GAME INFORMATION
GAME #6: No. 9 Cornell vs. No. 6 Yale
FACE OFF: Saturday, March 14, at 12:30 p.m.
SITE: Reese Stadium (New Haven, Conn.)
2015 Records: Cornell (3-2, 0-0 Ivy League); Yale (5-0, 0-0 Ivy)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 50-23-1
LAST MEETING: Cornell won 11-9, March 15, 2015 in Ithaca, N.Y.
GAME NOTES: Cornell | Yale 


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THE MATCHUP: The No. 9 Cornell men's lacrosse team wraps up a six-game road swing when it faces its third consecutive top 10 opponent in its Ivy League opener at No. 6 Yale on Saturday, March 14 at 12:30 p.m. The Big Red is coming off a 15-14 loss to No. 7 Virginia to fall to 3-2 on the year, while the Bulldogs won their second consecutive overtime game with a 9-8 victory against Fairfield last weekend to improve to 5-0. The Big Red's 60th Ivy League opener will be broadcast nationally on Fox College Sports (Time Warner Ch. 372 in Ithaca; 608 on DirectTV) and can be seen online at http://www.foxsports.com/foxsportsgo/. Fans can also hear Barry Leonard and Howie Borkan on WHCU 870 AM / 95.9 FM, or on the Ivy League Digital Network.  
 
SERIES HISTORY VS. YALE: The Cornell and Yale rivalry began in 1916 with a 5-1 Big Red victory, and Cornell has dominated the series ever since. The Big Red holds a 50-23-1 record in the series, thanks in large part to 22-straight victories over the Bulldogs from 1966 to 1987. In 2012, Cornell had a 14-game winning streak vs. Yale ended when the Bulldogs won the second meeting of the season in the Ivy League tournament, but the Big Red has won the last two outings.

LOOKING AT THE BULLDOGS: No. 6 Yale is off to a 5-0 start and has its highest ranking in the USILA Coaches' Poll since spending seven straight weeks at No. 2 during the 1990 campaign. The Bulldogs had a signature win on Feb. 21 when it stunned Maryland, 10-6. Yale has had a pair of blowout victories over UMass-Lowell (19-4) and Bryant (16-9), while each of its last two outings have been overtime victories against St. John's (11-10) and Fairfield (9-8). The team entered the week ranked in the top 10 nationally in both scoring offense (seventh – 13.00) and scoring defense (sixth – 7.40). Offensively, Conrad Oberbeck leads the team and ranks 19^th in the nation in goals per game (2.80), while sitting at 42^nd in the country in points per game (3.60). In the circle, Jonathan Reece ranks 15^th nationally with a .592 face-off win percentage (45-76), while J. Conor Mackie has won 21-of-35 restarts (.600) to help the team rank 10^th in the country with a face-off winning percentage of .607. Between the pipes, Eric Natale continues his solid play, ranking first in the Ivy League and ninth in the country with a 7.47 goals-against average.
 
LAST TIME VS. YALE: Cornell exploded offensively in the first half, but its steady defense and special teams were key as the Big Red won its 2014 Ivy opener over Yale on March 15 at Schoellkopf Field. John Edmonds had career-highs with three goals and had two assists, Matt Donovan notched three goals and an assist and both Dan Lintner and Joe Paoletta were credited with two goals. Connor Buczek also had a career-high as he assisted on five of the Big Red's 10 first half goals. But when Cornell's offense went quiet, the defense kept its lead safe. Freshman goalkeeper Christian Knight had 14 saves and had a huge interception in the final minute as the Big Red tried to maintain the lead while Yale was on a man advantage desperate to tie it up. Nine different players caused a turnover against the Bulldogs, while Jordan Stevens and the rest of the Big Red defense bottled up Yale's leading scorer, Brandon Mangan, who was held to one assist and had his 24-game goal scoring streak, the second-longest in the country, snapped. Conrad Overbeck and Sean Shakespeare each had a pair of goals for Yale, while Shane Thornton notched a pair of assists. All-America face-off specialist Dylan Levings was 13-of-23 on face-offs, but Cornell's Doug Tesoriero had the edge at the half (9-7) as the Big Red jumped out to a 10-5 lead on the scoreboard. Cornell held the edge in shots (41-34) and ground balls (36-33). The Big Red also held Yale to just 1-of-5 on man-up chances, while converting 1-of-2. Both teams had two failed clears, as Cornell had 16 turnovers and Yale posted 14. Bulldog goalie Eric Natale finished with 11 saves in 57:55, while Jack Meyer stopped the lone shot he faced.
 
