Game Notes (PDF)

GAME #14: Cornell vs. Princeton
FACE OFF: Saturday, April 26, at 2 p.m.
SITE: Bethpage Athletic Complex (Bethpage, N.Y.)
2014 Records: Cornell (10-3, 4-1 Ivy); Princeton (7-5, 2-3 Ivy)
SERIES RECORD: Princeton leads, 39-35-2
LAST MEETING: Princeton won, 14-13 (OT), May 3, 2013 in Ithaca, N.Y.

RADIO: WHCU 870 AM
LIVE STATS: GoPrincetonTigers.com
LIVE VIDEO: None
LIVE AUDIO: http://www.ivyleaguedigitalnetwork.com/cornell
TELEVISION: None
 
THE MATCHUP: The No. 11 Cornell men's lacrosse team is seeking a share of its second consecutive Ivy League title when it takes on No. 19 Princeton in the Battle at Bethpage on Saturday, April 26 at 2 p.m. Advance tickets for the game are available by calling 516-644-4005, but tickets will also be sold at the gate on the day of the game. The contest will not be video streamed, but can be 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, Howie Borkan and Tom LaFalce on the call. Live stats will also be available at GoPrincetonTigers.com.
 
SERIES HISTORY VS. PRINCETON: The Cornell and Princeton rivalry began in 1922 with an 11-1 victory for the Tigers. Princeton would dominate the next 24 meetings, winning or tying all but one contest, to help it to a 39-34-2 record in the all-time series. Cornell would win 22-straight games vs. the Tigers from 1968 to 1989, but Princeton is still the only Ivy League team to boast a winning record against the Big Red, as they again dominated the series throughout the 1990s. Cornell has won nine of the last 13 after splitting a pair of games with the Tigers last season.


LOOKING AT THE TIGERS: Princeton saw its bid for a spot in the Ivy League Tournament come to an end last weekend with a 9-8 loss to Harvard in Cambridge. The Tigers enter the weekend with a 7-5 record overall and a mark of 2-3 in the Ivy League with all three of its conference losses coming by a single goal. Senior midfielder Tom Schreiber leads the team in goals (29), assists (21) and points (50), but the Princeton offense features three others – Ryan Ambler, Jake Froccaro and Mike McDonald – that have at least 10 goals and 10 assists to their credit. In the face-off circle, junior Justin Murphy has taken the majority of draws, winning 92-of-167 (.551) and has a team-high 47 ground balls. The Tigers have had three different starting goalies through the course of the season, with senior Brian Kavanagh starting the first three games of 2014 before sophomore Matt O'Connor earned the nod in the next five. Junior Eric Sanschagrin has started the last four games, going 3-1 in the process with a .536 save percentage and a 10.13 goals-against average.    
 
A WIN OVER PRINCETON WOULD:
• give the Big Red at least a share of the Ivy League title for the second straight season and the 11th time in the last 12 campaigns.
• improve the Big Red to 3-0 vs. Princeton all-time in neutral site games.
• make the senior class 3-2 vs. the Tigers.
• give Cornell 10 wins in the last 13 meeting with Princeton dating back to a 12-11 overtime victory in 2004.
• improve interim head coach Matt Kerwick's career record to 120-104 and to 1-0 vs. the Tigers.
• be the 725th win in program history.
 
SO WHAT'S THE SCENARIO:
The four teams participating in the Ivy League Men's Lacrosse Tournament – Cornell, Harvard, Yale, Penn – have been decided, but the host school and the seeds are still up in the air.
• If Harvard beats Yale, the Crimson will host the tournament.
• If Yale beats Harvard, Cornell will host regardless of the outcome of the game with Princeton.
• If Harvard and Cornell win, Harvard will be seeded No. 1, Cornell will be No. 2, Penn will be No. 3 and Yale will be No. 4.
• If Cornell and Yale win, Cornell will be seeded No. 1, Penn will be No. 2, Yale will be No. 3 and Harvard will be No. 4.
• If Cornell and Harvard both lose (creating a four-way tie at 4-2), Cornellwill be seeded No. 1, Penn will be No. 2, Yale will be No. 3 and Harvard will be No. 4.
 
