GAME #1: Cornell vs. Hobart
FACE OFF: Saturday, February 22, at 1:00 p.m.
SITE: Schoellkopf Field (Ithaca, N.Y.)
2014 Records: Cornell (0-0, 0-0 Ivy League); Hobart (0-1, 0-0 NEC)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 83-47-4
LAST MEETING: Cornell won 19-11, Feb. 24, 2013 in Syracuse, N.Y.

RADIO: WHCU 870 AM (Barry Leonard, play-by-play; Tom LaFalce, color commentary)
LIVE STATS: http://www.sidearmstats.com/cornell/mlax/
LIVE AUDIO: http://www.ivyleaguedigitalnetwork.com/cornell/schedule
LIVE VIDEO: http://www.ivyleaguedigitalnetwork.com/cornell/schedule
TELEVISION: None

Game Notes (PDF)

IMPORTANT SPECTATOR INFORMATION –
• At this time, the Crescent stands will not be open for the Hobart game and fans will be directed to the West stands adjacent to the Hoy Parking Garage. Additionally, the rest rooms at Schollkopf Field will not be open for the contest. Fans are asked to utilize the rest rooms in Teagle Hall or Bartels Hall.
• Parking in Hoy Garage will be free, while tailgating will be permitted on a first-come, first-serve basis in the Crescent Lot ONLY. Please be advised that charcoal grills, motorhomes, buses and pets are prohibited.
• Advanced discount tickets can be ordered online at: www.CornellBigRedTickets.com or by calling (607) 254-BEAR, or in person at the Bartels Hall Ticket Office.
• Will call tickets and tickets purchased by credit card will be distributed from the Athletic Ticket Office in Bartels Hall. Game day tickets and programs may be purchased at the West gate beginning 1.5 hours prior to the game.
• Alcohol, bags, coolers and pets are prohibited in the stadium.

THE MATCHUP — The Cornell men's lacrosse team opens its 119th season this weekend as it takes on its oldest rival, Hobart, on Saturday, Feb. 22 at Schoellkopf Field at 1 p.m. The Statesmen, under first-year head coach Greg Raymond opened its season last weekend with a 12-7 loss to Siena. The game can be seen online through Ivy League Digital Network and fans in the Ithaca area can hear the game on WHCU 870 AM with Barry Leonard and Tom LaFalce on the call.


SERIES HISTORY VS. HOBART — Cornell and Hobart will face off in college lacrosse's oldest rivalry, meeting for the 135th time. The Big Red holds an 83-47-4 advantage in the all-time series, which began in the 1896 season. After the Big Red dropped five consecutive meetings from 1996-2000, Cornell has gone on to win 12 of the next 13 meetings, including its current streak of nine straight.

LOOKING AT THE STATESMEN — Hobart began a new era in its historic lacrosse program last weekend, competing in the Northeast Conference for the first time under the direction of first-year Head Coach Greg Raymond. The Statesmen, who fell in its season opener to Siena, 12-7, were tabbed to finish second in the league behind two-time defending champion Bryant. On attack, Hobart returns all three starters in All-American Alex Love, Cam Stone, and Jake McHenry. Love broke the Hobart Division I single season scoring record a year ago, logging 45 on the season to lead the ECAC and rank third in the nation in goals per game (3.21). After attack, Hobart's strongest position might just be the defensive middle, as junior Thomas Petrocci has played in every game over the past two seasons and is a tenacious defender. Hobart's close defense will be rebuilt after losing all three starters from a season ago. The young defense will be ably backed by Peter Zonino, who has ranked in the top 12 in the nation in saves per game in each of the past two seasons. In the faceoff circle, freshman Jake Shapiro is expected to shoulder the load, having gone 7-of-15 against the Saints on Saturday.

CORNELL VS. THE NEC – The Big Red has never played a member of the NEC conference prior to this season when Hobart joined the league. Cornell is 83-47-4 all-time vs. Hobart, but has never faced Bryant, Mount St. Mary's, Robert Morris, Sacred Heart, Saint Joseph's or Wagner.

A WIN OVER HOBART WOULD –
• improve interim head coach Matt Kerwick's career record to 110-101 and 1-0 against his alma mater.
• make Cornell 84-47-4 all-time in the series.
• match the longest Big Red winning streak in the series at 10 consecutive games, a streak that ran from 1910-15.
• be the 715th win in program history.
• be Cornell's 11th consecutive victory in a season opener.

