GAME INFORMATION
GAME #9: Cornell at Harvard
FACE OFF: Saturday, April 8, at 1:00 p.m.
SITE: Harvard Stadium (Cambridge, Mass.)
2017 Records: Cornell (2-6, 1-2 Ivy League); Harvard (5-4, 1-1 Ivy League)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 64-26
LAST MEETING: Harvard won 12-8, April 9, 2016 in Ithaca, N.Y.

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* GAME NOTES (PDF)
 
THE MATCHUP:  The Cornell and Harvard men's lacrosse teams will meet for the 91st time in a rivalry that ranks as the third-longest in the Ivy League and 10th longest in the nation when the teams face-off on Saturday, April 8 at 1 p.m. Coming off its first Ivy League win of the season, the Big Red improved to 2-6 overall and 1-2 in the conference, while the Crimson, fresh off its conference bye week, has lost four of its last five contests to slip to 5-4 overall and 1-1 in the Ivy League. The game can be seen online on the Ivy League Digital Network or heard locally on WCHCU 870 AM.
 
SERIES HISTORY VS. HARVARD: Although official Ivy League play began in 1956, the Cornell and Harvard rivalry dates back nearly as far as both teams' lacrosse programs, as the two squads first squared off in the 1895 season. The Big Red won that first meeting, 2-1, and has dominated the series ever since, holding a 64-26 overall record against the Crimson. Harvard snapped the Big Red's 16-game winning streak with a 14-9 decision on Scheollkopf Field during the 2014 season and has gone on to win three in a row for the first time since winning five straight from 1994 to 1998.
 
LOOKING AT THE CRIMSON: Harvard (5-4, 1-1 Ivy) won its first four games of the season, but have gone 1-4 since, with its lone win in that span coming against Dartmouth. The majority of the team's offense has come from junior midfielder Morgan Cheek, who leads the team in goals (29), assists (20) and points (49), more than double any other player on the roster. Junior midfielder Joe Lang (13) and freshman attackman Ryan Graff (12) have both chipped in double-digit goals.  In the face-off circle, James Sullivan has been Harvard's main option, winning 77-of-193 restarts (.399), and leads the team with 33 ground balls on the year. In goal, Robert Shaw has started all nine games has posted a 10.94 goals-against average to go along with a .540 save percentage.
 
LAST TIME VS. HARVARD: Cornell men's lacrosse fell, 12-8, in a back-and-forth battle with Harvard at Schoellkopf Field on April 9, 2016. Neither team led by more than two through the first three quarters, but the Crimson outscored the Big Red, 4-1, in the final period to earn the victory. Freshman Ryan Bray led Cornell with two goals and John Edmonds finished with one goal and one assist as the only mulit-point scorers for the Big Red. In total, nine different Cornell players found the scoring column. Domenic Massimilian went 20-for-24 (.833) on the faceoff with a career-high 17 ground balls with no turnovers. He also scored just his second goal of the season, giving Cornell its only lead of the contest with 7:49 to play in the third quarter. Harvard was led by Will Walker with three goals and Devin Dwyer with two goals and two assists. Cornell had the edge in shots (40-38), and ground balls (38-27). The Big Red also converted 1-of-4 man-up chances, while the team's man-down defense held its seventh opponent this season without a goal (0-2). Both teams put 25 shots on goal and both team's goalies played extremely well with Harvard's Robert Shaw and the Big Red's Brennan Donville finishing with 17 saves and 13 saves, respectively. The Crimson had eight fewer turnovers (15-7), with nearly half of Cornell's turnovers being caused by Harvard (7).
  
A WIN OVER CRIMSON WOULD:
• be the Big Red's 65th victory over Harvard, improving Cornell to 65-26 all-time vs. the Crimson.
• snap a three game-skid vs. the Crimson.
• improve Cornell to 254-104-1 all-time in the Ivy League.
• improve head coach Matt Kerwick's career record to 132-125 and give him his first victory over Harvard.
• be the 744th win in program history.
• make Cornell 69-71 all-time when unranked in the USILA Coaches' Poll.
• improve Cornell to 249-54 all-time vs. unranked teams.
 
