GAME INFORMATION
GAME #7: Cornell at Penn
FACE OFF: Saturday, March 26 at Noon
SITE: Franklin Field (Philadelphia, Pa.)
2016 Records: Cornell (3-3, 0-1 Ivy League); Penn (4-2, 1-0 Ivy)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 65-23-3
LAST MEETING: Cornell won 10-9 (3 OT) March 21, 2015 in Ithaca, N.Y.

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GAME NOTES (PDF)
 
THE MATCHUP: The Big Red men's lacrosse team will take on Penn in the 92nd meeting between the two programs when the teams meet at Franklin Field on Saturday, March 26 at noon. Cornell fell in its Ivy League opener to Yale last weekend to slip to 3-3 overall (0-1 Ivy), while the Quakers had an impressive 20-10 win over Princeton to improve to 4-2 overall (1-0 Ivy). The game can be seen live online on the Ivy League Digital Network or heard locally on WHCU 870 AM with Barry Leonard on the call.
 
SERIES HISTORY VS. PENN: The Cornell and Penn rivalry is the second-oldest in the Ivy League and eighth 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. Saturday's edition will be the 92nd meeting in the series, with the Big Red holding a dominating 65-23-3 record overall. Cornell has won nine of the last 10 meetings, with the lone loss in that stretch coming during the 2014 Ivy League Tournament. The Big Red's last regular season loss to Penn came in 2006 at Franklin Field.

LOOKING AT THE QUAKERS: Penn is off to a 4-2 start with a top 20 win vs. Penn State. The Quakers are coming off and emphatic, 20-10 win at Princeton on Saturday, the Quakers' first win at their archrival's home field since 1988. The offense is led by senior attackman Nick Doktor, who has a 33-game point-scoring streak that dates back to the 2014 season. Doktor entered the week leading the nation in assists per game (3.33) and ranked seventh nationally in points per game (4.67). Sophomore attackman Reilly Hupfeldt leads four Penn players with double-digit goals (12). In goal, Reed Junkin has started all six games and posted a 10.37 goals-against average and a .570 save percentage. In the circle, Chris Santangelo (25-58; .431) and Richie Lenskold (25-64; .390) have split face-off duties, but Santangelo won .500 percent last time out, going 9-of-18 vs. the Tigers.  
 
LAST TIME VS. PENN: With less than three seconds left in the second quarter, Cornell's Matt Donovan brought an errant Big Red shot back in play, whizzing it past two defenders into the stick of John Hogan, who buried the shot as the buzzer sounded to give the home team a 9-4 edge. Nearly 40 minutes of game action later, the Big Red closed the door on Penn's comeback attempt with its first goal since heading to the locker room with that five-goal lead. This time, Dan Lintner played the hero 1:40 into the third overtime to knock off the Quakers 10-9 on Saturday afternoon at Schoellkopf Field. Lintner finished off a hat trick by coming around goal, taking a feed from Connor Buczek on the run and burying a shot past Penn backup goalkeeper John Lopes, who had stonewalled the Big Red after entering the game at halftime. Lintner finished with three goals, while both Donovan (one goal, three assists) and John Hogan (two goals, two assists) had four-point days. Buczek had two goals and an assist, including the game-winning helper after charging in with the ball from the top of the circle, opening a lane for the cutting Lintner. Christian Knight had 13 saves, and stopped both shots he saw in the extra session, including a save on what would turn out to be Penn's final possession. Marshall Peters, who scored a goal and won three ground balls for the Big Red, caused two turnovers, while Jordan Stevens held Penn leading scorer Nick Doktor to a goal and an assist in the loss.Domenic Massimillian won 14-of-22 faceoffs and scooped up 11 ground balls to help Cornell win the possession battle throughout, even during a second half where the Big Red's final goal was its only one. Penn notched five unanswered second half goals, four in the third and the game-tying score with 3:14 remaining to send it to overtime. The Big Red then fought off a number of dangerous Penn possession. Penn's Lopes made nine saves while allowing only the game winner after entering at half with his team trailing 9-4. Joe McCallion had four goals and an assist to lead the Quakers on offense, while Reilly Hupfeldt had a goal and two assists. Connor Keating won six ground balls for Penn, which held a 55-49 advantage in shots and stayed close in the ground ball category against a Cornell team that has won it in each of its first eight games (40-35).
               