RECAPPING 2013 – The Big Red returned to the national spotlight in 2013, rising as high as No. 2 in the national rankings, going undefeated in Ivy League play, and advancing to the NCAA semifinals before falling to eventual national champion Duke in an epic game. The team posted a 14-4 record overall, with three losses coming by a single-goal before their final loss came by a two-goal margin against the Blue Devils. During the course of the season, Rob Pannell '14 broke a handful of Cornell, Ivy League and NCAA records, becoming the all-time leading scorer in Division I history (354), as well as the Cornell all-time assist leader (204). Pannell then punctuated his epic career by winning the Tewaaraton Trophy, the USILA Lt. Raymond J. Enners Award for the Outstanding DI Player of the Year, as well as the Ivy League Player of the Year. He is just the fifth player in USILA history to earn the Enners award twice and is the first-ever three-time Ivy League Player of the Year in men's lacrosse, and just the fourth player in the history of Division I college lacrosse to be named conference player of the year three times. Pannell also became just the fourth player in Cornell men's lacrosse history to be a four-time All-American, earning a first-team selection for the third consecutive season. Joining him on the first-team was defender Jason Noble '13, while midfielder Connor Buczek '15 earned a second-team nod. Van Bourgondien (third-team), attackman Steve Mock '13 (third-team) and long-stick midfielder Thomas Keith '13 (honorable mention) were also honored. Pannell, Mock, Buczek and Noble were all unanimously chosen first-team All-Ivy, with Van Bourgondien, Keith and goalie AJ Fiore '13 earning second-team selection.

RAISE THE ORANGE AND PURPLE HIGH – Cornell interim head coach Matt Kerwick graduated from Hobart College in 1990 and went on to coach the Statesmen from 2002-10, leading the team to a pair of NCAA appearances and a Patriot League championship in 2002.

EMPIRE STATE OF MIND – Cornell has traditionally been very successful against collegiate teams from New York state, posting an all-time record of 275-158-7 (.633) … The Big Red will face six teams from New York in 2014.

FOR STARTERS - Cornell is 63-50-5 all-time in season openers and has won its last 10 season openers dating back to a 13-6 loss to Georgetown in the first game of the 2003 season.

HOME IS WHERE THE WINS ARE — Cornell has enjoyed a true home field advantage since beginning play on Schoellkopf Field in 1972, going 217-71 for a .753 winning percentage. Cornell has been even more impressive since 2001, going 76-17 overall with perfect slates in 2011 (8-0), 2009 (6-0), 2007 (7-0) and 2005 (6-0).

THE HEAD COACH — Matt Kerwick (0-0) will serve as the Interim Head Coach of Cornell Lacrosse for the 2014 season ... Kerwick comes to Cornell with 15 years of head coaching experience (109-101) with stints at Jacksonville University, Hobart, Alfred and Randolph-Macon.

HI, MY NAME IS – The Big Red has two new faces on the sideline, as Peter Milliman and MJ Kiekebelt have joined the staff as assistant coaches. Milliman came to Cornell after one season as a member of the Princeton coaching staff. A native of Rochester, N.Y., Milliman spent four seasons as the head coach at Division II Pfeiffer, where he was twice named the Conference Carolinas Coach of the Year.Kiekebelt comes to East Hill after spending two seasons as an assistant coach at his alma mater RIT. Kiekebelt joined the Tigers coaching staff after a highly successful playing career that culminated in being named the Empire 8 Men's Lacrosse Player of the Year and leading RIT to the NCAA Division III national semifinals in 2011.

FRESH FACES – The Big Red added 12 newcomers to the 2013 roster, three of whom are transfer students. The group features four high school All-Americans and is comprised of eight midfielders, two defenseman and two goalkeepers. Additionally, the players represent six states with seven players hailing from New York and one each from Florida, Maryland, New Jersey, Texas, and Virginia.

PRESEASON ALL-AMERICANS – Cornell had three players named to the 2014 Face-Off Magazine Preseason All-American list. Connor Buczek was a first-team selection, while both Matt Donovan and Doug Tesoriero earned honorable mention selections.

U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! – A trio of Cornell alumni – Mitch Belisle '07, Max Seibald '09, and Rob Pannell '13 – have been named to the United States men's lacrosse national team that will participate at the 2014 Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL) World Championships, which will be held July 10-19 in Denver, Colo. The Big Red players are the only representatives from the Ivy League to make the squad and Cornell, along with Syracuse, has the third most players on the team, following Johns Hopkins (5) and Maryland (4). The three selections to the US national team are the most for Cornell since Bob Henrickson, Norm Engelke, Matt Crowley, Tim Goldstein, Paul Schimoler and Kevin Cook all earned the gold medal at the 1990 world championship.

OH CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN – The Big Red will have four captains this season – seniors Tom Freshour and Dan Lintner, as well as juniors Connor Buczek and Matt Donovan.

