GAME INFORMATION
GAME #12: No. 10 Cornell vs. Hofstra
FACE OFF: Saturday, April 11, at Noon
SITE: Schoellkopf Field (Ithaca, N.Y.)
2015 Records: Cornell (8-3, 3-1 Ivy League); Hofstra (4-7, 1-2 CAA)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 6-2
LAST MEETING: Hofstra won 10-9 (OT), April 12, 2014 in Hempsted, N.Y.
GAME NOTES: Cornell | Hofstra

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THE MATCHUP: The No. 10 Big Red men's lacrosse team will play its final non-conference game of the season when it welcomes Hofstra to Schoellkopf Field on Saturday, April 11 at noon. Cornell is coming off a midweek victory over Canisius to improve to 8-3 overall, while the Pride fell to Marist on Tuesday evening to slip to 4-7 on the season. The game will be streamed live on the Ivy League Digital Network. Fans can hear Barry Leonard and Tom LaFalce on WHCU 870 AM / 95.9 FM or via the Ivy League Digital Network.  Lives stats will also be available at http://www.sidearmstats.com/cornell/mlax/.
 
SERIES HISTORY VS. HOFSTRA: The Big Red holds a 6-2 advantage in the all-time series with Hofstra, which began in the 1972 season. After Cornell won the first meeting, 5-3, the two squads didn't meet again for nearly 20 years when the rivalry was renewed with a 15-14 Big Red victory in 1990. Cornell won the other two meetings that decade before falling to the Pride, 13-5, in 2003. The Big Red responded the next season with a 14-12 victory. Cornell made it two in a row over the Pride with an 11-8 victory in the first round of the 2009 NCAA tournament, but fell in an overtime thriller a year ago in Hempstead.

LOOKING AT THE PRIDE: Hofstra dropped a midweek matchup to Marist to slip to 4-7 on the season (1-2 CAA).  In total, just five Pride have at least 10 points. Junior attackman Sam Llinares leads the team in points (49), goals (27) and assists (22), but had a 39-game point scoring streak snapped vs. the Red Foxes. Senior midfielder Mike Malave is tied with Linares with 27 goals, while midfielders Korey Hendrickson and Dylan Alderman have 18 points apiece. Sophomore Kris Clarke has taken nearly every face-off for Hofstra, going 154-of-236 for a .653 winning percentage. In goal, senior Chris Selva has started all 11 games and has posted an 8.27 goals against average to go along with a .492 save percentage.
 
CORNELL VS. THE CAA – The Big Red is 28-8 vs. the current members of the CAA after having a four-game winning streak against the conference snapped last season in a 10-9 overtime loss to Hofstra. Cornell has a winning record against every member of the conference – UMass (16-5), Hofstra (6-2), Fairfield (2-0),  Towson (2-0) and Delaware (2-1) – but has never faced Drexel.
 
LAST TIME VS. HOFSTRA: Mike Malave scored 44 seconds into overtime in a wild, back-and-forth affair, giving Hofstra a 10-9 victory over Cornell on April 12, 2004 at Shuart Stadium. Trailing by three to start the fourth and with just four goals in the game's first 45 minutes, Cornell scored five straight, all coming in the first 4:56 of the period, to seemingly take control of the game after playing the game at Hofstra's pace throughout. The Pride, however, scored twice in the final 3:22, including a Sam Llinares goal with 66 seconds left to send it to the extra session. An example of the battle throughout came in the overtime face-off. Hofstra freshman Kris Clarke won the draw, but Cornell's Doug Tesoriero won it right back with a clean check. His pass was off target and gave the ball back to the home team. The Pride wouldn't need a second possession as Malave capped his hat trick with the game winner just 44 seconds into the extra session. Joe Paoletta scored a game-best four goals and John Edmonds added three of his own to lead the offense, while Christian Knight made 10 saves between the pipes. Doug Tesoriero won 13-of-21 face-offs on the day. Cornell led all the statistics except the final score and likely time of possession. The Big Red held a 39-34 edge in shots, a 33-21 advantage in ground balls and a 13-8 possession edge in face-offs. Cornell began the game with three consecutive goals and held Hofstra scoreless over the first 16:55 of the contest, but the Pride went on a 7-1 run that included what looked to be a backbreaker by Ithaca native Torin Varn with 10 seconds to play in the third to give Hofstra a 7-4 lead. The Pride scored three times on four extra-man opportunities in the second as the Big Red seemingly was down a player nearly the entire quarter. Varn's goal wasn't a backbreaker. It was momentarily a wakeup call. The Big Red came out firing in the fourth, scoring five times in five minutes to turn the three-goal deficit into a two-goal edge. Edmonds scored, followed by a pair of Paoletta goals and another by Edmonds. The final Paoletta and Edmonds goals came just six seconds apart. When Dan Lintner netted a goal with 10:04 left, Cornell had all the momentum and a two-goal lead at 9-7. Then, as had been the story all night, the other team responded.
 