A WIN OVER YALE WOULD:
• improve the Big Red to 51-23-1 vs. Yale.
• be the third straight vs. the Bulldogs.
• improve head coach Matt Kerwick's career record to 124-108 and to 2-0 vs. the Bulldogs.
• be the 729th win in program history.
• make Cornell 2-2 vs. ranked opponents this season.
• even the Big Red's record to 1-1 when on television.
• be Cornell's 16^th consecutive victory in an Ivy League opener.
• improve the Big Red to 5-7 all-time vs. the No. 6 ranked team in the USILA Coaches Poll.
• make Cornell 20-7 all time when ranked No. 9 in the USILA Coaches Poll.

THE HEAD COACH: Matt Kerwick was named the Richard M. Moran Head Coach of Men's Lacrosse at Cornell University on June 11, 2014. Kerwick, who served in the position on an interim basis during the 2014 season, became the 11th head coach in the programs' 122-year history ... Kerwick has 16 years of head coaching experience (123-108) with stints at Jacksonville University, Hobart, Alfred and Randolph-Macon. 
 
IVY OPENERS: The contest vs. Yale marks the 60th Ivy League season opener for Cornell men's lacrosse. 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.
 
IVY KINGS:
• Since Ivy League play began in 1956, Cornell has won a conference-high 28 titles, including 17 undefeated crowns.
• Cornell has won 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).
 
SEASON STREAKS:
• Cornell has scored one man-up goal in all five games this season and has a seven-game streak going back to last year's game vs. Penn in the Ivy League Tournament.
• Cornell has won the face-off battle in all five games this season.
• The Big Red has won the ground ball battle in all five games this season.
• Cornell has registered double-digit goals in its last four contests.
• The Big Red has taken at least 40 shots in each of its last four games.
• Cornell has put at least 25 shots on goal in each of its last four games.

CLOSE CALLS: Since the beginning of the 2003 season, Cornell is 31-17 in games that have been decided by a single goal, a mark that was lowered when the Big Red fell to No. 7 Virginia, 15-14, on March 7, 2015. Of the 16 losses, 15 have come against ranked opponents, including 11 against squads ranked in the top-10, five of which were ranked either No. 1 or No. 2 in the nation.
 
TEAM OF THE WEEK: The Big Red was named the NCAA Team of the Week on March 2 after improving to 3-1 on the year with wins over Binghamton and No. 8 Albany. Cornell opened the week with a 17-9 victory over the Bearcats, before downing the Great Danes, 16-9.
 
ON THE ROAD: With freezing temperatures forcing the Big Red to relocate its Feb. 24 contest vs. Binghamton to a neutral site, Cornell will play its first six games away from Schoellkopf Field. That is the longest stretch of consecutive games away from Ithaca since the 1953 team opened the season with a stretch of six games played at Baltimore, Duke, UNC, RPI, Syracuse and Hobart.
 
OPEN LATE: Cornell will play its first home game of the season vs. Colgate on March 17. That is the latest home opener since the 1994 squad played its first game on Schoellkopf Field on March 26 vs. Yale. In 1994, the season began on March 6 and the Big Red played just two games before its home opener.
 
EARLIEST START: The Feb. 15 start to the season was the earliest in Cornell program history. Previously, the earliest the Big Red had ever started a season came in an 18-6 victory at Binghamton on Feb. 21, 2009 ... By comparison, in1892, Cornell's first-ever season, the team played its first contest on May 28. 

RANKED OPPONENTS:  The Big Red's 2015 season currently features seven opponents ranked in the USILA Coaches Poll – Syracuse (first) Yale (sixth), Virginia, (seventh), Harvard (10th), Princeton (11th), Albany (15th), and Brown (19th).

