GAME INFORMATION
GAME #2: #14/15 CORNELL BIG RED vs. #6/6 Penn State
TIME: 1 p.m.
DATE: Sat. Feb. 25, 2017
PLACE: Schoellkopf Field — Ithaca, N.Y.
LIVE VIDEO: Ivy League Digital Network
LIVE STATS: CornellBigRed.com
RECORDS: Cornell 1-0 (0-0 Ivy), Penn State 4-0 (0-0 B1G)

About the Big Red
• Cornell opened up the season last week on the road, traveling to Villanova and coming away with an 18-6 win over the Wildcats.
• Senior tri-captain Kristy Gilbert led the Big Red with a career-high six goals while fellow senior Amie Dickson (3g, 1a) and sophomore Tomasina Leska (2g, 2a) each had four points.
• Senior tri-captain Catie Smith led the team with four groundballs and Dickson and junior Taylor Reed each had three.
• Senior Renee Poullott made nine saves in the crease to earn the win while sophomore Samantha Nielsen made one save in relief. 
• The 12-goal margin of victory was Cornell's largest since a 23-6 win over California on March 29, 2015.
• The win over the Wildcats was Cornell's sixth consecutive season-opening win.

About the Nittany Lions
• Penn State enters Saturday's game with a 4-0 record after topping Duquesne on Wednesday, 19-9.
• Senior Steph Lazo had five goals for the Nittany Lions while freshman Maria Auth notched her first career hat-trick.
• The Nittany Lions opened the season with three-straight home games, topping Albany (20-9) in the season opener, edging Towson (13-11) and  then dropping Lehigh (18-9).
• Penn State was 6-4 on the road in 2016.
• The Lions went 14-7 last season and made a run all the way to the Final Four before bowing out with a 12-11 loss to eventual champion North Carolina.
• Three of Penn State's top five scorers from 2016 have returned in Steph Lazo (37g, 34a), Katie O'Donnell (46g, 4a) and Madison Carter (48g 4a).
• The Lions return eight of their 12 starters from last season's team and added a total of 11 newcomers to the roster in 2017.

The Series with the Nittany Lions
• Cornell trails in the all-time series, 3-5, but went down to Penn State last season and upset a then-ranked #10/12 Nittany Lion squad, 10-7. 
• Junior Joey Coffy scored a career-high four goals and classmate Taylor Reed tacked on two goals while seniors Amie Dickson (0g, 1a), Catherine Ellis (1g, 1a) and Kristy Gilbert (1g, 1a) all found the scoring sheet.
• Big Red head coach Jenny Graap served as an assistant coach for the Penn State women's lacrosse team from 1990-93.

A Win Would…
• Narrow Cornell's all-time record against Penn State to 4-5.
• Be the Big Red's first over a ranked opponent this season.
• Give Cornell its second-straight 2-0 start to the season.
• Move the Big Red to a 3-3 record against Penn State under head coach Jenny Graap.

About Head Coach Jenny Graap '86
• Now in her 20th season directing the Cornell women's lacrosse program in 2017, Jenny Graap amassed a 180-120 record in her first 19 seasons as the head coach of the Big Red, with her 200th win coming in the form of a 11-10 win over Penn in the 2016 Ivy league Tournament Championship. 
• Cornell has made the Ivy League tournament each of the last five seasons and six of the seven years that the tournament has been held. 
• Graap guided the Big Red to back-to-back NCAA Tournaments in 2001 and 2002 – reaching the semifinals in the latter year – and also brought the team to the tournament in 2006 and 2016. 
• Since she returned to her alma mater in 1997, Graap has led the team to postseason play nine times and has won at least 10 games eight times as well.

Gilbert Scores Six
• In Cornell's season-opening 18-6 win over Villanova, senior tri-captain Kristy Gilbert scored a career-high six goals.
• Gilbert is the first Big Red player to notch six goals in a game since senior Catherine Ellis did it in a double-overtime, 11-10, win over Dartmouth on April 5, 2014.  
• It was the 15th time in program history that a player scored six goals in a game.
• The last time a Big Red player had at least six goals in a game was March 29, 2015 when Lindsay Toppe scored seven.

Preseason All-Americans
• The Big Red had four players named to the Inside Lacrosse Preseason All-American list.
• Senior tri-captain and defender Catie Smith was named to the second team.
• Junior midfielders Joey Coffy and Taylor Reed and senior goalkeeper Renee Poullott were all named honorable mention Preseason All-Americans.

