GAME INFORMATION
GAME #6: Cornell vs. Yale
FACE OFF: Saturday, March 19 at 1 p.m.
SITE: Crown Schoellkopf Field (Ithaca, N.Y.)
2016 Records: Cornell (3-2, 0-0 Ivy League); Yale (5-0, 0-0 Ivy)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 51-23-1
LAST MEETING: Cornell won 14-7 March 14, 2015 in New Haven, Conn.


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GAME NOTES (PDF)
 
THE MATCHUP: The Big Red opens up the 61st season of Ivy League men's lacrosse when it welcomes No. 4 Yale for Kids Day at Schoellkopf Field on Saturday, March 19 at 1 p.m. Children wearing red will be admitted free to the contest and will receive a free schedule poster. The team will hold an autograph session following the game … Cornell has won two in a row and is looking to keep the momentum going against its toughest test so far this season. The Big Red enters the game with a record of 3-2, while the Bulldogs are 5-0 on the year. The game can be seen live online on the Ivy League Digital Network and will be simulcast on ESPN3.
 
SERIES HISTORY VS. YALE: The Cornell and Yale rivalry began in 1916 with a 5-1 Big Red victory, and Cornell has dominated ever since. The Big Red holds a 51-23-1 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 three outings.

LOOKING AT THE BULLDOGS: Yale is off to an impressive 5-0 start and enters the weekend ranked fourth in the USILA Coaches' Poll. The Bulldogs had a statement win earlier this season, beating. No. 5 Maryland, 8-5, on Feb. 27 in New Haven. Yale is averaging 12.4 goals per game, led by Ben Reeves with 13 tallies. The sophomore attackman also leads the squad in assists (12) for a team-high 25 points. Junior midfielder Eric Scott (9-6—15), senior midfielder Michael Keasey (8-3—11) and junior attackman Jeff Cimbalista (7-5—12) all have double-digit points. While the Bulldogs offense is impressive, it is the defense that is turning heads with a stingy 5.8 goals allowed per game. Senior captain Michael Quinn is one of the best defenders in the nation, while Christopher Keating has an impressive 10 caused turnovers on the year. In goal, sophomore Phil Huffard has started all five games and has an incredible 4.89 goal-against average while saving .629 percent of the shots he has faced. In the face-off circle, Jonathan Reese, the son of Yale's all-time leading scorer Jon Reese, has won 33-of-62 restarts (.532).
 
LAST TIME VS. YALE: Matt Donovan and Dan Lintner posted four goals apiece, and the Big Red defense held Yale without a goal for a span of 23:26 over the middle portion of the contest to help the No. 9 Cornell earn its second victory over a top 10 team, taking down No. 6 Yale, 14-7, at Reese Stadium. With his four goals, Donovan becomes just the eighth player in Cornell history to reach 100 goals and now sits eighth all-time for goals in a career (102). In addition to his four goals, Donovan added two assists for a game-high six points. John Hogan tallied two goals and three assists, while Connor Buczek had a goal and two helpers. Kason Tarbell had a career-high two goals, while John Edmonds (two assists), and Bradlee Lord (one goal, one assist) also had multi-point games. Domenic Massimilian won 15-of-24 face-offs and picked up 11 ground balls as the Big Red held the 31-24 advantage off the ground. Defensively, Cornell held Yale to just 13 shots on goal and had six caused turnovers, with Jordan Stevens and Tim LaBeau registering two apiece. In goal, Christian Knight shook off a slow start to finish with six saves, including five in the middle two quarters as the Big Red built a 9-4 lead. Yale was led by Conrad Oberbeck with two goals and one assist, while Ben Reeves and Michael Keasey both added one goal and one assist apiece. In goal, Eric Natale made 13 saves in the loss. In addition to winning the face-off and ground ball battle, the Big Red also nearly doubled up Yale on shots (40-22) and held the 27-13 edge in shots on goal. Both teams were effective in their man-up chances, with Cornell converting 3-of-5 and the Bulldogs scoring on 2-of-4 opportunities. The Big Red forced 15 Yale turnovers, including holding the Bulldogs to an 11-of-17 performance on clears with a tremendous effort on the ride.
               
A WIN OVER YALE WOULD:
• improve the Big Red to 52-23-1 vs. Yale.
• be the fourth straight vs. the Bulldogs.
• improve head coach Matt Kerwick's career record to 127-114 and to 3-0 vs. the Bulldogs.
• even Cornell's record at 2-2 vs. ranked opponents this season.
• be Cornell's 17th consecutive victory in an Ivy League opener.
• be the 739th win in program history.
• make Cornell 64-61 all-time when unranked in the USILA Coaches' Poll.
• improve Cornell to 5-10 all-time vs. the No. 4 ranked team in the USILA Coaches' Poll.
 
