-7 (.632). Head coach Ben DeLuca has posted a record of 13-1 (.929) vs. teams from the Empire State … The Big Red will face six teams from New York in 2013 and is currently 4-0 in those games.

ELITE COMPANY – Over the span of the past five seasons (2008-12), Cornell has racked up the fifth-most wins (59) of any Division I men's lacrosse program and has posted the fifth-best winning percentage (73.8 percent) overall.

GOOD OFF THE GROUND – The Big Red entered the week ranked 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 44 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 117-of-172 games (.680).

RULE FOLLOWERS – In the 70 games played since the start of the 2009 season, the Big Red has been flagged for more penalties than its opponents on just 21 occasions.

NINE IS FINE – Offensively, Cornell has scored at least nine goals in 34 of the 37 games (92%) under head coach Ben DeLuca, with 28 games in double figures. The Big Red has surrendered fewer than nine goals 19 times during that same span.

CLOSE CALLS — Since the beginning of the 2003 season, Cornell is 30-11 in games that have been decided by a single goal, a mark that was lowered when the Big Red fell to No. 15 Bucknell, 9-8, on March 19, 2013, in Ithaca, N.Y. Of the 11 losses, five have come against a team ranked either No. 1 or No. 2 in the nation.

NEXT UP – The Big Red will continue its four-game home stand on Tuesday, March 26 when it welcomes Siena to Schoellkopf Field. Faceoff is slated for 1 p.m.