GAME INFORMATION
GAME #10: Cornell at No. 1 Syracuse
FACE OFF: Tuesday, April 11, at 7:00 p.m.
SITE: The Carrier Dome (Syracuse, N.Y.)
2017 Records: Cornell (3-6, 2-2 Ivy League); Syracuse (8-1, 3-0 ACC)
SERIES RECORD: Syracuse leads, 64-38-1
LAST MEETING: Cornell won 10-9 (OT), April 11, 2016 in Ithaca, N.Y.

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TELEVISION: Spectrum Sports (Ch. 51 in Ithaca)
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GAME NOTES (PDF)
 
THE MATCHUP:  The Cornell and Syracuse men's lacrosse teams will meet for the 104th 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 (138 meetings) and Hopkins/Maryland (114 meetings). The Big Red has won two in a row to improve to 3-6 overall, while 8-1 Syracuse, winners of six straight, just took over the top spot in both the USILA Coaches and Inside Lacrosse Media Polls. The game can be seen online on ESPN3 or locally on Spectrum Sports, channel 51 in Ithaca. The contest will also be broadcast locally on WHCU 870 AM.
 
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, 64-38-1, with Cornell snapping the Orange's three-game winning streak with an overtime victory last season. Since the 2000 campaign, the series has been extremely close, with SU holding an 11-7 lead as the teams have played seven one-goal games, with two others being decided by two goals.
 
LOOKING AT THE ORANGE: No. 1 Syracuse ran its current winning streak to six straight with a 17-11 victory over Hobart last Wednesday as it improved to 8-1 overall. Of the Orange's nine games this season, seven have been one-goal decisions, including a pair of overtime victories. The majority of Syracuse's offense comes through the midfield with seniors Nick Mariano (23) and Sergio Salcido (25), who lead the team in goals and assists, respectively. The Orange returns one of the top face-off men in the nation from a year ago in Ben Williams, who has won 96-of-180 restarts for a .533 winning percentage. In goal, senior Evan Molloy returns for his second season as a starter. He has played nearly every minutes and has posted a 9.86 goals-against average to go along with a .506 save percentage.
 
LAST TIME VS. SYRACUSE: Ryan Matthews scored the biggest goal of his collegiate career in sudden victory overtime to give Cornell a 10-9 victory over No. 11 Syracuse. Cornell used late-clock heroics at the end of the first and third quarters to get to overtime, then cashed in for the game-winning score 2:37 into overtime to celebrate its first win over the Orange since 2012. The Big Red caught the Orange napping at the end of the first to get within 3-2. With 1.5 seconds left with a deadball situation behind the cage, Anthony Teixeira found Clarke Petterson with the goalie out of the cage for a quick-stick score, energizing the Big Red heading into the second 15 minutes of play. The third ended with a Kason Tarbell goal off a slick feed from Andrew Keith with less than six seconds left to send the game into the final quarter knotted at 7-7 and setting up the third dramatic Big Red goal of the evening. Matthews' extra session score gave Cornell its only lead of the night at the right time. Matthews scored two goals and added an assist to lead five Big Red players with multiple points on the night. Petterson recorded a hat trick, the first of his career, Tarbell had two scores, Keith had a goal and two assists and Ryan Bray had a pair of helpers. Goalkeeper Brennan Donville was outstanding between the pipes, stopping 13 shots, including a key save with two minutes to play to send the game into overtime. Tony Britton caused three turnovers and a team-high five groundballs. The Big Red won despite a huge day on the face-off x from Syracuse's Ben Williams, who won 18-of-22 face-offs, including the one to begin overtime. The Orange got four goals from Nick Mariano, two goals and an assist from Dylan Donahue and a goal and two assists from Jordan Evans. The Orange out shot Cornell 38-30, but the Big Red defense killed off three minutes of penalties on four different man-up opportunities for a Syracuse team that entered the game scoring on 62 percent of its chances.
 
A WIN OVER ORANGE WOULD:
• give Cornell two straight wins in the series for the first time since winning in 2011 and 2012.
• make Cornell 39-64-1 all-time in the series.
• improve head coach Matt Kerwick's career record to 133-125 and 3-8 vs. the Orange.
• be the 745th win in program history.
• be the first over a nationally ranked opponent this season.
• give Cornell three consecutive wins for the first time since winning four straight from March 14 to March 28, 2015.
• be Cornell's first victory over the top ranked team in the country since upsetting No. 1 Syracuse 11-6 on April 12, 2011.
• make Cornell 70-71 all-time when unranked in the USILA Coaches' Poll.
• improve Cornell to 6-22 all-time vs. the No. 1 team 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 junior 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).
• Clark Petterson and Jeff Teat attended The Hill Academy with SU junior Brendan Bomberry. 
• Josh Pulver and SU junior Ryan Simmons both went to Fayetteville-Manlius HS.
• Ryan McDonald and SU sophomore Nick Mellen both attended West Genesee HS.
• Christian Knight and SU freshman Logan Wisnauskas both went to Boys Latin.
• Cooper Telesco and SU freshman Brett Kennedy both attended Ridgewood HS.
• Ryan Maloney and SU freshman Jamie Trimboli both went to Victor HS.
• Ryan Matthews and SU senior Evan Molloy both attended Manhasset HS.
 