ELITE COMPANY:  Over the past 10 seasons (2005-2014) only eight schools have registered 100 victories – Duke (151), UVA (127), Cornell (121), Syracuse (118), Notre Dame (114), Denver (113), Maryland (112), Hopkins (111) … During that span, only six have won at least 70 percent of its games – Duke (.803), Cornell (.766), Virginia (.760), Notre Dame (.735), Syracuse (.728) and Hopkins (.715).
 
MOVING ON UP:
•Jordan Stevens currently ranks fifth in Cornell history for career caused turnovers (50), needing just two more to surpass Mike Bronzino in fourth place.
•Matt Donovan ranks ninth in Cornell history for career goals (98) and needs 25 more to surpass Jon Levine in eighth place.
•Matt Donovan ranks 13th in Cornell history for career points (147) and needs just five more to surpass Mark Webster (1968-70) and move in 12th place.
•Matt Donovan ranks 17th in Cornell history for career assists (49) and needs just one more to move into a tie with Wade Bollinger (1979-92) and Max Seibald (2006-09) in 15th place.
•Connor Buczek ranks 24th in Cornell history for career points (121) and needs just two more to tie Bob Shaw (1970-72) in 23rd place.
•Connor Buczek ranks 24th in Cornell history for career goals (82) and needs just three more to tie Steve Meyer (1986-89) in 23rd place.
•Connor Buczek ranks 32nd in Cornell history for career assists (39) and needs just two more to surpass Pete Peirce (1967-69) in 31st place.
•Dan Lintner ranks 41st in Cornell history for career goals (63) and needs just three more to surpass Jon Busse (1990-93) into 40th place.
 
NCAA CAREER LEADERBOARD:
•Matt Donovan ranks 11th among current Division I players for career goals with 98. He is 15th overall in career points (147) and 29th in career assists (49).
•Connor Buczek ranks 22nd among current Division I players for career goals with 82. He is 31st overall in career points (121) and 47th in career assists (39).
 
BIG IN THE MIDFIELD: With two points vs. Penn on May 2, 2014 Connor Buczek became just the 14th midfielder in Cornell history to reach 100 career points … He currently ranks sixth all-time among midfielders with 121 career points and needs just two more to tie Bob Shaw (1970-72) and move into fifth place overall.
 
FACE-OFF FRENZY: In his first season as a starter, sophomore Domenic Massimilian entered the week ranking sixth in the nation with a .679 face-off winning percentage. He is also first in the country with 10.20 ground balls per game … Massimilian has won the face-off battle in all five Big Red games this season and has led the team in ground balls in each game.

TOP 10 NATION: So far this season, the Big Red ranks in the top 10 nationally in four statistical categories, including ground balls per game (third – 36.40); face-off winning percentage (fourth – .674);  man-up offense (seventh – .563); and scoring offense (seventh – 13.80).

A LITTLE OFF BALANCE: So far this season, the Big Red has had a disproportionate amount of its offense come from the midfield with just 38-of-92 points coming from the attack unit (41 percent). During the 2014 season, Cornell received 156 points (114 goals, 42 assists) from its attack (49.1 percent) and 162 points (90 goals, 72 assists) from its midfield and defense. 
 
SAVES A LOT: So far this season, Christian Knight has averaged 10.5 saves per game, good for 28^th in the nation. A year ago, his 11.00 saves per game ranked 25th in Cornell history and was the most by a Big Red goalie since Matt McMonagle averaged 11.25 saves per game during the 2007 season.
 
BUCZEK'S GOT SENIOR CLASS: Cornell senior Connor Buczek has been named one of 20 candidates for the 2015 Senior CLASS Award in collegiate men's lacrosse, as one of the top NCAA student-athletes who excels both on and off the field. To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition.

OH CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN:  The Big Red will have four captains this season – seniors Connor Buczek, Matt Donovan, Dan Lintner, and Jordan Stevens.

HARD HAT: Brennan Donville has been selected to carry the Hard Hat for the 2015 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.
 
NEXT UP:  The Big Red play its long anticipated home opener when it welcomes in-state rival Colgate to Schoellkopf Field on Tuesday, March 17 at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast on Fox College Sports 1.