HARD HAT – Connor Buczek was selected to carry the Hard Hat for the 2014 season. The tradition of the Hard Hat began in the fall of 1999. Midway through the fall season, a player is selected to carry the Hard Hat for the year. The recipient is someone that the coaches feel demonstrates a blue-collar approach to the game of lacrosse; he is driven and selfless, not the most talented player on the field, but consistently the hardest worker. He puts the team first, and embodies how the coaches want Cornell players to act and respond on or off the field.

RANKED OPPONENTS – The Big Red's 2014 season currently features five opponents ranked in the USILA Coaches Poll – Syracuse, Virginia, Princeton, Yale and Penn … Cornell played 11 nationally ranked opponents during the 2013 season, going 7-4 in those contests with three losses coming by a single goal (9-8 vs. Bucknell; 13-12 vs. Syracuse; 14-13 (OT) vs. Princeton), and one coming by two goals (16-14 vs. Duke).

FAMILY TIES – Connor Entenmann's father, Ken '85, and Russell Scott's uncle, Sam Happel '82, both played on the Big Red's national semifinalist team in 1982, while Mike O'Neil's uncle, Geoff Hall '88 and Cole McCormack's uncle, Brian MCormack '88 both played on the national runner up squads in 1987 and 1988.

FACE-OFF FRENZY – Doug Tesoriero set the school record for face-off wins last season with 241, breaking the old mark of 192, which was set by Clayton Weber 1995. With 468 career face-off wins, he ranks fifth in NCAA Division I among active players for career face-off wins.

GROUND BALL GUY – With his 133 ground balls in 2013, Doug Tesoriero broke the school record by edging out Craig Jaeger, who had won 127 ground balls in 1978. Tesoriero is just the eighth player in Big Red history to collect at least 100 ground balls in a season, and the first since John Glynn picked up 105 in 2009. With his 236 career ground balls, he ranks sixth overall in NCAA Division I among active players for career ground balls.

ELITE COMPANY – Over the span of the past five seasons (2009-13), Cornell has racked up the third-most wins (62) and the fourth best winning percentage (.747) of any Division I men's lacrosse program.

IVY KINGS – Since Ivy League play began in 1956, Cornell has won a conference-high 27 titles, including 17 undefeated crowns. The Big Red also has the best Ivy League record of any team in the conference at 242-97-1 (.713).

TOP 10 NATION – The Big Red finished the 2013 season ranked in the top 10 nationally in several statistical categories, including scoring offense (second – 14.56), man-down defense (seventh – .750), scoring margin (first – 5.50), assists (fourth – 7.72), points per game (second – 22.28), ground balls per game (fifth – 37.11), caused turnovers per game (fourth – 9.94) and shooting percentage (ninth –.321).

BALANCED OFFENSE – During the 2013 season, Cornell received 223 points from its attack (56 percent) and 178 points from its midfield and defense.

WHAT WAS LOST – The Big Red lost one of the most prolific attack duos in Cornell men's lacrosse history with the graduation of Tewaaraton Trophy winner Rob Pannell and the NCAA scoring champion Steve Mock. Cornell graduated three additional All-Americans in midfielder Max Van Bourgondien, long stick midfielder Thomas Keith and defender Jason Noble, as well as three-year starting goalie AJ Fiore.

WHAT RETURNS – Cornell returns All-American Connor Buczek to the midfield, the 2011 Ivy League Rookie of the Year in attackman Matt Donovan, and one of the best face-off men in the nation in Doug Tesroriero, all of whom were named preseason All-Americans ... The Big Red offense returns 106-of-262 goals (40 percent) and 40-of-139 assists (29 percent).

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 714-445-27 all-time, and its 714 victories rank seventh among the winningest programs in collegiate lacrosse.

CLOSE CALLS — Since the beginning of the 2003 season, Cornell is 30-13 in games that have been decided by a single goal, a mark that was lowered when the Big Red fell to No. 16 Princeton, 14-13 in overtime during the 2013 Ivy League tournament. Of the 13 losses, 11 have come against ranked opponents, including eight against squads ranked in the top-10, five of which were ranked either No. 1 or No. 2 in the nation.

OVERTIME NOTES – With its overtime game vs. Princeton on May 3, 2013, Cornell has played at least one overtime game in each of the past seven seasons, dating back to a 12-11 overtime triumph over Albany in the 2007 NCAA quarterfinals. During that span, the Big Red has posted a 6-4 record in overtime games.

GEOGRAPHY LESSON – The 35 players on the 2014 Big Red roster hail from 12 different states – California, Connecticut, Florida, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, and two Canadian provinces – Alberta and Ontario.

GEOGRAPHY LESSON, PART TWO – Since 1950, the Big Red has had players from 33 different states – Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

NEXT UP – The Big Red hits the road for the first time on Tuesday, Feb. 25 when it heads to Binghamton for a contest at 4 p.m.