A WIN OVER HOFSTRA WOULD:
• improve the Big Red to 7-2 in the series, while giving head Matt Kerwick his first-ever victory over the Pride at 1-2.
• improve Coach Kerwick's career record to 129-109 overall and 20-8 at Cornell.
• be the 734th win in program history, improving Cornell to 734-459-27 all-time.
• Improve the Big Red to 284-161-7 all-time and 6-1 this season vs. teams from New York State.
• make Cornell 17-8 all-time when ranked No. 10 in the USILA Coaches' Poll.

THE HEAD COACH: Matt Kerwick (19-8, .704) 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 (128-109) with stints at Jacksonville University, Hobart, Alfred and Randolph-Macon. 
 
BUCZEK'S GOT SENIOR CLASS: Cornell senior Connor Buczek has been named one of 10 finalists 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. Fans can vote for Buczek at: http://www.seniorclassaward.com/vote/lacrosse_2015/
 
50/50: Matt Donovan needs just three points to become just the 10th player in Cornell history to post at least 50 points in consecutive seasons.
 
SEASON STREAKS:
• Cornell has won the face-off battle in 10-of-11 games this season.
• The Big Red has won the ground ball battle in 10-of-11 games this season.
• Cornell has registered double-digit goals in eight of its last 10 contests.
• The Big Red has taken at least 40 shots in eight of its last 10 contests.
• Cornell has put at least 25 shots on goal in seven of its last 10 games.
• The Big Red has won two straight overtime contests.
 
INDIVIDUAL STREAKS
• Domenic Massimilian has won the face-off battle in 10-of-11 games this season
• Domenic Massimilian has picked up at least 10 ground balls in 9-of-11 games this season.
• Domenic Massimilian has won at least 15 face offs in seven of the Big Red's last 10 games.
• Dan Lintner has registered a hat trick in five of the Big Red's last seven games.
• Matt Donovan has registered at least four points in eight of the Big Red's last 10 games.
• Matt Donovan has registered a hat trick seven of the Big Red's last 10 games.
• Connor Buczek has registered at least one point in 14 consecutive games.
• John Hogan has registered at least one point in 12 consecutive games.
• Chris Cook has picked up at least two ground balls in 10-of-11 games this season.
• Jordan Stevens has picked up at least one ground ball in each of the Big Red's last 31 games.

250 IVY WINS: With its 8-2 victory over Dartmouth on March 28, 2015, Cornell became the first program in the Ivy League history to reach 250 conference victories … The 250 conference wins are also the most conference wins by any school in Division I men's lacrosse history.
1. Cornell -- 250 (Ivy)
2. Princeton -- 235 (Ivy)
3. Bucknell -- 209 (MAC/ECC/Patriot League)
 
HOME IS WHERE THE WINS ARE: Cornell has enjoyed a true home field advantage since beginning play on Schoellkopf Field in 1972, going 226-73 for a .756 winning percentage. Cornell has been even more impressive since 2000, going 92-22 overall (.807) with perfect slates in 2011 (8-0), 2009 (6-0), 2007 (7-0) and 2005 (6-0) … With its win over Canisius on April 7, the Big Red improved to 4-0 on Schoellkopf Field and remained one of nine NCAA Division I teams to have an undefeated home record on the season.
 