IVY TOURNAMENT DUO: Since its inception in 2010, only two programs have made the Ivy League Men's Lacrosse Tournament each season – Cornell and Yale.
 
THE HEAD COACH: Matt Kerwick (10-3) 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 (119-104) with stints at Jacksonville University, Hobart, Alfred and Randolph-Macon. 
 
ROOKIE OF THE WEEK: Freshman goalie Christian Knight has earned four Ivy League Rookie of the Week honors this season, including three consecutive awards from March 10 to March 24. He is 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 is the eighth player in Ivy League history, and just the third Big Red player, to earn four selections. He is the first to do so since Donovan won the award an Ivy League record five times in 2012.
 
SEASON STREAKS:
• The Big Red has had at least one man-up goal in 12-of-13 games.
• Cornell has registered more ground balls than its opponents in 11-of-13 games.
 
• The Big Red has taken at least 40 shots in 9-of-13 games.
• The Big Red has had more penalties than its opponents in 9-of-13 games.
 
• The Big Red has had at least two man-up goals in 8-of-13 games.
 
• The Big Red has put at least 25 shots on goal in 8-of-13 games.
• Cornell has held its opponents to less than 10 goals in 8-of-13 games.
 
 
INDIVIDUAL STREAKS
• Doug Tesoriero has picked up at least one ground ball in 33 straight contests dating back to April 28, 2012.
• Tom Freshour has caused at least one turnover in 11-of-13 games this season.
• Christian Knight has registered at least 10 saves in each of Cornell's last four games.  
• Dan Lintner has registered a hat trick in 9-of-13 games this season.
• Matt Donovan has registered at least three points in 9-of-13 games this season.
• Connor Buczek has registered at least three points in eight of Cornell's last 11 games.
• John Hogan has registered at least three points in five of Cornell's last six games.
 
100 GROUND BALLS: With his 11 ground balls vs. Brown on April 19, Doug Tesoriero needs became just the second Big Red player to record 100 ground balls in a season twice in a career, joining Tarik Ergin (1982, 1983).
 
27 TO 40: With his three goals against Brown on April 19, Dan Lintner became the 27th player in Cornell history to register 40 goals in a season.
 
100 POINTS: With his four points at Penn on March 22, junior Matt Donovan became the 39th player in Cornell history to record 100 career points. Donovan currently ranks 28th overall with 112 (72 G, 40 A) career points.
 
BIG IN THE MIDFIELD: Connor Buczek needs six more points to become just the 14th midfielder in Cornell history to reach 100 career points.
 
SAVES A LOT: Christian Knights' 10.7 saves per game is the most by a Big Red goalie since Matt McMonagle averaged 11.25 saves per game during the 2007 season.
 
FACE-OFF FRENZY:
• With his 12 face-off wins on April 8 vs. Syracuse, Doug Tesoriero became the 21st player in NCAA Division I men's lacrosse history to win 600 career face-offs.
• His 638 career face-off wins is good for 13th in NCAA history.
• With 638 career face-off wins, Tesoriero ranks third in NCAA Division I among active players.  
• Tesoriero entered the week ranked fourth in the Ivy League and 31st in the nation in face-off winning percentage (.533).
• Tesoriero set the school record for face-off wins in a career vs. Michigan on March 1, passing Addison Sollog (1999-2002).
• 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:
• His 341 career ground balls ranks 20th in NCAA history.
• With his 341 career ground balls, Tesoriero ranks fourth overall in NCAA Division I among active players.  
• Tesoriero entered the week ranked first in the Ivy League and ninth in the nation with 8.08 ground balls per game.
• With nine ground balls on March 22 at Penn, Doug Tesoriero became the school's career ground ball record holder, surpassing Paul Schimoler (299; 1986-89).
• With his 133 ground balls in 2013, Tesoriero broke the school record by edging out Craig Jaeger, who had won 127 ground balls in 1978.
 
THE LAST UNDEFEATED: Cornell was the last undefeated team remaining in Division I men's lacrosse before falling to Harvard on April 5.
 
