GAME INFORMATION
GAME #12: Brown at Cornell
FACE OFF: Saturday, April 23 at 1:00 p.m.
SITE: Schoellkopf Field (Ithaca, N.Y.)
2016 Records: Cornell (6-5, 1-3 Ivy League); Brown (11-1, 4-0 Ivy)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 36-19
LAST MEETING: Brown won 15-6; April 18, 2015 in Providence, R.I.
                            
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GAME NOTES (PDF)
 
THE MATCHUP: Coming off a pair of thrilling wins last week against No. 11 Syracuse in overtime and Lehigh on a goal scored with 0.1 showing on the scoreboard, the Cornell men's lacrosse team is looking to keep the momentum going when it welcomes No. 3 Brown to Schoellkopf Field on Saturday, April 23. The Bears will also be flying high after upsetting No. 1 Yale on Saturday, before dispatching crosstown rival Providence on Tuesday. Fans can watch the action live on the Ivy League Digital Network, or simulcast on ESPN3. 
 
SENIOR DAY: Saturday marks the final home game for the eight members of the Class of 2016 – Tony Britton, Brennan Donville, Sean Doyle, John Edmonds, Bradlee Lord, Ryan Matthews, Emmy Poccia, and Matt Schattner. As a group, they have won three Ivy League championships, have participated in three consecutive Ivy League Tournaments and appeared in three NCAA Tournaments, helping Cornell to reach the 2013 national semifinal game as freshmen.
 
THE NED HARKNESS ERA: This season marks the 50th anniversary of the start of the Ned Harkness Era of Cornell Lacrosse. In just three seasons with the men's lacrosse program, Harkness led the Big Red two a pair of Ivy League titles (1966 and 1968) and an overall record of 35-1. During halftime of Saturday's contest, the Cornell Department of Athletics and Physical Education will welcome back and honor members of the 1966, 1967, and 1968 men's lacrosse teams.
 
THE 21 RUN: The Big Red will host the 12th annual 21 Run on Sunday, April 24 at the Cornell Plantations, on Forest Home Drive in Ithaca. Registration for this family-friendly event will begin at 10:30 a.m., and the 5K run/walk will kick off at 11:21 p.m. A benefit for the Boiardi Foundation and the Family Reading Partnership of Ithaca, the morning will also feature a Read-Aloud and Bookmaking Tent, beginning at 10:30 a.m.
 
SERIES HISTORY VS. BROWN: The Cornell and Brown rivalry began when the Bears joined the Ivy League in men's lacrosse in 1964. The Big Red came away with an 8-7 victory in that first meeting, and won 23 of the first 28 games between the two programs. The Bears won eight-straight contests vs. Cornell from 1991 to 1997 to gain some ground in the series, which Cornell leads, 36-19. Since snapping that Brown winning streak with a 6-5 decision in 1998, the series has been very tight, despite Cornell's 13-6 record over that time. Of the last 19 meetings, 10 have been decided by three or fewer goals.
 
LAST TIME VS. BROWN: No. 13 Brown outscored Cornell, 9-1, after halftime to blow open what had been a tightly contested game and knock the Big Red out of first place in the Ivy League standings. The Bears earned the 15-6 victory at Stevenson Field on the strength of Jack Kelly's 21-save performance that allowed Brown to run its fast-paced offense and score in transition. Cornell (9-4, 3-2 Ivy) had its lowest scoring output since its first game of the season, and its lowest goal production in Ivy League play since losing to Dartmouth, 8-6, during the 2010 season. The nine-goal defeat was also the worst lost since falling to No. 11 Georgetown, 14-4, during the 2004 season. For as lopsided as the game ended, early indications were that it would be a game that came down to the wire. The Big Red opened the scoring just over one-minute in on a goal from Matt Donovan. The next few minutes saw excellent Big Red defense forcing turnovers at will, followed by outstanding saves from Kelly to keep it a one goal game before Henry Blynn scored the first of his game-high four goals in a scramble situation in front of the net.  The Bears quickly made it 4-1 at the end of the first quarter, thanks to a pair of man-up goals and a tally in transition off a face-off win. The Big Red battled back by scoring three of the next four goals before Blynn found the back of the net with 2.4 seconds remaining in the half and the home team went into the intermission with the 6-4 lead. Connor Buczek scored early in the third quarter to make it a one-goal game once again, but that was as good as it would get as the Bears rattled off nine of the final 10 goals in the contest to take the victory. The lone score during the Brown run came from Buczek, who finished with a team high three goals. Outside of the final score and Kelly's incredible save total, all other statistical categories were remarkably close. Cornell held the edge in shots (45-41), and caused two more turnovers (11-9), while posting two fewer turnovers (18-16). Brown won two extra face-offs (13-of-24) and had more ground balls (40-33). Both teams finished with four failed clears and both took advantage of their man-up chances with Brown going 3-for-3 and Cornell going 1-for-2. Defensively, Marshall Peters and Jordan Stevens registered three caused turnovers apiece with Peters picking up a team-high six groundballs. In addition to his goal, Cook also picked up five ground balls and caused two turnovers. In net, Christian Knight posted 10 saves in the loss.
               
