GAME INFORMATION
GAME #10: Cornell vs. No. 11 Syracuse
FACE OFF: Tuesday, April 12 at 7:00 p.m.
SITE: Schoellkopf Field (Ithaca, N.Y.)
2016 Records: Cornell (4-5, 1-3 Ivy League); Syracuse (6-2, 1-2 ACC)
SERIES RECORD: Syracuse leads, 64-37-1
LAST MEETING: Syracuse won 14-6; February 15, 2015 in Syracuse, N.Y.
                            
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GAME NOTES (PDF)
 
THE MATCHUP: The Cornell and Syracuse men's lacrosse teams will meet for the 103rd time on Tuesday evening in a rivalry that ranks as the third most contested in the history of collegiate men's lacrosse, behind only Cornell/Hobart (137 meetings) and Hopkins/Maryland (113 meetings).
 
SERIES HISTORY VS. SYRACUSE: The Cornell and Syracuse rivalry began in 1920 with a 5-3 victory for the Orange. Since that time, there have been only four seasons (1944, 1945, 1977, 1978) that the two squads have not faced each other. Syracuse holds the edge in the series, 64-37-1, with the Orange winning the last three seasons. Since the 2000 campaign, the series has been extremely close, with the Orange holding a 11-6 lead as the teams have played six one-goal games, with two others being decided by two goals.
               
LOOKING AT THE ORANGE: Syracuse snapped a three-game skid when it defeated Hobart, 13-6, last week at the Carrier Dome to improve to 6-3 on the year. The high-powered Orange offense has reached double-figures in seven of its nine contests this season and is averaging 13.00 goals per game. The team is led by Dylan Donahue with 16 goals and a team-high 21 assists for 37 points, while Nick Mariano has a team-best 18 goals on the year. In total, six different SU players have double-digit goals, with five of those registering at least 20 points. Syracuse has one of the best face-off men in the nation in Ben Williams, who has won 124-of-204 restarts (.606). He also leads the team with 64 ground balls (7.1 per game). The defense is led by senior All-American Brandon Mullins, who leads a group that is causing 8.0 turnovers a contest and allowing just 9.67 goals per game. In goal, Warren Hill has seen the majority of action this season and has been solid against some of the best offenses in the country, posting a 10.06 goals-against average and a .426 save percentage.  Redshirt junior Evan Molloy has played in four games, getting his first career start last time out against Hobart, and has posted an 8.12 GAA a .519 save percentage. 
               
A WIN OVER SYRACUSE WOULD:
• end a three-game winning streak by the Orange.
• make Cornell 38-64-1 all-time in the series.
• improve head coach Matt Kerwick's career record to 2-8 vs. the Orange.
• be the 740th win in program history.
• improve head coach Matt Kerwick's career record to 128-117 and 2-8 vs. Syracuse.
• make Cornell 65-63 all-time when unranked in the USILA Coaches' Poll.
• improve Cornell to 13-4 all-time vs. teams that are ranked 11th in the USILA Coaches' Poll.
 
CAMPUS CONNECTIONS:
• John Desko and Matt Kerwick were both coaches on the US Men's Lacrosse team that won silver at the 2006 FIL World Championships, with Desko serving as head coach and Kerwick as one of his assistants.
• Jake Pulver's brother Josh is a redshirt sophomore for Syracuse.
• Syracuse's Paolo Ciferri is from Ithaca and played for the Little Red … His mother, Lyn [Reitenbach], played lacrosse for the Big Red from1982-85.
• Syracuse's Andrew Helmer is the cousin of former Big Red women's lacrosse players Caroline (2009-12) and Meg Helmer (2011, 2013).
 
THE HEAD COACH: Matt Kerwick (25-16, .610) 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 (127-117).
 
HOME IS WHERE THE WINS ARE:
• Cornell has enjoyed a true home field advantage since beginning play on Schoellkopf Field in 1972, going 229-80 for a .741 winning percentage, with 12 undefeated seasons.
• Cornell has been even more impressive since 2000, going 95-26 overall (.785) with perfect slates in 2015 (6-0), 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 286-163-7 (.635) … The Big Red has four New York teams on its schedule this season – Hobart, Albany, Colgate and Syracuse – and is currently 2-1 in those contests ... A year ago, Cornell played eight contests vs. teams from New York, posting a record of 6-2.

