2015 Schedule 

ITHACA, N.Y. – Matt Kerwick, the Richard M. Moran Head Coach of Lacrosse, has announced the Big Red's schedule for the upcoming 2015 men's lacrosse season. The slate is an exciting one, highlighted by seven home games, as well as a road trip to Virginia, and a neutral site contest with Albany in Dallas, Texas. As always, the Big Red schedule will also feature the ever-competitive Ivy League conference games, several games with traditional rivals, five opponents that participated in the 2014 NCAA men's lacrosse tournament, and the sixth season of the Ivy League postseason.

For just the third time in the 95-year history of its rivalry with Syracuse, the Big Red will open its season against the Orange, travelling to the Carrier Dome on Sunday, Feb. 15. The last time Cornell faced its in-state rival in its first game was during the 1979 season, a 10-6 Big Red victory. That game was the Orange's third of the season. Prior to the 1979 meeting, the teams faced off in the first game for both squads in 1946 (Syracuse, 8-3) and 1931 (Cornell, 4-3). The series with Syracuse began in 1920 and since that time, there have been only four seasons (1944, 1945, 1977, 1978) that the two squads have not faced each other in varsity competition. While Syracuse owns the 63-37-1 record all time, eight of the 16 games played since the 2000 season have been decided by two goals or less. Syracuse, which is beginning its second season in the ACC, is coming off an 11-5 campaign.

One week later, Cornell will take on its oldest rival and Coach Kerwick's alma mater, Hobart in Geneva on Saturday, Feb. 21. The game will be the 135th meeting between the two programs, with the Big Red holding an 84-47-4 advantage in the all-time series, which began in 1896. After the Big Red dropped five consecutive meetings with Hobart from 1996-2000, Cornell has won 13 of the last 14 meetings. In his second season at the helm of the Statesmen's program, Greg Raymond will look to improve upon the 2014 campaign in which Hobart finished with a 5-10 record overall and a mark of 3-3 in the NEC.

The Big Red will open the home portion of its season with a midweek game vs. Binghamton on Tuesday, Feb. 24, before heading to Dallas, Texas to take on Albany on the SMU campus on Saturday, Feb. 28.
 
The Bearcats, coming off its best season in a decade, finished the 2014 campaign with a 7-8 record overall and a mark of 4-1 in the America East. Binghamton has not beaten the Big Red in 11 tries, but fourth-year head coach Scott Nelson has had some success, earning a 2-4 record against Cornell when he was the head coach at Brown. 
 
Cornell will look to extend its all-time record against the Great Danes to 2-0, in the second consecutive neutral site contest in the series. The Big Red defeated Albany in the only meeting between the two programs with a thrilling 12-11 overtime victory in the 2007 NCAA quarterfinals, held in Princeton, N.J. Albany had one of the best seasons in its program history in 2014, going 12-6 overall (5-0 American East) and advancing to the NCAA quarterfinals.

The road trip will continue with games at Virginia and at Yale on consecutive Saturdays. Cornell will face the Cavaliers on March 7, before taking on the Bulldogs in its Ivy League opener on March 14.

The Big Red has faced Virginia during the regular season each year since 2009, with two of the last three meetings being decided in overtime. The Cavaliers, which hold the 9-5 advantage in the all-time series, are coming off a 10-6 season (1-4 ACC) in which they fell to Johns Hopkins in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

The Bulldogs had a solid season in 2014, posting a 9-5 record overall and a mark of 3-3 in the conference. Cornell has won 16 of the last 17 meetings against the Bulldogs to improve to 50-23-1 in the all-time series.

The Big Red will open a three-game home stand with instate rival Colgate coming to Schoellkopf Field on Tuesday, March 17. Cornell, which owns a 40-7-1 record in the series, has won 10 consecutive contests with the Raiders, including last season's 15-10 victory in Hamilton, N.Y. Colgate, under the direction of fourth-year head coach Mike Murphy, is coming off a 9-7 campaign (4-4 Patriot).

Meetings with Ivy League foes Penn (March 21) and Dartmouth (March 28) will close March for the Big Red.

The Cornell and Penn rivalry is the second-oldest in the Ivy League, beginning in the Quakers' second varsity season in 1901. The two programs began playing each other regularly in 1920, meeting nearly every season since. The 2015 edition will be the 91st meeting, with the Big Red holding a dominating 64-23-3 record overall, including winning eight of the last nine meetings, as the Quakers snapped an eight game losing skid in the first round of the 2014 Ivy League Tournament. Penn went on to win the Ivy Tournament crown for the first time ever before falling to Drexel in the first round of the NCAA tournament to finish the season at 11-4 overall (4-2 Ivy).

The Big Red has dominated the series against Dartmouth, posting an all-time record of 49-15, and winning 16 of the last 17 meetings, including last season's 19-4 victory in Hanover, N.H. The Big Green, under the direction of first-year head coach Brendan Callahan, is looking to improve on a 2014 campaign in which it went 2-10 and 0-6 in the Ivy League. 

Cornell will head back on the road at the start of April, travelling to Harvard on Saturday, April 4, before welcoming Canisius and Hofstra to Schoellkopf Field the following weekend.

The Big Red had a 16-game winning streak against the Crimson snapped last season as the teams shared the 2014 Ivy League championship. Still, Cornell owns an impressive record of a 64-24 in the all-time series. After two seasons of posting identical records of 6-8 (2-4 Ivy League), fifth-year head coach Chris Wojcik led his alma mater to a 10-7 record (5-1 Ivy) during the 2014 campaign.

The Golden Griffins, which finished the 2014 season with a 7-8 record (3-3 MAAC), have not beaten the Big Red in 10 tries, while Cornell will look to avenge last season's 10-9 overtime loss to Hofstra and improve upon its 6-2 advantage in the all-time series, which began in the 1972 season. The Pride is coming off an 11-5 campaign (4-1 CAA) in which it fell short of an automatic NCAA tournament bid with an 11-10 triple overtime loss to Drexel in the CAA Tournament championship game.

The final road game of the season will come at Brown on Saturday, April 18, before celebrating Senior Day vs. Princeton the following weekend at Schoellkopf Field.

The Big Red owns a 36-18 record in the all-time series with Brown, winning four of the last five meetings, including last season's 14-9 victory at Schoellkopf Field. Brown finished last year with an 8-6 record overall and a mark of 2-4 in the conference.

The regular season will conclude with the marquee matchup in Ivy League lacrosse, the Cornell and Princeton rivalry, on Saturday, April 25. The two squads have combined for 52 conference titles, sharing the crown in five of the past 12 seasons. The Big Red won last season's matchup, 12-10, winning 10 of the last 13 contests to cut Princeton's lead in the all-time series to 39-36-2.

For the sixth year, the Ivy League will sponsor a post-season tournament on the weekend of May 1-3. The 2015 Ivy League Men's Lacrosse Tournament will include the top four teams in the conference regular season round-robin competition and will be hosted by the round-robin winner. Cornell is one of just two teams (Yale) that have participated in all five of the previous Ivy League tournaments, including winning the tournament title in 2011.