GAME INFORMATION
GAME #7: No. 7 Cornell vs. Colgate
FACE OFF: Tuesday, March 17, at 7:00 p.m.
SITE: Schoellkopf Field (Ithaca, N.Y.)
2015 Records: Cornell (4-2, 1-0 Ivy League); Colgate (4-2, 2-1 Patriot League)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 40-7-1
LAST MEETING: Cornell won 15-10, March 18, 2015 in Hamilton, N.Y.
GAME NOTES: Cornell | Colgate

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RADIO: WHCU 870 AM (Ithaca)
TELEVISION: Fox Sports 1 (Time Warner 400 in Ithaca; DirectTV 219; Dish 150)
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THE MATCHUP: The No. 7 Cornell men's lacrosse team will make its long awaited home debut when it welcomes in-state rival Colgate to Schoellkopf Field on Tuesday, March 17 at 7 p.m. The Big Red is coming off a decisive 14-7 victory over No. 6 Yale in its Ivy League opener to improve to 4-2 on the year, while the Raiders have suffered back-to-back losses to fall to 4-2 overall. The game will be broadcast nationally on Fox Sports 1 (Time Warner Ch. 400 in Ithaca; 219 on DirectTV; 150 on Dish) and fans can find Fox Sports 1 channel listings at: http://www.foxsports.com/watch/foxsports1. The game can be seen online at http://www.foxsports.com/foxsportsgo/. Fans can also hear Jason Weinstein and Tom LaFalce on WHCU 870 AM / 95.9 FM, or on the Ivy League Digital Network.  
 
SERIES HISTORY VS. COLGATE — Cornell first met its upstate rival Colgate during the Raiders' inaugural season in 1921, and the two teams played to a 3-3 tie. The Big Red went on to win the next four meetings and currently holds a 40-7-1 advantage in the all-time series. The two teams played each other fairly regularly until the 1971 season, after which the rivalry took a 21-year hiatus. Since resuming play in the 1993 season, Cornell has gone on to win 13 of 14 meetings, including the last nine contests, with Colgate's lone win in that span coming in 1997 when it took a 9-6 victory away from Schoellkopf Field.

LOOKING AT THE RAIDERS: After winning its first four games of the season with decisions over No. 14 Bryant, Vermont, Lafayette and Bucknell, the Raiders have dropped its last two outings to Boston University and Fairfield to slip to 4-2 overall and 2-1 in the Patriot League. Colgate is led on offense by Matt Clarkson, who ranks first on the team and 36th in the nation with 3.67 points per game. Both Ryan Walsh and Anthony Abbadessa have a team-high 10 goals, while Clarkson leads the team with 14 assists. The Raiders have used three different players to take face offs, posting a .438 winning percentage as a team, with Peter Marchetto (49-108; .454) taking the majority of restarts for Colgate. In goal, sophomore Brendan Burke returns to his starting role and has posted a 9.15 goals-against average and a .479 save percentage in five games. Back-up Jake Danehy has seen action in three games, with one start to fill in for an injured Burke, and has posted a 12.98 GAA and a .385 save percentage.
  
LAST TIME VS. COLGATE: The No. 4 Big Red jumped out to a 10-4 lead and then held off a late Colgate surge to earn a hard-fought 15-10 victory at Andy Kerr Stadium in Hamilton, N.Y. Dan Lintner finished with five goals, four of which were assisted by Matt Donovan, and handed out one assist for a team-high six points. Donovan also registered one goal to finish with five points, while Connor Buczek tallied four unassisted goals. Chris Cook was the only other multi-point player for Cornell, with his first goal and first assist of the season. Altogether, nine Big Red players found the scoring column, as John Edmonds, Joe Paoletta, Mike Huttner and Connor Entenmann each added one goal and Marshall Peters tallied one assist. For Huttner and Peters, who teamed up on a man-down tally with 2:38 to play, the points were the first of their collegiate careers. Colgate was led by Brendon McCann with three goals and one assist, while Ryan Walsh added two goals and one assist. Kevin Adams (two goals), Matt Clarkson (one goal, one assist) and Eric Foote (one goal, one assist) all finished with two points for the Raiders. Both goalies played well despite tough conditions due to a setting sun causing shadows. Cornell's Christian Knight posted his third consecutive double-digit save game with 11 saves, while Raider rookie Brandon Burke stopped 10. For the first time all season, the Big Red was outshot (32-31), but put more shots on goal than Colgate (25-21). Cornell also won the ground ball battle (32-28) and Doug Tesoriero overcame a slow start to win 14-of-27 face-offs. The Big Red's man-up units were also solid, scoring on 2-of-3 extra-man chances, while holding Colgate to a 1-of-6 performance.
 