CAMPUS CONNECTIONS:
• Nate Archer's father, Glenn, was a track and field athlete for Yale from 1982-86, and while there he set the indoor and outdoor pole vaulting records.  
 
IVY OPENERS: The contest vs. Yale marks the 61st Ivy League season opener for Cornell men's lacrosse. Since the conference began play in the 1956 season, the Big Red has posted a 45-15 record in Ivy League openers, including winning its last 16, 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 29 titles, including 17 undefeated crowns.
• With its share in 2015, Cornell has won a share of 12 of the last 13 Ivy League titles.
• The Big Red also has the best regular season Ivy League record of any team in the conference at 251-100-1.
 
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 regular season conference victories … The Big Red's 251 regular season conference wins are also the most conference wins by any school in Division I men's lacrosse history.

THE HEAD COACH: Matt Kerwick (24-13, .648) 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' 121-year history ... Kerwick has 17 years of head coaching experience (126-114).
 
NCAA DEFENSIVE POW: Senior Brennan Donville was named the NCAA men's lacrosse Defensive Player of the Week after helping the Big Red defeat No. 17 Virginia.
 
HEATING UP:  Beginning in the second half of Cornell's game vs. Albany, senior goalie Brennan Donville has made 37 saves and allowed just 20 goals for a .649 save percentage.
 
TEWAARATON WATCH LIST: On March 17, the Tewaaraton Foundation announced that Cornell senior John Edmonds and junior Domenic Massimilian were addied to the 2016 Tewaaraton Award Watch List. 
 
LAST SECOND HEROICS: Freshman Zach Ward scored with :01 remaining in regulation to hand Cornell a 6-5 victory over Colgate on March 15. The buzzer beater is the first for the Big Red since Ryan Hurley scored with :01 remaining in overtime in an 8-7 victory over Yale on March 22, 2008.
 
PLAYER OF THE WEEK NOTES:
• Cornell has had one Ivy League Player of the Week award winner so far this season – Brennan Donville.
• Donville becomes the first Big Red netminder to be named Player of the Week since Kyle Harer '09 took home the honor on March 23, 2009.
• Donville was named Player of the Week after posting a career-high 17 saves in Cornell's 14-10 upset of No. 17 Virginia.
 
ROOKIE OF THE WEEK NOTES:
• The Big Red has had two freshmen – Clarke Petterson and Colton Rupp – named Ivy League Rookie of the Week so far this season.
• This marks the first time Cornell has had two separate players named Rookie of the Week since Jason Noble and AJ Fiore during the 2010 season.
• Following his outstanding play in a 10-8 victory over Hobart, short stick defensive midfielder Clarke Petterson took home the honor on March 1. He was the first Big Red to be named Rookie of the Week since Christian Knight on April 28, 2014. Petterson was also the first member of the defensive unit, other than a goalie, to win an Ivy award for the Big Red since Jason Noble was named Player of the Week on March 4, 2013.
• Colton Rupp was named Rookie of the Week on March 14 after helping the Big Red upset No. 17 Virginia. For the second game in a row, Rupp put five shots on goal and scored four times.
 
BABY BIG RED: Of the 26 players that have seen action so far this season, more than one-third (nine) are freshmen, including four starters – Colton Rupp (attack), Ryan Bray (midfield), Zach Ward (attack) and Clarke Petterson (midfield).
 
EXPERIENCE BY THE NUMBERS:
• The Big Red has just five players that have seen action in at least 30 career games – John Edmonds (54), Matt Schattner (49), Marshall Peters (36), Andrew Keith (33), and Tony Britton (31).
• Cornell has nine players that have seen action in 15-29 games – Christian Knight (29), Sean Doyle (24), Domenic Massimilian (25), Walt Gahagan (24), Brennan Donville (21), Jake Pulver (21), Jordan Dowiak (20), Kason Tarbell (19), and Bradlee Lord (15).
• There are 31 players on the Big Red roster that have played in less than 15 games in their collegiate careers.
 
U19 TEAM CANADA: Three Big Red – freshman Clarke Petterson, and incoming student-athletes Jeff Teat and Caelahn Bullen – have been named to Team Canada's roster for the upcoming Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL) U19 Men's Lacrosse World Championship, as was announced in March by the Canadian Lacrosse Association.
 