MAKING A POINT: The Big Red had 16 different players register a point in a 19-4 victory over Dartmouth on April 2. The last time Cornell had that many different players register at least one point came in a 24-14 decision vs. Canisius on May 2, 1997. In total, 17 Big Red found their way into the box score that day.
 
FRESHMAN FOUR: Cornell has started at least four freshmen in each of its last seven games. Dating back to the 2003 season, when the games started statistic began to be kept regularly, the Big Red has started four freshmen five times in a season just once – the final five games of the 2010 campaign. In that stretch, Cornell started Mike Bronzino (defense), Jason Noble (defense), AJ Fiore (goalie) and a combination that featured either Ross Gillum (midfield) or Steve Mock (attack). 
 
TEWAARATON WATCH LIST: On March 17, the Tewaaraton Foundation announced that Cornell senior John Edmonds and junior Domenic Massimilian were added to the 2016 Tewaaraton Award Watch List.
 
BABY BIG RED: Of the 39 players that have seen action so far this season, more than one-third (15) are freshmen, including seven that have started at least one game – Colton Rupp (9 games – attack), Ryan Bray (7 games – midfield), Clarke Petterson (6 games – midfield), Zach Ward (5 games – attack), Anthony Teixeira (2 games – attack), Chad Otterman (2 games – defense) and Jake McCulloch (1 game – midfield).
 
EXPERIENCE BY THE NUMBERS:
• The Big Red has just five players that have seen action in at least 30 career games – John Edmonds (58), Matt Schattner (50), Marshall Peters (40), Andrew Keith (37), and Tony Britton (35).
• Cornell has nine players that have seen action in 15-29 games – Christian Knight (29), Domenic Massimilian (28), Walt Gahagan (28), Sean Doyle (26), Brennan Donville (25), Jake Pulver (25), Jordan Dowiak (24), Kason Tarbell (23), 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.
 
INDIVIDUAL STREAKS
• Domenic Massimilian has won double-digits face-offs in 15 straight games.
• Domenic Massimilian has won at least .500 percent of his face-offs in 11 straight contests.
• John Edmonds has registered at least one point in 11 of Cornell's last 12 games.
• Colton Rupp has posted at least three goals in four of Cornell's last seven games.
 
TEAM STREAKS
• The Big Red has won the face-off battle in 12 straight contests.
• Cornell's defense has caused at least five turnovers in five of its last six games.
• The Big Red's man-down defense has held 7-of-9 opponents scoreless, including four of its last five.
 
RANKED OPPONENTS:  Of the Big Red's 13 opponents this season, five are ranked in the current  USILA Coaches' Poll –Yale (first), Brown (fifth), Albany (sixth), Syracuse (11th), and Penn State (14th) … two others – Penn and Harvard – 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 – man-down defense (first – .826) and face-off winning percentage (second –.672).
 
FACE-OFF FRENZY: Domenic Massimilian entered the week ranked fourth in the nation in face-off win percentage (.682) … For his career, he has won at least .500 percent of his face offs in 22-of-24 games.
 
GOOD OFF THE GROUND: Domenic Massimilian leads the nation in ground balls per game (10.38) … For his career; he has led the team in ground balls in 21-of-24 contests.
 
CAUSING A COMMOTION: Tony Britton is ranked 20^th in the nation in caused turnovers per game (1.56). With 14 caused turnovers through nine games, he needs just two more to move into the top 15 all-time in Cornell history for caused turnovers in a single-season. 
 
YOUNG GUN: Colton Rupp is ranked seventh in the nation among freshmen with 2.11 goals per game.
 
MOVING ON UP IN CORNELL HISTORY:
•Domenic Massimilian ranks fourth place in career face-offs won (370).
•Domenic Massimilian ranks seventh in career ground balls (236).
•Marshall Peters ranks seventh in caused turnovers (42).
•Christian Knight ranks 13th in career saves (286).
 
POINT BREAK-DOWN: So far this season, the Big Red attack unit accounting for 50-of-132 points on the season (38%). A year ago, Cornell saw 122-of-256 points coming from the attack unit (48%).
 
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.
 
UP NEXT: The Big Red hits the road for its final non-conference game of the season as it takes on Lehigh on Saturday, April 16 at 1 p.m. in a contest televised to a national audience by CBS Sports Network.