UPWARD TRENDS:
• Since moving into the starting line-up vs. Colgate, Walt Gahagan caused at least one turnover in four straight games, averaging 4.6 per contest. Prior to that, in his role as a man-down specialist he had caused just three turnovers in three seasons.
• Of Cornell's first six opponents, five currently rank in the top 25 in the country in face-off winning percentage. During that time, Paul Rasimowicz won just 40-of-107 chances for a .374 winning percentage. Since that time, he has gone 41-of-65 for a .631 win percentage.
• Through the first five games of the season, opponents cleared the ball successfully .865 percent of the time (90-of-104). Since that time, Cornell has implemented a 10-man ride and has held opponents to a .708 percent success rate (56-of-79).
• After registering just two points in his first three collegiate games, Jeff Teat has been phenomenal, registering 38 points over six games (6.3 points per contest).
• With his five points vs. Harvard, Jeff Teat has registered more career points (40) than any other player on the current Cornell roster, surpassing Colton Rupp (39).
 
NATIONAL FRESHMAN:
• Jeff Teat ranks eighth nationally, and is the second highest ranked freshman, in assists per game (2.33).
• Jeff Teat ranks 14th in the nation and second among all freshman in points per game (4.44).
• In both categories, Princeton freshman Michael Sowers ranks first.
• Jeff Teat ranks 48th in the nation and seventh among all freshman in the nation in goals per game (2.11)
 
THE PETTERSON-TEAT CONNECTION:
• Clarke Petterson and Jeff Teat both attended The Hill Academy.
• Of Petterson's 17 points on the season, more than half (9) have involved Teat.
• Teat has assisted on six of Petterson's 11 goals this season.
• Of Petterson's six assists on the year, three have come on goals by Teat.
 
THE HEAD COACH: Matt Kerwick (30-24, .556) 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 18 years of head coaching experience (132-125).
 
NO SHOT: The Big Red held Dartmouth without a single shot during the first quarter of its 14-5 victory over the Big Green on April 1.
• Dating back to the 2003 season, when shots by quarter began being recorded regularly, Cornell had never held an opponent without a shot in a quarter.
• The previous low had been one shot, last done by Penn in the fourth quarter of a 16-11 Big Red victory on March 24, 2012.  
 
SINGLE GAME ASSISTS:
• Jeff Teat has posted two of the highest single-game assist tallies by a freshman in Cornell history.
• His six assists vs. Virginia are the most ever recorded by a Cornell rookie.
• Teat's five assists vs. Dartmouth are tied for the second most by a freshman in Big Red history.
 
GAHAGAN'S GAME RECORD:
• Senior defender Walt Gahagan tied the Cornell school record for caused turnovers in a single game with six vs. Dartmouth on April 1.
• The make was previously held by Jason Noble, who achieved it twice during his career.
• The six caused turnovers are also the most so far this season in NCAA Division 1.
 
FLETCHER'S FIVE GOALS:
• Freshman Connor Fletcher had a hand in six of Cornell's nine goals vs. Penn with five goals and one assist.
• His five goals are tied for the second-most ever scored in a game by a Big Red freshman, behind Sean Greenhalgh's six goals vs. Syracuse in 2002
• Fletcher is the first Cornell rookie to record five goals since Greenhalgh did so vs. Dartmouth on April 13, 2002.
 
MILLIMAN TABBED TO ASSIST TEAM USA: Peter Milliman, the Mario St. George Boiardi '04 Associate Head Coach of Men's Lacrosse, has been named an assistant coach for the 2019 U.S. men's national indoor team.The team will be led by Regy Thorpe (Syracuse University), who in February was named head coach of Team USA, and will guide the team in pursuit of a gold medal at the 2019 Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL) World Indoor Lacrosse Championship (WILC), Sept. 19-28, 2019, in Langley, British Columbia, Canada.
 
FRESHMAN SCORING: Freshman Jeff Teat and Connor Fletcher are already two of the highest scoring rookies in Cornell history. 
• Jeff Teat ranks second among all Big Red freshman in assists (21), behind only Rob Pannell who handed out 42 assists as a rookie in 2009.
• Teat is also third among Cornell freshman in points (40) and seventh overall in goals (19).
• Connor Fletcher also ranks eighth among all Big Red freshman in points (26), ninth in goals (18) and eighth in assists (8).
 
