GAME #5: Cornell vs. Virginia
FACE OFF: Saturday, March 8, at Noon
SITE: Schoellkopf Field (Ithaca, N.Y.)
2014 Records: Cornell (4-0, 0-0 Ivy League); Virginia (6-0, 0-0 ACC)
SERIES RECORD: Virginia leads, 9-4
LAST MEETING: Cornell won, 12-11, March 9, 2013 in Charlottesville, Va.

RADIO: WHCU 870 AM
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)

THE MATCHUP: After a dominating 19-6 victory over Canisius on Tuesday, the No. 15 Big Red men's lacrosse team will face its toughest test of the early season when it welcomes undefeated No. 2 Virginia (6-0) to Schoellkopf Field on Saturday, March 8. The Cavaliers are coming off an impressive 17-12 victory over Syracuse at Klöckner Stadium on March 1 in which James Pannell, younger brother of Cornell's Tewaaraton Trophy winner Rob Pannell '13, registered a career-high seven goals.

SERIES HISTORY VS. VIRGINIA: Despite being two of the oldest lacrosse teams in the nation, Cornell and Virginia have met just 13 times, and only six of those meetings have occurred during the regular season. The Cavaliers, who own the 9-4 lead in the series, defeated Cornell, 10-9, in the first meeting in 1971 at Virginia. The teams met again in the 1974 NCAA tournament, with the Big Red taking the commanding 15-8 victory. It would be five years before the teams squared off again, also in the NCAA tournament, but this time the Cavaliers took the 15-8 victory. Virginia managed two more one-goal wins in the NCAA tournament (1980; 9-8 in overtime, and 2002; 11-10), while Cornell used a 19-6 victory over the Cavaliers in the 1988 NCAA tournament to propel into the national championship game. During the 2009 regular season, Virginia used a second-half comeback to defeat the Big Red, 14-10, at Klockner Stadium, but Cornell won the rematch, 15-6, in the national semifinal to advance to the 2009 NCAA title game. The Cavaliers regained the upper-hand with four straight victories, including a 9-8 overtime win in the 2012 Inside Lacrosse Face-Off Classic at M&T Bank Stadium, but the Big Red won last year's meeting 12-11 in Charlottesville.

SCOUTING THE CAVALIERS (courtesy ViginiaSports.com): Virginia brings a perfect 6-0 record into Schoellkopf Field after a convincing 17-12 win over Syracuse last weekend. Mark Cockerton and James Pannell lead UVa and the nation with 22 goals apiece. Cockerton leads UVa and the nation with 31 points, while Pannell ranks No. 2 nationally with 26 points. Ryan Tucker rounds out the top goal scorers with 11, while Owen Van Arsdale has a team-best 14 assists and 21 points. Mick Parks leads UVa with 32 ground balls, while Joseph Lisicky has caused 11 turnovers. Matt Barrett is saving .483 percent of shots in between the pipes and is posting a 10.45 goals against average.

CORNELL VS. THE ACC: Cornell is 58-92-2 all-time vs. the current members of the ACC, thanks mostly to its newest member Syracuse, which owns the lead in the series, 62-37-1. The Big Red holds a winning record vs. Duke (5-4), North Carolina (4-3) and Notre Dame (5-1) but has a losing mark vs. Maryland (4-13-1) and Virginia (4-9).

A WIN OVER VIRGINIA WOULD:
• improve interim head coach Matt Kerwick's career record to 114-101 and to 1-0 vs. Virginia.
• be the first this season vs. a ranked opponent.
• narrow the Cavaliers lead in the series to 9-5.
• give Cornell back-to-back wins over the Cavaliers for the first time in series history.
• make Cornell 5-0 to start a season for the second year in a row.
• improve the Big Red to 4-0 on Schoellkopf Field this season.
• be the 719th win in program history.


THE HEAD COACH: Matt Kerwick (4-0) 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 (113-101) with stints at Jacksonville University, Hobart, Alfred and Randolph-Macon.

SEASON STREAKS:
•Cornell has registered more ground balls than its opponents in all four games this season.
• The Big Red has taken at least 44 shots in all four games.
• The Big Red has put at least 25 shots on goals in all four games.
• Cornell has reached double-digit goals in all four games.
• The Big Red has had at least two man-up goals in all four games.
• Cornell has held its opponents to less than 30 shots in 3-of-4 games.
• The Big Red has had more penalties than its opponents in 3-of-4 games.
• Cornell has held its opponents to less than 10 goals in 3-of-4 games.
• The Big Red has held its opponents to just 16 shots on goals in 3-of-4 games.

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: After registering eight goals in a pair of games last week, Matt Donovan was named the Ivy League Player of the Week on March 3. The junior attackman tallied three goals at Binghamton on Feb. 25, before notching a career-high five goals, including the overtime game winner, at Michigan on March 1.

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 529 career face-off wins.
• With 529 career face-off wins, Tesoriero ranks fourth in NCAA Division I among active players for career face-off wins.
• Doug Tesoriero entered the week ranked first in the Ivy League and 12th in the nation in face-off winning percentage (.613).
• 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:
• Doug Tesoriero needs just 24 ground balls to set the school record career ground balls, surpassing Paul Schimoler (299; 1986-89)
• With his 276 career ground balls, Doug Tesoriero ranks fifth overall in NCAA Division I among active players for career ground balls.
• Doug Tesoriero entered the week ranked first in the Ivy League and third in the nation with 9.33 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.

BALANCED OFFENSE: So far this season Cornell has received 44 points (33 goals, 10 assists) from its attack (51 percent) and 43 points (27 goals, 16 assists) from its midfield and defense.

STEPPING UP: With 10 goals in the first two games of the season, Dan Lintner matched his season total from a year ago. He currently leads the Big Red with 15 goals this season.

EMPIRE STATE OF MIND: Cornell has traditionally been very successful against collegiate teams from New York state, posting an all-time record of 278-158-7 (.635) … The Big Red, which will face six teams from New York in 2014, is currently 3-0 against teams from the Empire State.

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.

TOP 10 NATION: The Big Red opened the week ranked in the top 10 nationally in several statistical categories, including man-up offense (second – .643), ground balls per game (fourth – 37.67), scoring offense (eighth – 13.67), and face-off winning percentage (ninth – .613).

RANKED OPPONENTS: The Big Red's 2014 season currently features five opponents ranked in the USILA Coaches Poll – Penn, Princeton, Syracuse, Virginia and Yale … 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).

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.

HOME IS WHERE THE WINS ARE: Cornell has enjoyed a true home field advantage since beginning play on Schoellkopf Field in 1972, going 219-71 for a .755 winning percentage. Cornell has been even more impressive since 2000, going 85-20 overall (.810), with perfect slates in 2011 (8-0), 2009 (6-0), 2007 (7-0) and 2005 (6-0).

FOR STARTERS: Cornell is 64-50-5 all-time in season openers and has won its last 11 season openers dating back to a 13-6 loss to Georgetown in the first game of the 2003 season.

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.

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).

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 718 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.

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.

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).

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.

NEXT UP: The Big Red opens Ivy League play when it welcomes Yale to Schoellkopf Field on Saturday, March 15 at 1 p.m.