A WIN OVER PENN WOULD:
• improve the Big Red to 66-23-3 vs. Penn and 251-101-1 all-time vs. Ivy League.
• be Cornell's 10th win in the last 11 meetings the Quakers..
• improve head coach Matt Kerwick's career record to 127-115 and to 3-1 vs. the Quakers.
• be the 740th win in program history.
• make Cornell 64-62 all-time when unranked in the USILA Coaches' Poll.
• improve Cornell to 245-48 all-time vs. teams that are unranked in the USILA Coaches' Poll.
 
CAMPUS CONNECTIONS:
• Penn assistant coach Patrick Myers served as Cornell's assistant coach during the 2005 season. He helped the Big Red to an 11-3 record and an Ivy League title as Cornell advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament.
• Penn assistant coach Jim Stagnitta was the head coach of the MLL's Denver Outlaws in 2012 and 2013. During that time, he had two former Big Red players on his squad – Christian Pastirik (2012) and Ethan Veddar (2013).   
 
THE HEAD COACH: Matt Kerwick (24-14, .632) 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 (126-115).
 
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.
 
BABY BIG RED: Of the 29 players that have seen action so far this season, nearly 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 (55), Matt Schattner (49), Marshall Peters (37), Andrew Keith (34), and Tony Britton (32).
• Cornell has nine players that have seen action in 15-29 games – Christian Knight (29), Domenic Massimilian (26), Walt Gahagan (25), Sean Doyle (25), Brennan Donville (22), Jake Pulver (22), Jordan Dowiak (21), Kason Tarbell (20), 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.
 
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 251-101-1.
 
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.
 
INDIVIDUAL STREAKS
• Domenic Massimilian has won double-digits face-offs in 13 straight games.
• Domenic Massimilian has won at least .500 percent of his face-offs in nine straight contests.
• John Edmonds has registered at least one point in nine consecutive games.
• Colton Rupp has posted at least three goals in three of Cornell's last four games.
• Bradlee Lord has an eight-game point scoring streak.
 
TEAM STREAKS
• The Big Red has won the face-off battle in nine straight contests.
• Cornell's defense has caused at least five turnovers in five consecutive contests.
• The Big Red's man-down defense has held 5-of-6 opponents scoreless, including its last two.
 
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, five are ranked in the current  USILA Coaches' Poll –Yale (third), Brown (fourth), Syracuse (fifth), Albany (10th), and Harvard (14th) … four others – Virginia, Penn, Lehigh, and Penn State – are also receiving votes … So far this season, Cornell is 1-3 vs. ranked opponents.
 
TOP 10 NATION: The Big Red opened the week ranked in the top 10 nationally in two statistical categories – face-off winning percentage (seventh –.636) and man-down defense (eighth – .786) .
 
FACE-OFF FRENZY: Domenic Massimilian entered the week ranked 13th in the nation in face-off win percentage (.628) … For his career, he has won at least .500 percent of his face offs in 20-of-22 games
 
GOOD OFF THE GROUND: Domenic Massimilian entered the week ranking second in the nation in ground balls per game (8.50) … For his career, he has led the team in ground balls in 19-of-22 contests.
 
YOUNG GUN: Colton Rupp is ranked fifth in the nation among freshmen with 2.33 goals per game.
 
MOVING ON UP IN CORNELL HISTORY:
•Domenic Massimilian ranks fifth place in career face-offs won (333).
•Domenic Massimilian ranks 14th (204) in career ground balls.
•Marshall Peters ranks seventh in caused turnovers (41).
•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 37-of-80 points on the season (46%). A year ago, Cornell saw 122-of-256 points coming from the attack unit (48%).
  
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.
 
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).
 
UP NEXT: The Big Red remains on the road next weekend to take on Dartmouth on Saturday, April 2 at 1 p.m.