CORNELL STREAKS
• Clarke Petterson has the longest point scoring streak on the team having registered one point in each of the last seven games.
• Jeff Teat has registered at least three points in six consecutive games.
• Walt Gahagan has caused at least one turnover in four straight games.
• Cornell has won more ground balls than its opponents in four consecutive games.
• Cornell has won face-off battle in three consecutive games.
 
INDIVIDUAL NCAA RANKINGS: The Big Red has several players ranked in the top 25 in the nation in …
• Saves per game – Christian Knight (19th; 11.33)
• Assists per game – Jeff Teat (8th; 2.33)
• Points per game – Jeff Teat (14th; 4.44)
• Caused turnovers per game – Walt Gahagan (7th; 2.14)
• Caused turnovers per game – Brandon Salvatore (19th; 1.67)
 
IN THE NCAA RANKINGS: The Big Red ranks in the top 25 in the nation in …
• Ground balls per game (9th – 32.78)
• Caused turnovers per game (12th – 8.33)
• Clearing percentage (15th – .899)
• Saves per game (24th – 11.44)
• Points per game (24th – 17.44)
• Scoring offense (25th – 11.11)
 
MOVING ON UP IN CORNELL HISTORY:
• Marshall Peters ranks fifth in caused turnovers (53) … He needs two more to move into fourth place.
• Christian Knight ranks ninth in career saves (388) … He needs three more to move into eighth place.
 
SAVE STREAK: Christian Knight opened the 2017 season by registering at least 10 saves in six games, and in seven consecutive games dating back to the 2015 season finale. That was the longest double-digit save streak of his career, and the longest by any Big Red goalie since Justin Cynar stopped 10+ shots in eight consecutive games during the 2000 season.
 
IVY OPENERS: The Big Red opened the 62nd season of Ivy League lacrosse with a 17-8 loss to Yale on March 18.  Since the conference began play in the 1956 season, the Big Red has posted a 45-17 record in Ivy League openers, including winning 16 of its last 18, 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.
 
NEW  YORK STATE OF MIND:  Cornell has traditionally been very successful against collegiate teams from New York state, posting an all-time record of 288-165-7 (.634) … The Big Red has four New York teams on its schedule this season – Hobart, Albany, Colgate and Syracuse and so far is 1-2 in those contests
 
HOME IS WHERE THE WINS ARE:
• Cornell has enjoyed a true home field advantage since beginning play on Schoellkopf Field in 1972, going 232-83 for a .773 winning percentage, with 12 undefeated seasons.
• Cornell has been even more impressive since 2000, going 99-29 overall (.773) with perfect slates in 2015 (6-0), 2011 (8-0), 2009 (6-0), 2007 (7-0) and 2005 (6-0).
 
ROOKIE OF THE WEEK: Jeff Teat was named the Ivy League Rookie of the Week on March 13 following his 11-point performance vs. No. 13 Virginia. It is the first weekly award for the Big Red this season.
 
NOTING TEAT'S 11-POINT PERFORMANCE:
• Jeff Teat registered 11 points on five goals and six assists vs. No. 13 Virginia on March 11.
• The 11 points were the most scored in NCAA Division I this season for one week before Hobart's Chris Aslanian registered 13 points vs. Wagner.
• The six assists and 11 points are the most ever recorded by a Cornell rookie.
• The 11 points are the sixth most in Big Red history.
• Teat becomes the first Cornell player to register 11 points in a contest since Tim Goldstein '88 vs. Dartmouth on April 23, 1988.
 
RANKED OPPONENTS:  Of the Big Red's 13 opponents this season, six are currently ranked in the USILA Coaches' Poll – Syracuse (first), Penn State (fifth), Albany (sixth), Princeton (13th), Yale (14th), and Virginia (18th) … Cornell 0-3 vs. ranked opponents this season.
 
EXPERIENCE BY THE NUMBERS:
• The 2017 Big Red roster has just seven players that have played more than 35 career games – Marshall Peters (54), Andrew Keith (49), Walt Gahagan (42), Christian Knight (38), Jake Pulver (37), Jordan Dowiak (36), and Kason Tarbell (36).
• Cornell has just 10 players with 20-35 games played –Jack Bolen (27), Ryan Matthews (28), Scott Flynn (27), Dan Bockelman (24) Charlie Estill (24), Clarke Petterson (22), Colton Rupp (22) and Grant Mahler (21), Chad Otterman (20), and Fleet Wallace (20).
• There are 30 players on the Big Red roster that have played in less than 20 career games.
 
THE NOTABLE JEFF TEAT:
• Jeff Teat was named the No. 1 overall recruit in the Inside Lacrosse 2016 Power 100 Freshmen Rankings.
• He is the Big Red's first-ever Inside Lacrosse No. 1 recruit.
• He is Inside Lacrosse's first-ever overall No. 1 to hail from Canada.
• Last year, as a member of the Ontario Junior A League's Brampton Excelsiors, he finished the regular season as the leading scorer in the league with 145 points (7.6 points per game), the highest point total since John Grant Jr. registered 160 in 1994.
 
