Game Notes (PDF)

GAME #9: Cornell at Dartmouth
FACE OFF: Saturday, March 29, at 1 p.m.
SITE: Scully-Fahey Field (Hanover, N.H.)
2014 Records: Cornell (8-0, 2-0 Ivy); Dartmouth (1-4, 0-1 Ivy)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 48-15
LAST MEETING: Cornell won, 21-5, March 30, 2013 in Ithaca, N.Y.

RADIO: WHCU 870 AM
LIVE STATS: www.DartmouthSports.com 
LIVE VIDEO: http://www.ivyleaguedigitalnetwork.com/cornell
LIVE AUDIO: http://www.ivyleaguedigitalnetwork.com/cornell
TELEVISION: None

THE MATCHUP: The No.2 Cornell men's lacrosse team will make the long trek to Hanover, N.H., to take on Dartmouth in an Ivy League matchup at Scully-Fahey Field on Saturday, March 29 at 1 p.m. The Big Red is off to its best start since the 2007 season, sitting at 8-0 on the year (2-0 Ivy), while the Big Green enters the contest at 1-4 overall (0-1 Ivy). The game will be the home opener for the Dartmouth and it can be seen or heard online through the Ivy League Digital Network and fans in the Ithaca area can hear the game on WHCU 870 AM with Barry Leonard and Howie Borkan on the call.

SERIES HISTORY VS. DARTMOUTH: The Cornell and Dartmouth rivalry began in 1946 with an 8-7 victory for the Big Red. The Big Green won the next six meetings over a 10-year span, but has won only nine times since 1957. The Big Red dominates the all-time series record, 48-15, and has won 15 of the last 16 meetings, including the last three contests by a combined score of 47-18.

LOOKING AT THE BIG GREEN: Dartmouth has dropped its last two games, including its Ivy League opener to Harvard last weekend, to slip to 1-4 on the season. Its lone win came against Sacred Heart on March 1 in a game played in Dallas, Texas.  The Big Green has yet to play a home game this season. The team leads the Ivy League in caused turnovers per game (9.40), thanks in large part to Patrick Resch and Eric Clemmenson, who have registered seven apiece. Dartmouth is also ranked second in the conference in ground balls per game (33.40) with Phil Hession ranking third overall with 7.00 per game. Hession also ranks seventh in the league in face-off winning percentage (.516). Dartmouth's offense has struggled this season, reaching double-digits just once, in its 14-10 win over Sacred Heart. Mike Olentine leads the team with seven goals and 10 points, while Wiley Osbrorne has five goals and KC Beard (4 G, 3 A) and Billy Heidt (4 G, 2 A) have seven and six points, respectively. In goal, Blair Friedensohn has started all five games and has posted a 12.75 goals-against average to go along with a .427 save percentage.  

A WIN OVER DARTMOUTH WOULD:
• make Cornell 9-0 to start a season for the first time since the 2007 campaign.
• extend the Big Red's regular-season Ivy League winning-streak to nine straight games.
• be Cornell's fourth straight over the Big Green.
• improve the Big Red to 49-15 vs. Dartmouth and 245-97-1 all-time in the Ivy League.
• improve interim head coach Matt Kerwick's career record to 118-101 and to 1-0 vs. Dartmouth.
• be the 723rd win in program history.

THE HEAD COACH: Matt Kerwick (8-0) 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 (117-101) with stints at Jacksonville University, Hobart, Alfred and Randolph-Macon. 

SEASON STREAKS:
• Cornell has reached double-digit goals in all eight games.
• The Big Red has had at least one man-up goal in all eight games.
• Cornell has registered more ground balls than its opponents in all eight games this season.
• The Big Red has taken at least 40 shots in 7-of-8 games.
• The Big Red has had at least two man-up goals in 6-of-8 games.
• The Big Red has put at least 25 shots on goals in 6-of-8 games.
• Cornell has held its opponents to less than 10 goals in 6-of-8 games.
• The Big Red has had more penalties than its opponents in 6-of-8 games.
• Cornell has held its opponents to less than 30 shots in 4-of-8 games.
• The Big Red has held its opponents to less than 20 shots on goal in 4-of-8 games.
• Cornell's goalies have registered more saves than its opponents in 4-of-8 games.

THE UNDEFEATED: Cornell is the only undefeated team remaining in Division I men's lacrosse. There are 22 additional undefeated men's lacrosse teams remaining in the nation, including Division II's LeMoyne, Adelphi, Colorado Mesa and Wheeling Jesuit, as well as 18 Division III teams.

ROOKIE OF THE WEEK: For the third straight week, freshman goalie Christian Knight has been named the Ivy League Rookie of the Week. He was the first Big Red player to take home back-to-back Rookie of the Week honors since Matt Donovan did so on April 2 and April 9, 2012. Knight's three selections are the most since Matt Donovan won the award an Ivy League record five times in 2012.

CORNELL DOUBLE-DIGIT SCORING STREAK:
• Cornell has scored in double-digits in each of its last 19 games, going 16-3 in the process, dating back to a 9-8 loss to Bucknell on March 19, 2013.
• That is the second longest streak in program history. The Big Red reached double-figures in 51-straight contests from April 26, 1975 to May 20, 1978. During that streak, Cornell posted a 50-1 record.
• In all, the Big Red has scored in double-digits in at least 10 consecutive contests seven times in program history.
1.  51 --  4/26/75 to5/20/78 
2.  19 --  4/23/13 to Present 
3.  17 --  4/10/74 to 4/12/74 
4.  15  -- 4/16/86 to 5/25/87 
5.  11 --  3/24/07 to 5/26/07 
6.  10 --  3/4/95 to 4/18/95 
7.  10 --  3/5/89 to 4/26/89 

NATIONAL DOUBLE-DIGIT SCORING STREAK:
• Cornell's 19-game double-digit scoring streak is the longest in the nation, followed by Albany at 10 and Johns Hopkins at 7.