INDIVIDUAL STREAKS
• Domenic Massimilian has won double-digits face-offs in 12 straight games.
• Domenic Massimilian has won the face-off battle in eight straight contests.
• John Edmonds has registered at least one point in eight consecutive games.
• Bradlee Lord has a team-long eight-game point scoring streak.
 
TEAM STREAKS
• Cornell has won the ground ball battle in six straight games dating back to last season.
• The Big Red has won the face-off battle in eight straight contests.
 
HOME IS WHERE THE WINS ARE:
• Cornell has enjoyed a true home field advantage since beginning play on Schoellkopf Field in 1972, going 229-78 for a .746 winning percentage, with 12 undefeated seasons.
• Cornell has been even more impressive since 2000, going 95-24 overall (.798) with perfect slates in 2015 (6-0), 2011 (8-0), 2009 (6-0), 2007 (7-0) and 2005 (6-0).
 
CLOSE CALLS: Since the beginning of the 2003 season, Cornell is 34-19 in games that have been decided by a single goal, a mark that was raised when the Big Red defeated Colgate, 6-5, on March 15, 2016. Of the 19 losses, 16 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.
 
RANKED OPPONENTS:  Of the Big Red's 13 opponents this season, six are ranked in the current  USILA Coaches' Poll – Syracuse (third), Yale (fourth), Brown (fifth), Albany (11th), Harvard (14th),  and Penn State (20th) … Three others – Lehigh, Virginia, and Penn – are also receiving votes … So far this season, Cornell is 1-2 vs. ranked opponents.
 
TOP 10 NATION: The Big Red opened the week ranked in the top 10 nationally in just one statistical category – face-off winning percentage (sixth –.657).
 
FACE-OFF FRENZY: Domenic Massimilian entered the week ranked ninth in the nation in face-off win percentage (.657) … For his career, he has won the face-off battle in 19-of-21 games
 
GOOD OFF THE GROUND: Domenic Massimilian entered the week leading the nation in ground balls per game (8.80) … For his career, he has led the team in ground balls in 18-of-21 contests.
 
YOUNG GUN: Colton Rupp is ranked seventh in the nation among freshmen with 2.20 goals per game.
 
MOVING ON UP IN CORNELL HISTORY:
•Domenic Massimilian ranks fifth place in career face-offs won (321).
•Domenic Massimilian ranks 14th (197) in career ground balls.
•Marshall Peters ranks seventh in caused turnovers (38).
•Christian Knight ranks 13th in career saves (286).
 
BALANCED OFFENSE: So far this season, the Big Red has had a balanced scoring effort, with the attack unit accounting for 31-of-67 points on the season (46%). A year ago, Cornell saw 122-of-256 points coming from the attack unit (48%).
 
GROUND BALL GUY: Domenic Massimilian broke Doug Tesoriero's school record for ground balls in a single season with 150 during the 2015 season.
 
LOTS OF WINS: Cornell's 12-10 victory over Princeton on April 26, 2014 was the 725th win in program history. The Big Red is now 738-460-27 all-time, and its 738 victories rank seventh among the winningest programs in collegiate lacrosse.
 
ELITE COMPANY:  Over the past 10 seasons (2006-2015) only nine schools have registered 100 victories – Duke (146), UVA (126), Syracuse (124), Denver (121), Cornell (120), Notre Dame (119), Maryland (117), Hopkins (106), North Carolina (102) … During that span, only four have won at least 75 percent of its games – Duke (.785), Virginia (.754), Syracuse (.752), and  Cornell (.750).
 
FAMILY TIES:
• Head Coach Matt Kerwick's parents Thomas and the late Patricia, as well as his sister Ann, all graduated from 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 Matthews' cousin Matt Sutherland played lacrosse at Cornell.
•Sam Welch's parents, Patrick '85 and Ruth Welch '87, are both former Big Red athletes. A two-time Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association champion at 150 pounds, Patrick is in the Cornell Hall of Fame, while Ruth was a three-year letter winner for gymnastics, serving as team captain as a senior. 
• 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.
•Anthony Teixeira's great-uncle Stephen W. Fillo graduated from Cornell in 1959.
 
MLL DRAFT FACTS:
• Senior attack/midfielder John Edmonds was selected in the second round of the 2016 Major League Lacrosse draft with the 17th overall pick by the Rochester Rattlers. 
• Since having a program-high five players selected in the 2007 MLL Draft, the Big Red has had multiple picks in five of the last 10 drafts. In that same time frame, Cornell has had five first round draft picks, including one selection at No. 1 (Rob Pannell), and two at No. 2 (Connor Buczek and Max Seibald). 
 
UP NEXT: The Big Red will travel to Penn to take on the Quakers on Saturday, March 26 at noon