OVERTIME NOTES: With its 19-18 overtime loss vs. Virginia on March 11, 2017 Cornell has played at least one overtime game in each of the past 11 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 10-6 record in OT games … Cornell had won three consecutive overtime games prior to the loss to UVA and head coach Matt Kerwick is 4-2 all-time at Cornell in overtime contests.
 
CLOSE CALLS: Since the beginning of the 2003 season, Cornell is 36-22 in games that have been decided by a single goal, a mark that was lowered when the Big Red fell to Penn, 8-9, on March 25. Of the 22 losses, 17 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.
 
THROWBACK NUMBERS:
• The 2017 roster features two unique numbers on it - #51 and #77.
• Freshman Jeff Teat is the first player to wear #51 since Jerome Dolins wore it in 1966.
• Sophomore Tom Reilly is the first Big Red men's lacrosse player to ever wear #77. 
 
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 744 victories, ranking seventh among the winningest programs in collegiate lacrosse.
 
OH CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN:  The Big Red has four captains this season – seniors Ryan Matthews and Marshall Peters, junior Jake Pulver, and sophomore Clarke Petterson.
 
ELITE COMPANY:  Over the past 10 seasons (2007-2016) only 10 schools have registered 100 victories – Duke (151), Syracuse (126), Denver (122), Maryland (122), Notre Dame (120), UVA (116), Cornell (115), North Carolina (110), Hopkins (105), Loyola (105) … During that span, only seven teams have won at least 70 percent of its games – Duke (.766), Notre Dame (.755), Syracuse (.754), Cornell (.723), Maryland (.713), Denver (.709), and UVA (.703).
 
HARD HAT: Jake Pulver 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.
 
PRESEASON ALL-AMERICANS:  Junior defenseman Jake Pulver was named a preseason honorable mention All-American by Inside Lacrosse Magazine.
 
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.
• 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.
• Connor Fletcher's father, Daniel, graduated from Cornell in 1985 and his great uncle, Bob Mealy '51, is considered one of the best runners in Cornell track history and is a member of the Cornell Athletic Hall of Fame.
• Griffin Buczek's brother, Connor '15, was an All-American lacrosse player for Cornell and currently serves as the team's volunteer assistant coach while attending Cornell's Johnson Graduate School of Management and playing professionally for the Florida Launch … His aunt, Colleen Cottrell Calderwood, also attended Cornell.
• Ryan McDonald's uncle, Dan McDonald, played lacrosse at SUNY Potsdam and served as an assistant coach for the Big Red under Richie Moran from 1995-96 ... His aunt, Tina Mahoney graduated from Cornell in 1988.
• Griff Gosnell's great-uncle, John Gude Gosnell, graduated from Cornell in 1950.
• Josh Gully's father, Josh '83, lettered twice for the Big Red lacrosse team and he is the 22nd member of his family to attend Cornell.
 
U19 TEAM CANADA: Three Big Red – sophomore Clarke Petterson, and freshmen Jeff Teat and Caelahn Bullen – were members of the Team Canada squad that won the silver medal at the Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL) U19 Men's Lacrosse World Championship this past summer.
 
MLL DRAFT FACTS:
• Cornell has the ninth most Major League Lacrosse draft picks (25) of any school in the nation.  
• 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.
• Beginning with the 2007 MLL Draft, 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). 
 
TICKLE THE ALL-IVY: The Big Red returns two All-Ivy selections from a year ago –Jake Pulver (second-team) and Ryan Matthews (honorable mention). Both were first-time honorees. 
 
RECAPPING 2016: One of the youngest teams in the nation, the Big Red finished the 2016 season with a 6-7 record overall (1-5 Ivy), with four of its seven losses coming to nationally ranked opponents. Cornell managed two upsets on the season, defeating No. 17 Virginia, and taking down No. 11 Syracuse in overtime for Cornell's first win over the Orange since 2012. Of the 39 players that saw action during the 2016 season, more than one-third (15) were freshmen, including seven that started at least one game. The freshman class proved to be the second highest scoring rookie class in program history with 82 points coming from seven players. Following the season, Cornell had five players named All-Ivy. Brennan Donville '16, John Edmonds '16, Domenic Massimilian '17 and Jake Pulver '18 were named second-team, while Ryan Matthews '16 earned an honorable mention selection. All five players were first-time honorees. Donville was also named an YRL Unsung Hero finalist, and was a USILA Scholar All-American, along with Matt Schattner '16.
 
UP NEXT: Cornell will play its final non-conference game of the season when it welcomes Lehigh to Schoellkopf Field on Saturday, April 15 at 1 p.m.