Meet the Captains
• Seniors Catherine Ellis, Kristy Gilbert and Catie Smith will be serving as Cornell's captains for the 2017 season.
• Ellis was second on the team in scoring last year (22g, 12a), notched the memorable overtime-winner against Princeton in the Ivy League Tournament semifinal and was named to the Ivy League All-Tournament Team.
• Gilbert – a key component of the Big Red midfield who excels on both sides of the ball – appeared in all 19 contests last year and started 18 of them while putting up 24 points (18g, 6a). 
• Smith, a 2016 First-Team All-Ivy selection and Third-Team IWLCA All-American, set a new single-season program record and led the Ivy League with 41 caused turnovers last season.

In the Crease
• Senior Renee Poullott returns in goal for the Big Red after finishing 2016 with a .465 save percentage, 7.36 goals against average, seven caused turnovers and a team-high 40 groundballs. 
• Sophomore Samantha Nielsen and freshman Katie McGahan will serve as Poulott's backups.

The Big Red Defense
• Cornell graduated four defenders that combined to play a possible 73 out of 76 games last season but returns a staunch defense nonetheless.
• Senior tri-captain Catie Smith will lead the defensive corps while Christie Powell will slot into a new position next to her classmate Smith. 
• Juniors Cait Callahan, Hilary Lemonick and Anna Baumeister will each bring distinct styles of play while sophomores Natalie Paletta and Sarah Nicholson bring speed and determination into the fold.

The Mighty Middle
• Cornell returns a deep and talented midfield group that includes the trio of senior tri-captain Kristy Gilbert – and her rocket shot - along with juniors Joey Coffy and Taylor Reed, who both broke the 30 point barrier last season. 
• Sophomores Christie Raymond and Hannah O'Reilly bring offensive and defensive styles, respectively, while junior Ida Farinholt's drive should help her make a healthy return.

Attack, Attack, Attack
• Amie Dickson and Catherine Ellis were both in the top five of the Big Red's point getters in 2016 – and both attackers are back for their senior seasons. Dickson, who led the team in shots last year (75), and Ellis will both be looked upon to help set up their teammates.
• Senior Meredith Baker and junior Paige Craig will both factor in as interior attackers in the critical scoring area for the Big Red.
• Sophomores Tomasina Leska, Sarah Phillips and Shannon Bertscha will also serve as returning options on the front line. 

Meet the New Kids
• Mary Kate Bonanni – who has an instinctive style of play – and Alex Monello are the two new faces in the backfield.
• Lucy Pedlow, Caroline Allen and Taylor Lis will enter the midfield fold for the Big Red.
• Isabel Zachara will factor into the attack rotation while Katie McGahan is the lone newcomer between the pipes. 
• The Class of 2020 includes five US Lacrosse All-Americans (Allen, Lis, McGahan, Monello, Pedlow) and six US Lacrosse Academic All-Americans (Bonanni, Lis, McGahan, Monello, Pedlow, Zachara).
• The class hails from six different states: Pennsylvania (Allen), New York (Bonanni), New Jersey (Lis, Zachara), Georgia (McGahan), Oregon (Monello), North Carolina (Pedlow).

Formidable Foes
• The 2017 schedule includes five games against teams that were in last season's NCAA Tournament.
• Non-conference tilts with two national quarterfinalists in Penn State and the University of Southern California as well as a matchup against Syracuse awaits Cornell.
• Games against Penn and Princeton will double as not only Ancient Eight battles but also pit the Big Red up against fellow 2016 NCAA Tournament teams.

2016 Ivy League Tournament Champions
• The Big Red took home the 2016 Ivy League Tournament Championship title.
• Junior Taylor Reed was named the Most Outstanding Player while Olivia Mattyasovszky '16, junior Joey Coffy and seniors Amie Dickson, Catherine Ellis and Renee Poullott were named to the All-Tournament Team.
• Cornell's win over Penn in the championship game marked just the second time in the tournament's seven-year history that a team other than Penn or Princeton claimed the crown. 
• The championship game victory was also head coach Jenny Graap's 200th career win.

Big Red Rewind
• Cornell began the 2016 season by getting off to an 8-0 start, which was the best start to a season in program history.
• After taking home the Ivy League Tournament Championship, the team qualified for the program's first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 2006.
• Cornell also earned the right to host the first two rounds on Schoellkopf Field and got its first NCAA tournament win since 2002 with a 15-11 win over Canisius in the first round.
• Olivia Mattyasovszky '16 (33g, 4a), Emily Tripodi '16 (9g, 27a) and senior Amie Dickson (28g, 8a) all tied for the team lead in scoring with 36 points each  while juniors Taylor Reed (23g, 11a), Catherine Ellis (22g, 12a) and Joey Coffy (26g, 5a) all eclipsed the 30 point mark. 
• Senior Renee Poullott started all 19 games, recording a .465 save percentage, 7.36 goals against average, seven caused turnovers and a team-high 40 groundballs.

Up Next
• The team will begin the Ivy League gauntlet next weekend when it travels to #10/12 Penn on Saturday, March 4.
• Game time is set for 1 p.m.