CORNELL VS. THE PATRIOT LEAGUE – The Big Red is 65-56-4 all-time vs. the current members of the Patriot League, thanks mostly to a 40-7-1 record vs. Colgate. Cornell is 15-24 all-time vs. Army, 4-9-3 vs. Lehigh, 0-1 vs. Bucknell and 5-15 vs. Navy. The Big Red has never faced Boston University, Holy Cross, or Lafayette in men's lacrosse.
 
A WIN OVER COLGATE WOULD:
• improve the Big Red to 41-7-1 vs. Colgate and 65-56-4 all-time vs. the current members of the Patriot League.
• be Cornell's 10th straight over the Raiders.
• improve head coach Matt Kerwick's career record to 125-108 and to 5-0 vs. the Raiders
• be the 730th win in program history.
• make Cornell 17-7 all-time when ranked No. 7 in the USILA Coaches' Poll.
• be the Big Red's eighth straight victory when ranked seventh in the USILA Coaches' Poll.

THE HEAD COACH: Matt Kerwick (15-7, .682) 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 (124-108) with stints at Jacksonville University, Hobart, Alfred and Randolph-Macon. 
 
SEASON STREAKS:
• Cornell has scored one man-up goal in all six games this season and has an eight-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 six games this season.
• The Big Red has won the ground ball battle in all six games this season.
• Cornell has registered double-digit goals in its last five contests.
• The Big Red has taken at least 40 shots in each of its last five games.
• Cornell has put at least 25 shots on goal in each of its last five games.
 
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).
 
EMPIRE STATE OF MIND:  Cornell has traditionally been very successful against collegiate teams from New York state, posting an all-time record of 281-161-7 (.634) … The Big Red will face seven teams from New York in 2015.
 
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. ... Only two other teams in Division I have a season-opener as late, or later than the Big Red:
  1) Marquette – April 4
  2) Cornell – March 17
      Canisius – March 17
 
ON THE ROAD: With freezing temperatures forcing the Big Red to relocate its Feb. 24 contest vs. Binghamton to a neutral site, Cornell played its first six games away from Schoellkopf Field. That was 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 ... Only three other teams in Division I have had roads swings of six or more games to open the season:
  1) Marquette – 10 games
  2) Cornell – 6 games
      Canisius – 6 games
      Manhattan – 6 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.
 
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.

RANKED OPPONENTS:  The Big Red's 2015 season currently features seven opponents ranked in the USILA Coaches' Poll – Syracuse (first), Virginia (eighth), Yale (ninth), Princeton (10th), Brown (12th), Albany (13th), and Harvard (15th).

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 fourth in Cornell history for career caused turnovers (52), needing just four more to surpass Tom Freshour in third place.
•Matt Donovan ranks eighth in Cornell history for career goals (102) and needs 22 more to surpass Jon Levine in eighth place.
•Matt Donovan ranks 12th in Cornell history for career points (153) and needs just four more to surpass Andrew Collins (2001-04) and Anthony Pavone (1992-95) and move in 10th place.
•Matt Donovan ranks 14th in Cornell history for career assists (51) and needs just two more to surpass Jon Levine (1974-76) and move into 13th place.
•Connor Buczek ranks 22nd in Cornell history for career points (124) and needs just four more to tie Matt Crowley (1980-83) and John Glynn (2005-09) in 20th place.
•Connor Buczek ranks 24th in Cornell history for career goals (83) and needs just one more to tie Steve Meyer (1986-89) in 23rd place.
•Connor Buczek ranks 31st in Cornell history for career assists (41) and needs just one more to tie John Snow (1988-91) and Glen Mueller (1970-72) in 29th place.
•Dan Lintner ranks 38th in Cornell history for career goals (67) and needs just one more to tie Andrew Schardt, Roy Lang and Kevin Cook in 35th place.
•Christian Knight ranks 16th in Cornell history for career saves (201) and needs just eight more to surpass Joe D'Amelio (1973-75) and move into 15th place.
 