LOOKING AT THE BEARS: After defeating crosstown rival Providence on Tuesday evening, Brown enters the game with a 11-1 record overall and a mark of 4-0 in the Ivy League. The Bears have a prolific offense, ranking first in the nation with 16.58 goals per game. The offense is led by Dylan Molloy, who ranks first in the nation in points per game (6.50), and assists per game (3.17), while both he and Kylor Bellstri rank third overall in goals per game (3.33). Bellstri is also fifth overall in points per game (4.83). The run-and-gun Bears like to score in transition and long stick midfielder Larken Kemp is a key component with his 2.00 caused turnovers per game giving fast break opportunities to Bruno. Brown is also solid in the face-off circle, with Will Gural ranking second in the nation with a .699 win percentage, and between the pipes, as Jack Kelly leads the country with a .614 save percentage.    
               
A WIN OVER BROWN WOULD:
• give Cornell three consecutive wins for the first time this season.
• be the third over a nationally ranked opponent this season.
• guarantee Cornell a winning record for the 18th consecutive season.
• improve the Big Red to 37-19 all-time in the series.
• improve head coach Matt Kerwick to 2-1 vs. the Bears.
• be the 742nd win in program history.
• improve head coach Matt Kerwick's career record to 130-117.
• make Cornell 67-63 all-time when unranked in the USILA Coaches' Poll.
• improve Cornell to 7-7 all-time vs. the No. 3 team in the USILA Coaches' Poll.
 
CAMPUS CONNECTIONS:
• Brown assistant coach Sean Kirwan is the younger brother of former Big Red men's lacrosse player Pat Kirwan '09.
• Brown assistant coach Lars Keil was the head coach at Pfeiffer University in 2012-13, taking over the position when Cornell's current associate head coach Peter Milliman departed for his one season as an assistant at Princeton.
• John Edmonds, Dan Nemirov, Tom Reilly, Jake McCulloch and Brown midfielder Jimmy Coughlan all attended Ward Melville High School.
• Matt Pinto and Brown attackman Bailey Tills both attended Kent Denver School.
• Ryan Matthews and Brown attackman Dino Lavalle both attended Manhasset High School.
 
THE HEAD COACH: Matt Kerwick (27-16, .658) 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 (129-117).
 
LAST SECOND HEROICS: Freshman Colton Rupp scored with one-tenth of a second remaining in regulation to cap a dramatic comeback victory on the road at Lehigh on April 16. The buzzer-beating goal was the second of the season, and the second straight against a Patriot League foe, as freshman Zach Ward scored with one-tenth of a second to play, handing Cornell a 6-5 victory over Colgate on March 15. Ward's buzzer beater was the first for the Big Red since Ryan Hurley scored with less than one second remaining in overtime in an 8-7 victory over Yale on March 22, 2008.
 
OVERTIME NOTES: With its 10-9 overtime win vs. Syracuse on April 12 Cornell has played at least one overtime game in each of the past 10 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 10-5 record in OT games … Cornell has won three consecutive overtime games and head coach Matt Kerwick is 4-1 all-time at Cornell in overtime games.
 
HOME IS WHERE THE WINS ARE:
• Cornell has enjoyed a true home field advantage since beginning play on Schoellkopf Field in 1972, going 230-80 for a .742 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).
 
ROOKIE OF THE WEEK NOTES:
• The Big Red has had three freshmen – Clarke Petterson (twice), Colton Rupp, and Anthony Teixeira – named Ivy League Rookie of the Week so far this season.
• Clarke Petterson becomes Cornell's first repeat Ivy Rookie of the Week winner since junior goalie Christian Knight took home the honor five times in 2014. 
• This season marks the first in the 25-year history of the award that Cornell has had three separate freshmen named Rookie of the Week in the same 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.
• Petterson earned the award a second time on April 18 after scoring five goals on just six shots, and adding an assist as Cornell defeated No. 11 Syracuse and Lehigh.
• 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.
• Anthony Teixeira was named Rookie of the Week on April 4 after earning his first career start and registering three goals and two assists vs. Dartmouth, all of which came during a 10-0 run that blew open a 2-2 game en route to a 19-4 victory.
 
FRESHMAN FOUR: Cornell has started at least four freshmen in each of its last nine 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). 
 
TOP SCORING FRESHMAN: Colton Rupp is tied for fourth place in Cornell history for the most goals scored by a freshman (21), alongside Steve Mock (2010). He needs four more goals to tie Rob Pannell (2009), while Sean Greenhalgh (39 in 2002) and Matt Wise (29 in 1995) hold the top two spots.
 
