GAME #15: Cornell vs. Penn
FACE OFF: Friday, May 2, at 5 p.m.
SITE: Harvard Stadium (Cambridge, Mass.)
2014 Records: Cornell (11-3, 5-1 Ivy); Penn (9-3, 4-2 Ivy)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 64-22-3
LAST MEETING: Cornell won, 17-9, March 22, 2014 in Philadelphia, Pa.

RADIO: WHCU 870 AM
TELEVISION: None
* LIVE STATS
* LIVE VIDEO 
* LIVE AUDIO 
* PARKING & TAILGATING
* DIRECTIONS 
* IVY LEAGUE TOURNAMENT CENTRAL 
* GAME NOTES (PDF)
 
THE MATCHUP: The No. 11 Cornell men's lacrosse team will face No. 10 Penn in the first semifinal of the Ivy League Men's Lacrosse Tournament at Harvard Stadium on Friday, May 2 at 5 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN 3. It can also 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 and Howie Borkan on the call.
 
SERIES HISTORY VS. PENN: The Cornell and Penn rivalry is the second-oldest in the Ivy League and ninth longest in the nation, beginning in the Quakers' second varsity season, 1901. The Big Red, which had already been fielding a team for nine seasons, took the 3-1 victory, the first of six-straight for Cornell. The two programs began playing each other regularly in 1920, meeting nearly every season since. Friday evening's edition will be the 90th meeting in the series history, with the Big Red holding a dominating 64-22-3 record overall, including winning the last eight meetings.

A WIN OVER PENN WOULD:
• send the Big Red into the Ivy League Men's Lacrosse Tournament championship game for the third time overall, and first time since 2011.
• improve the Big Red to 65-22-3 vs. Penn and 248-98-1 all-time vs. Ivy League.
• make the Big Red 3-0 vs. Penn all-time in neutral site games.
• be Cornell's ninth straight over the Quakers.
• make the senior class 5-0 vs. the Quakers.
• improve interim head coach Matt Kerwick's career record to 121-104 and to 2-0 vs. Penn.
• be the 726th win in program history.
 
IVY KINGS
• Since Ivy League play began in 1956, Cornell has won a conference-high 28 titles, including 17 undefeated crowns.
• Cornell has won at least a share of 11 of the last 12 Ivy League titles.
• The Big Red also has the best Ivy League record of any team in the conference at 247-98-1 (.715).
 
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 (11-3) 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 (120-104) with stints at Jacksonville University, Hobart, Alfred and Randolph-Macon. 
 
ROOKIE OF THE WEEK RECORD HOLDER: On April 28, freshman goalie Christian Knight became just the second player in the history of the Ivy League to earn five men's lacrosse Rookie of the Week honors. Knight joins teammate Matt Donovan as the only five-time honorees in conference history. Knight won three consecutive awards from March 10 to March 24 and repeated as a back-to-back honoree on April 21 and April 28. 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.
 
SEASON STREAKS:
• The Big Red has had at least one man-up goal in 12-of-14 games.
• Cornell has registered more ground balls than its opponents in 12-of-14 games.
• The Big Red has taken at least 40 shots in 10-of-14 games.
• The Big Red has had more penalties than its opponents in 10-of-14 games.
• The Big Red has put at least 25 shots on goal in 9-of-14 games.
• The Big Red has had at least two man-up goals in 8-of-14 games.
• Cornell has held its opponents to less than 10 goals in 8-of-14 games.
 
INDIVIDUAL STREAKS
• Doug Tesoriero has picked up at least one ground ball in 34 straight contests dating back to April 28, 2012.
• Tom Freshour has caused at least one turnover in 12-of-14 games this season.
• Christian Knight has registered at least 10 saves in each of Cornell's last five games.  
• Dan Lintner has registered a hat trick in 9-of-14 games this season.
• Matt Donovan has registered at least three points in 10-of-14 games this season.
• Connor Buczek has registered at least three points in nine of Cornell's last 12 games.
• John Hogan has registered at least three points in five of Cornell's last seven games.
 
SAVES A LOT: Christian Knights' 11.18 saves per game is the most by a Big Red goalie since Matt McMonagle averaged 11.25 saves per game during the 2007 season.
 
TEWAARATON TROPHY NOMINEE: The Tewaaraton Foundation has announced that Connor Buczek is one of 28 NCAA men's lacrosse players to be named a nominee for the 2014 Tewaaraton Award.
 
WIN NO. 725: Cornell's 12-10 victory over Princeton on April 26, 2014 was the 725th win in program history. The Big Red is now 725-447-27 all-time, and its 725 victories rank seventh among the winningest programs in collegiate lacrosse.
 
100 GROUND BALLS: With his 11 ground balls vs. Brown on April 19, Doug Tesoriero 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 … He currently ranks 19th in Cornell history for goals in a single season with 43.
 
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 27th overall with 115 (74 G, 41 A) career points.
 
BIG IN THE MIDFIELD: Connor Buczek needs two more points to become just the 14th midfielder in Cornell history to reach 100 career points.
 
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 650 career face-off wins is good for 11th in NCAA history.
• With 650 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 32nd in the nation in face-off winning percentage (.537).
• 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 349 career ground balls ranks 17th in NCAA history.
• With his 349 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 11th in the nation with 8.07 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 43 goals.
 
BALANCED OFFENSE: So far this season, Cornell has received 139 points (103 goals, 36 assists) from its attack (47 percent) and 154 points (84 goals, 70 assists) from its midfield and defense. 
 
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 – 36.21), scoring offense (fourth – 13.36), points per game (fifth – 20.93), assists per game (seventh – 7.57), scoring margin (eighth – 3.79), man-up offense (10th – .455) and shot percentage (10th –.321).
 
RANKED OPPONENTS: The Big Red's 2014 season features seven opponents currently ranked in the USILA Coaches Poll – Syracuse, Virginia, Penn, Harvard, Hofstra and Yale … Cornell is 4-2 so far this season vs. opponents that were ranked during the time of the meeting (UVA, Yale, Penn, Syracuse, Hofstra, Princeton).
 
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.
 
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. HIs 16 saves vs. Princeton on April 26 were the most by a freshman stopper since Fiore posted 20 in a loss to Syracuse.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
NEXT UP: The winner of the Cornell-Penn game will take on the winner of the Harvard-Yale game in the Ivy League Men's Lacrosse Tournament championship game on Sunday, May 4 at noon.