WHAT A START!: Coach Kerwick's 9-0 record to start his Cornell career is the second best in Big Red men's lacrosse history, second only to Ned Harkness, who's 1966 and 1967 squads won 22-straight games before falling to Princeton, 7-5, on May 20, 1967. The loss to the Tigers was the lone defeat during Harkness' time with the lacrosse team, going 35-1 over three seasons.  
 
STARTING 9-0: The Big Red's nine-straight wins to open the season was the best start since the 2007 season when the squad went 15-0 before losing to Duke, 12-11, in the national semifinals.
 
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 eight of 11 games so far this season and currently leads the Big Red with 41 goals.
 
BALANCED OFFENSE: So far this season, Cornell has received 131 points (96 goals, 35 assists) from its attack (48 percent) and 142 points (79 goals, 63 assists) from its midfield and defense. 
 
TOP 10 NATION: The Big Red opened the week ranked in the top 10 nationally in six statistical categories, including ground balls per game (second – 36.38), scoring offense (fourth – 13.46), points per game (fourth – 21.00), assists per game (eighth – 7.54), scoring margin (eighth – 3.92), shot percentage (ninth –.323).
 
RANKED OPPONENTS: The Big Red's 2014 season features seven opponents currently ranked in the USILA Coaches Poll – Syracuse, Virginia, Penn, Hofstra, Yale, Harvard and Princeton … Cornell is 3-2 so far this season vs. opponents that were ranked during the time of the meeting (UVA, Yale, Penn, Syracuse, Hofstra).
 
IVY KINGS
• Since Ivy League play began in 1956, Cornell has won a conference-high 27 titles, including 17 undefeated crowns.
• Cornell has won at least a share of 10 of the last 11 Ivy League titles.
• The Big Red also has the best Ivy League record of any team in the conference at 246-98-1 (.714).
 
CORNELL DOUBLE-DIGIT SCORING STREAK:
• Prior to its 14-9 loss to Harvard on April 5, Cornell had scored in double-digits in 20 games, going 17-3 in the process, dating back to a 9-8 loss to Bucknell on March 19, 2013.
• That streak ranks as the second-longest 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.
51 -- April 26, 1975 to May 20, 1978
20 -- March 23, 2013 to March 29, 2013              
17 -- April 10, 1974 to April 12, 1927
15 -- April 16, 1986 to May 25, 1987
11 -- March 24, 2007 to May 26, 2007                  
10 -- March 4, 1995 to April 18, 1995
10 -- March 5, 1989 to April, 26, 1989 
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.
 
HOME IS WHERE THE WINS ARE: Cornell has enjoyed a true home field advantage since beginning play on Schoellkopf Field in 1972, going 222-73 for a .753 winning percentage. Cornell has been even more impressive since 2000, going 88-22 overall (.800), with perfect slates in 2011 (8-0), 2009 (6-0), 2007 (7-0) and 2005 (6-0) … So far this season, Cornell is 5-2 at home.
 
EMPIRE STATE OF MIND: Cornell has traditionally been very successful against collegiate teams from New York state, posting an all-time record of 278-160-7 (.633) … The Big Red faced six teams from New York in 2014, posting a 4-2 record against teams from the Empire State.
 
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.
 
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.
 
CLOSE CALLS: Since the beginning of the 2003 season, Cornell is 31-14 in games that have been decided by a single goal, a mark that was lowered when the Big Red fell to No. 16 Hofstra, 10-9 in overtime on April 12. Of the 14 losses, 12 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 loss at Hofstra on April 12, 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 7-5 record in overtime games.
 
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.
 
IVY OPENERS: Since the conference began play in the 1956 season, the Big Red has posted a 44-15 record in Ivy League openers, including winning its last 15, dating back to the 1999 season when it fell to the Bulldogs, 7-6. More often than not, Cornell has met either Yale or Harvard in the conference opener, playing a different school on only six occasions.
 
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. 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 724-447-27 all-time, and its 724 victories rank seventh among the winningest programs in collegiate lacrosse.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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). 
 
NEXT UP: The Big Red's season will continue next weekend in the Ivy League Men's Lacrosse Tournament. The seeding and host site are to be determined.