CAMPUS CONNECTIONS:
• Harvard associate head coach Ben DeLuca was a four-year letter winner for the Big Red, graduating from Cornell in 2005. He was an assistant and then associate head coach for the Cornell men's lacrosse team for 11 seasons, before serving as the program's head coach from 2011 to 2013.
• Crimson junior Joe Lang is the younger brother of former Cornell All-American Roy Lang '12 … His sister Kelly was also a member of the Big Red women's lacrosse team, graduating in 2013.
• Harvard senior Luke Mendola is from Ithaca and played for the Little Red ... He was teammates with Cornell junior Charlie Estill.
• Walt Gahagan, Scott Flynn, and Harvard's Nigel Andrews and Tim Edmonds all attended Deerfield Academy.
• Josh Gully and Harvard sophomore Jonathan Butler both went to the Pingry School.
• Teddy Strzetelski and Harvard's Morgan Cheek, Watson Cheek, and George Loring all attended Noble and Greenough School.
• Jake McCulloch, Dan Nemirov, Tom Reilly, and Harvard sophomore Eric Wang all went to Ward Melville.
• Jordan Dowiak, Chad Otterman and Harvard senior Jamie White all attended Delbarton School.

THE HEAD COACH: Matt Kerwick (29-24, .547) 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 (131-125).
 
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 (19), behind only Rob Pannell who handed out 42 assists as a rookie in 2009.
• Teat is also third among Cornell freshman in points (35) and 11th overall in goals (16).
• Connor Fletcher also ranks 12th among all Big Red freshman in points (22), 11th in goals (16) and 10th in assists (6).
 
CORNELL STREAKS
• Clarke Petterson has the longest point scoring streak on the team having registered one point in each of the last six games.
• Jeff Teat has registered at least three points in five consecutive games.
• Cornell has won more ground balls than its opponents in three consecutive games.
• The Big Red has posted fewer turnovers in three straight games. 
• Cornell has won face-off battle in two 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 (11th; 11.88)
• Assists per game – Jeff Teat (7th; 2.38)
• Points per game – Jeff Teat (14th; 4.38)
• Caused turnovers per game – Walt Gahagan (9th; 2.00)
• Caused turnovers per game – Brandon Salvatore (21st; 1.63)
 
IN THE NCAA RANKINGS: The Big Red ranks in the top 20 in the nation in …
• Clearing percentage (8th – .912)
• Ground balls per game (10th – 32.9)
• Saves per game (18th – 12.00)
• Caused turnovers per game (16th – 8.00)
 
MOVING ON UP IN CORNELL HISTORY:
• Marshall Peters ranks sixth in caused turnovers (49) … He needs two more to move into fifth place.
• Christian Knight ranks ninth in career saves (381) … He needs 10 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.
 
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 – Penn State (first), Syracuse (second), Albany (seventh), Princeton (13th), Virginia (14th), and Yale (17th) … Cornell 0-3 vs. ranked opponents this season.
 
EXPERIENCE BY THE NUMBERS:
• The 2017 Big Red roster has just five players that have played more than 35 career games – Marshall Peters (53), Andrew Keith (48), Walt Gahagan (41), Christian Knight (37) and Jake Pulver (36).
• Cornell has just 10 players with 20-35 games played – Jordan Dowiak (35), Kason Tarbell (35), Jack Bolen (27), Ryan Matthews (27), Scott Flynn (26), Dan Bockelman (23) Charlie Estill (23), Clarke Petterson (21), Colton Rupp (21) and Grant Mahler (20).
• There are 32 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.
 
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 742 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.
 
IVY KINGS:
• Since Ivy League play began in 1956, Cornell has won a conference-high 29 titles, including 17 undefeated crowns.
• Cornell has won a share of 12 of the last 14 Ivy League titles, with its last crown coming in 2015.
• The Big Red also has the best regular season Ivy League record of any team in the conference at 253-104-1.
 
UP NEXT: Cornell enters its Ivy League bye week with back-to-back non-conference games, beginning with No. 2 Syracuse at the Carrier Dome on Tuesday, April 11 at 7 p.m.