GREATER SAVES: Earlier this season, the Big Red had a streak of four contests – Canisius (Donville 3; Knight 7), Virginia (Knight 15), Yale (Knight 14), and Colgate (Knight 11) – in which Cornell posted more saves than its opponents. That was the longest streak since 2008 when Jake Myers recorded more saves in a stretch of games vs. Penn, Harvard, Syracuse and Dartmouth. During the 2008 stretch, the Big Red went 3-1 with a loss to the Orange.

STARTING 8-0: With its 8-0 record, the Big Red is off to its best start since the 2007 season when it went 15-0 before losing to Duke, 12-11, in the national semifinals.

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 244-97-1 (.715).

FRESHMAN STOPPER: Christian Knight is the first freshman goalie to start a game for the Big Red since AJ Fiore started 17 contests in 2010. In his first start vs. No. 2 Virginia, Knight stopped 15 shots. Fiore made 15 saves twice during his rookie season, posting 20 in a loss to Syracuse and 15 in a triple overtime win against Loyola in the NCAA tournament.

FACE-OFF FRENZY:
• Doug Tesoriero set the school record for face-off wins in a career vs. Michigan on March 1, passing Addison Sollog. (1999-2002). He currently has 580 career face-off wins.
• With 580 career face-off wins, Tesoriero ranks fourth in NCAA Division I among active.  
• Doug Tesoriero entered the week ranked third in the Ivy League and 28th in the nation in face-off winning percentage (.560).
• Last season, Tesoriero set the single season record with 241 face-off wins, breaking the old mark of 192, which was set by Clayton Weber 1995.

GROUND BALL GUY:
• With nine ground balls at Penn on March 22, Doug Tesoriero became the school's career ground ball record holder, surpassing Paul Schimoler (299; 1986-89).
• With his 307 career ground balls, Doug Tesoriero ranks fifth overall in NCAA Division I among active players.  
• Doug Tesoriero entered the week ranked first in the Ivy League and 10th in the nation with 8.88 ground balls per game.
• 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.

STEPPING UP: With 10 goals in the first two games of the season, Dan Lintner matched his season total from a year ago. He has registered a hat trick in six of eight games so far this season and currently leads the Big Red with 29 goals.

BALANCED OFFENSE: So far this season Cornell has received 90 points (65 goals, 25 assists) from its attack (51 percent) and 85 points (50 goals, 35 assists) from its midfield and defense. 

TEWAARATON TROPHY WATCH: The Tewaaraton Foundation has announced the 2014 Tewaaraton Award men's watch list and a pair of Cornell players – Connor Buczek and Matt Donovan – 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 2014 Tewaaraton Award.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Matt Donovan earned back-to-back Ivy League Player of the Week honors on March 3 and March 10. His first honor came after registering eight goals, including the overtime game-winner vs. Michigan, in a pair of games vs. Binghamton and the Wolverines. The next week, he posted two goals and one assist in just three quarters vs. Canisius before helping the Big Red upset No. 2 Virginia with two goals and three assists. Of his five points vs. the Cavaliers, four came as Cornell fought back from an early deficit to take a 6-5 halftime lead.

TOP 10 NATION: The Big Red opened the week ranked in the top 10 nationally in seven statistical categories, including ground balls per game (second – 38.13), scoring offense (third – 14.38), points per game (third – 21.88),  scoring margin (fourth – 5.25), man-up offense (fifth – .545), assists per game (10th – 7.50) and shot percentage (10th –.330) .

RANKED OPPONENTS: The Big Red's 2014 season features six opponents currently ranked in the USILA Coaches Poll – Virginia, Syracuse, Yale, Princeton, Penn and Colgate … Cornell is 3-0 so far this season vs. opponents that were ranked during the time of the meeting (UVA, Yale, Penn).

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.

RECORD SETTER: Dan Lintner scored a pair of goals just four seconds apart at Binghamton on Feb. 25, 2014, setting the school record and matching the NCAA mark for the fastest consecutive goals scored by the same player.

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.

FAMILY TIES: Connor Entenmann's father, Ken '85, and Russell Scott's uncle, Sam Happel '82, both played on the Big Red's national semifinal 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. Chris Cook's father Kevin '84 and his uncle Ed Cook '86 were All-American lacrosse players for the Big Red.

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 722-445-27 all-time, and its 722 victories rank seventh among the winningest programs in collegiate lacrosse.

CLOSE CALLS: Since the beginning of the 2003 season, Cornell is 31-13 in games that have been decided by a single goal, a mark that was raised when the Big Red defeated Michigan, 15-14 in overtime on March 1, 2014. 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 win at Michigan on March 1, 2014, Cornell has played at least one overtime game in each of the past eight 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 7-4 record in overtime games.

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 defensemen 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.

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.

NEXT UP: The Big Red returns to Ithaca for a pair of games next week, taking on Harvard on Saturday, April 5 at 3 p.m., before welcoming No. 10 Syracuse to Schoellkopf Field on Tuesday, April 8 at 7 p.m.