NCAA CAREER LEADERBOARD:
•Matt Donovan ranks 10th among current Division I players for career goals with 102. He is 15th overall in career points (153) and 29th in career assists (51).
•Connor Buczek ranks 23^rd among current Division I players for career goals with 83. He is 31st overall in career points (124) and 43rd in career assists (41).
•Dan Lintner ranks 40th among current Division I players for career goals with 67.
 
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 fourth all-time among midfielders with 124 career points and needs just four more to tie John Glynn (2005-09) and move into third place overall.
 
FACE-OFF FRENZY: In his first season as a starter, sophomore Domenic Massimilian entered the week ranking eighth in the nation with a .671 face-off winning percentage. He is also first in the country with 10.33 ground balls per game … Massimilian has won the face-off battle in all six 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 face-off winning percentage (fourth – .663); ground balls per game (fifth – 35.50);  man-up offense (fifth – .571); and scoring offense (seventh – 13.83).

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 50-of-116 points coming from the attack unit (43 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 9.7 saves per game, good for 33rd 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.

PRESEASON ALL-AMERICANS:  Cornell had three players named to the 2015 Face-Off Magazine Preseason All-American list. Connor Buczek was a first-team selection, while Jordan Stevens and Matt Donovan were named to the second- and third-team, respectively.
 
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.
 
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 728-448-27 all-time, and its 728 victories rank seventh among the winningest programs in collegiate lacrosse.
 
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. 
 
FAMILY TIES:
• Head Coach Matt Kerwick's parents Thomas and the late Patricia Kerwick, as well as his sister Ann, all graduated from Cornell.
• Russell Scott has a total of 14 family members that attended Cornell, while his grandfather, Thomas W. Scott, is a retired Cornell professor of Agronomy … His father, Tom (football), his uncles John Dentes (football), George Dentes (football/sprint football/baseball), Terry Scott (sprint football), and Sam Happel (lacrosse) and his cousins Scott Dentes (sprint football) and Zak Dentes (sprint football) all played sports at Cornell … Happel played on the Big Red's national semifinal team in 1982.
• Chris Cook's father, Kevin '84, and uncle, Ed Cook '86, were All-American lacrosse players for Cornell.
• Andrew Keith's brother, Thomas '13, was an All-American long-stick midfielder for the Big Red, earning four varsity letters from 2010-13.
• Ryan Matthew's cousin Matt Sutherland played lacrosse at Cornell.
• Tim LaBeau's father Tim '77 played football for the Big Red from 1973-77, while his mother, Nancy '78, and two sisters, Kristi '09 and Kate '10, all graduated from Cornell.
• Matt Schattner's uncle, Mark Major, played hockey at Cornell from 1984-87, while his aunt, Martha Manilla Major, played soccer for the Big Red from 1986-87.
• Dan Nemirov's mother, Jamie, as well as one aunt and his maternal grandfather all graduated from Cornell. 
• Scott Flynn's grandfather Norman Penney attended Cornell Law School and later served as both a professor in the law school and Dean of University Faculty. 
•Charlie Estill's grandfather Frederick Siefke graduated from Cornell in 1948.
•Troy Revello's older sister Grace attends Cornell.
 
NEXT UP:  The Big Red remains at home for the next two weekends as it closes out March with Ivy League contests vs. Penn and Dartmouth on March 21 and March 28, respectively. The game with the Quakers is part of a double-header with the women's lacrosse team and will face off at 3 p.m., while the game with the Big Green is slated for 1 p.m.