EMPIRE STATE OF MIND:  Cornell has traditionally been very successful against collegiate teams from New York state, posting an all-time record of 283-161-7 (.635) … The Big Red is 5-1 so far this season vs. teams from New York with just its game vs. Hofstra remaining.

RANKED OPPONENTS:  The Big Red's 2015 season currently features six opponents ranked in the USILA Coaches' Poll – Syracuse (second), Virginia (sixth), Albany (eighth), Yale (ninth), Brown (12th) and Princeton (14th). … Cornell is 2-2 so far this season vs. ranked opponents.

GROUND BALL GUY: With his 12 ground balls vs. Canisius, Domenic Massimilian jumped into fourth place in Cornell history for ground balls in a single season (113). Massimilian is averaging 10.2 ground balls per game and is on pace to break the school record of 133, set by Doug Tesoriero during the 2013 season.
 
MOVING ON UP:
•Jordan Stevens currently ranks third in Cornell history for career caused turnovers (57) and needs 12 more to surpass Thomas Keith in second place.
•Matt Donovan ranks eighth in Cornell history for career goals (111) and needs 13 more to surpass Jon Levine in seventh place.
•Matt Donovan sits in sixth place in Cornell history for career points (172) and needs three more to pass Jon Levine in fifth place.
•Matt Donovan is tied with John Glynn in ninth place in Cornell history for career assists (61) and needs just two more to pass Bruce Burno in eighth place.
•Connor Buczek ranks 16th in Cornell history for career points (140) and needs just two more to surpass Max Seibald in 15th place.
•Connor Buczek is tied with David Mitchell in 11th place in Cornell history for career goals (93) and needs just three more to pass Bruce Cohen in 10th place.
•Connor Buczek is tied with Matt Crowley in 19th place in Cornell history for career assists (47) and needs just one more to tie Bruce Cohen in 18th place.
•Dan Lintner ranks 28th in Cornell history for career goals (78) and needs just two more to tie Al Rimmer in 27th place.
•Christian Knight ranks 15th in Cornell history for career saves (241) and needs just three more to surpass Rich Yost and move into 14th place.
•Domenic Massimilian tied with Jeff Doughty in 12th place in Cornell history for career face-offs won (179) and needs just six more to move into 11^th place, passing Craig Jaeger.
 
NCAA CAREER LEADERBOARD:
•Matt Donovan ranks 13th among current Division I players for career goals with 111. He is 13th overall in career points (171) and 24th in career assists (61).
•Connor Buczek ranks 21st among current Division I players for career goals with 93. He is 25th overall in career points (140) and 42nd in career assists (47).
•Dan Lintner ranks 38th among current Division I players for career goals with 78.
 
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 is currently ranked second all-time among midfielders with 136 career points and needs just two more to surpass Max Seibald (2006-09) and move into first place.
 
FACE-OFF FRENZY: In his first season as a starter, sophomore Domenic Massimilian has been outstanding for the Big Red. He ranks fourth in the nation with a .669 face-off winning percentage. He is also second in the country with 10.27 ground balls per game … Massimilian has won the face-off battle in 10-of-11 Big Red games this season and has led the team in ground balls in 10-of-11 games.

TOP 10 NATION: The Big Red is ranked in the top 10 nationally in just three statistical categories – face-off winning percentage (third – .688), ground balls per game (fifth – 36.45), and man-down defense (10th – .718).

BALANCED OFFENSE: After a slow start by the attack unit that saw a disproportionate amount of its offense come from the midfield, the Big Red has seen its scoring come back into balance with 89-of-189 points coming from the attack unit (47 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 8.9 saves per game, ranking 46th 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.
 
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).
 
OVERTIME NOTES: With its 10-9 overtime win vs. Penn on March 21, 2015 Cornell has played at least one overtime game in each of the past nine 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 9-5 record in OT games … Head Coach Matt Kerwick is 3-1 all-time at Cornell in overtime games.

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 733-449-27 all-time, and its 733 victories rank seventh among the winningest programs in collegiate lacrosse.

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 will return to Ivy League play next weekend when it travels to Brown to take on the Bears on Saturday, April 18 at 3 p.m.