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 (11 starts – attack), Ryan Bray (9 starts – midfield), Clarke Petterson (8 starts – midfield), Zach Ward (5 starts – attack), Anthony Teixeira (4 starts – attack), Chad Otterman (3 starts – defense) and Jake McCulloch (1 start – midfield).
 
INDIVIDUAL STREAKS
• Colton Rupp has registered one point in six straight games.
• Clarke Petterson has at least one point in five consecutive games.
• Domenic Massimilian has reached 100 ground balls in each of the past two seasons.
 
TEAM STREAKS
• The Big Red's man-down defense has held four straight opponents scoreless … shutting out 9-of-11 opponents overall.
• Cornell's man-down defense has killed off 11 consecutive penalties.
• The Big Red had won the face-off battle in 13-of-14 contests.
• Cornell's defense has caused at least five turnovers in six of its last eight games.
• The Big Red has won three consecutive overtime games.
 
RANKED OPPONENTS:  Of the Big Red's 13 opponents this season, five are currently ranked in the current  USILA Coaches' Poll – Brown (third), Yale (fourth), Albany (sixth), Syracuse (eighth), and Penn State (17th) … Two others – Penn and Virginia – are also receiving votes … So far this season, Cornell is 2-3 vs. ranked opponents.
 
CLOSE CALLS: Since the beginning of the 2003 season, Cornell is 36-19 in games that have been decided by a single goal, a mark that was raised when the Big Red defeated Lehigh, 13-12, on April 16, 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.
 
TOP 10 NATION: The Big Red opened the week ranked in the top 10 nationally in two statistical categories – man-down defense (first – .857) and face-off winning percentage (third –.656).
 
FACE-OFF FRENZY: Domenic Massimilian entered the week ranked fifth in the nation in face-off win percentage (.657) … For his career, he has won at least .500 percent of his face offs in 23-of-26 games.
 
GOOD OFF THE GROUND: Domenic Massimilian ranks first in the nation in ground balls per game (10.30) … For his career; he has led the team in ground balls in 22-of-26 contests.
 
CAUSING A COMMOTION: Tony Britton is ranked 19th in the nation in caused turnovers per game (1.64). With 18 caused turnovers he ranks 14th all-time in Cornell history for caused turnovers in a single-season. 
 
MOVING ON UP IN CORNELL HISTORY:
•Domenic Massimilian ranks fourth place in career face-offs won (390) ... He needs three more to move into third place.
•Domenic Massimilian ranks fifth in career ground balls (256) … He needs 15 more to move into fourth place.
•Marshall Peters ranks seventh in caused turnovers (42) … He needs one more to move into sixth place.
•Christian Knight ranks 13th in career saves (286) … He needs 23 more to move into 12th place.
 
EXPERIENCE BY THE NUMBERS:
• The Big Red has just five players that have seen action in at least 35 career games – John Edmonds (61), Matt Schattner (53), Marshall Peters (43), Andrew Keith (38), and Tony Britton (38).
• Cornell has 13 players that have seen action in 15-35 games –Domenic Massimilian (31), Walt Gahagan (31), Christian Knight (29), Sean Doyle (27), Brennan Donville (27), Jake Pulver (27), Jordan Dowiak (25), Kason Tarbell (25), Emmy Poccia (20), Jack Bolen (17), Ryan Matthews (17), Scott Flynn (16), and Bradlee Lord (15).
• There are 27 players on the Big Red roster that have played in less than 15 games in their collegiate careers.
 
GROUND BALL GUY: Domenic Massimilian has 103 ground balls so far this season. He is one of just three Big Red players to reach the 100 ground ball plateau twice in a career, joining Doug Tesoriero (2013, 2014) and Tarik Ergin (1982, 1983) … Last season, Massimilian broke Tesoriero's school record for ground balls in a single season with 150 during the 2015 season.
 
POINT BREAK-DOWN: So far this season, the Big Red attack unit accounting for 60-of-169 points on the season (36%). A year ago, Cornell saw 122-of-256 points coming from the attack unit (48%).
 
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.
 
PLAYER OF THE WEEK NOTES:
• Cornell has had one Ivy League Player of the Week winner 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.
 
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.
 
OUT OF THE RANKINGS: After falling by a single goal to No. 20 Penn State in its season opener, Cornell slipped out of the USILA Coaches Poll for the first time since the 1998 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 now has 741 victories, ranking seventh among the winningest programs in collegiate lacrosse.
 
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 252-103-1.
 
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 252 regular season conference wins are also the most conference wins by any school in Division I men's lacrosse history.
 
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).
 
OH CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN:  The Big Red has three captains this season – seniors Brennan Donville, John Edmonds, and Matt Schattner.
 
HARD HAT: Marshall Peters was selected to carry the Hard Hat for the 2016 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.
 
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 will look to finish strong when it travels to Princeton for a game broadcast nationally on ESPNU on Saturday, April 30.