ITHACA, N.Y. — The #12/9 women's lacrosse team will being its 2017 NCAA Tournament journey on Friday at 7 p.m. when it squares off against #15/14 Notre Dame in a first round matchup at Princeton's Sherrerd Field. Both the Big Red and Fighting Irish are in the tournament after receiving at-large bids during Sunday night's selection show. This is the second straight NCAA Tournament for the Big Red and the sixth straight for the Irish.

Cornell and Notre Dame have faced each other on 11 previous occasions, including in the first round of the 2006 NCAA Tournament, with the Big Red dropping the road tilt, 16-8. The winner of the Cornell-Notre Dame game will advance to the second round to face the overall five seed, Princeton, on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. Both contests will be streamed live and free on the Ivy League Digital Network.

Ticket Information
Tickets are $12 for adults and $5 for children (12-and-under) or college students with a valid student ID. Tickets will be available on game days at Class of 1952 Stadium, or can be purchased online on the Princeton Athletics Ticketing page.

GAME INFORMATION
GAME #18: #12/9 Cornell Big Red vs. #15/14 Notre Dame Fighting Irish - NCAA Tournament First Round
TIME: 7 p.m.
DATE: Friday, May 12, 2017
PLACE: Sherrerd Field — Princeton, N.J.
LIVE VIDEO: Ivy League Digital Network
LIVE STATS: GoPrincetonTigers.com
RECORDS: Cornell 12-5, Notre Dame 11-7

GAME NOTES: Cornell

About the Big Red
• Cornell is making an NCAA Tournament appearance for a second consecutive year after earning an at-large bid.
• On May 7, Cornell went for its second straight Ivy League Tournament title but the top seeded Big Red fell to third-seeded Princeton, 12-9.
• The Big Red faced its largest deficit of the season at five goals at the break but made a furious comeback, pulling within two before running out of time.
• Cornell advanced to the title game with a 16-11 win over fourth-seeded Harvard on May 5. 
• Amie Dickson's four assists set a single-game tournament record for Cornell; Dickson's six total points also marked a Big Red single-game tournament record.
• Dickson leads the team in points (65) and assists (38) while senior tri-captain Catherine Ellis is tops in goals (42) and second in points (57). 
• Senior tri-captain Catie Smith leads the team in draw controls (41), caused turnovers (39) and ground balls (44).
• Senior Renee Poullott boasts the seventh best save percentage in the nation (.507) and ninth best goals against average (8.58)  

About the Fighting Irish
• Notre Dame earned an at-large bid after falling to Boston College, 17-13, in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals.
• The Irish put together an eight-game winning streak at one point during the 2017 campaign that included a pair of wins over ranked opponents.
• In addition to wins at #8 Duke (12-11) and against #20 Louisville (9-7), UND also upset #4 Syracuse, 16-7, at the Carrier Dome on March 26.
• The team is led by Tewaaraton Award Nominee and first-team ACC honoree Courtney Fortunato (54g, 19a).
• Casey Pearsall, another ACC first-teamer, leads UND in assists (27) and draw controls while second-team honoree Alex Dalton ranks third on the team in ground balls (30) and draw controls (25).
• In goal, Samantha Giacolone has played the majority of the minutes, posting a 10.67 goals against average and .482 save percentage. 

The Series with the Fighting Irish
• Cornell and Notre Dame have squared off 11 times, with the Irish holding an all-time edge of 7-4 in the series.
• The squads first met in 2002, with Cornell taking a 10-9 contest in South Bend, and last played in 2012, with Notre Dame taking a neutral site matchup in Florida, 17-13. 
• The teams also met in the 2006 NCAA Tournament, with Notre Dame taking that first round game, 16-8.

Common Opponents
• Despite playing in different conferences, Cornell and Notre Dame had two common opponents during the 2017 regular season.
• Against Syracuse, Notre Dame picked up a road win (16-7) while Cornell dropped the contest at the Carrier Dome (11-8).
• Against Princeton, Notre Dame lost a road match (14-8) while Cornell lost both the regular season meeting (12-11, 2OT) and last weekend's Ivy League Tournament Championship game (12-9). 

A Win Would…
• Advance Cornell to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year.
• Give the Big Red its first ever NCAA Tournament road win. 
• Move the Big Red to 13-5 overall and to a 4-4 record in the NCAA Tournament. 
• Bump Cornell's all-time record against Notre Dame to 5-7.
• Give the Big Red its third win over a ranked opponent this season.

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.
• Graap began her head coaching career at George Mason, taking over the program in its first sponsored season in 1994 and amassing a 21-44 record over four seasons.
• Her 200th overall career win came in the form of a 11-10 win over Penn in the 2016 Ivy League Tournament Championship. 
• 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.

We've Been Here Once Before
• Cornell has won two regular season Ivy League championships ( 2006 and 2017) and both times, faced the same team in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
• On both occasions, the Big Red's opponent in the first round of the NCAA Tournament was – and is – Notre Dame.
• In the 2006 NCAA Tournament, Cornell traveled to South Bend and dropped the opening round contest, 16-8. 

Ivy League All-Tournament Team
• Seniors Amie Dickson, Catie Smith, and Catherine Ellis joined junior Taylor Reed and sophomore Sarah Phillips on the Ivy League All-Tournament Team.
• It was the second straight season for Dickson, Reed and Ellis on the all-tournament team. 
• In the two tournament games, Reed netted three goals and one assist while picking up five ground balls, causing three turnovers and controlling two draws.
• Smith had eight draw controls, four caused turnovers and three ground balls.
• Ellis notched seven points on five goals and two assists while Phillips had five goals.
• Four of Phillips' goals came in the semifinal against Harvard, which was a Cornell single-game Ivy League Tournament record.
• It was a record-setting tournament for Dickson, who notched seven points on two goals and five assists while also controlling 12 draws and picking up two ground balls. 
• Dickson's four assists established a new school single-game record while her six points was also a Cornell single-game record.

The Lone Down Goal Scored
• With 13:12 to play in the Ivy League Tournament Championship against Princeton, junior Taylor Reed scored a woman-down goal.
• It was the first woman-down goal in school history.
• Until that point, the only down goal scored in a Cornell women's lacrosse game came on April 12, 2013 when Brown got one past the Big Red.

Point Streaks
• Senior Amie Dickson and sophomore Sarah Phillips both enter the game against Notre Dame with 17 game point streaks.
• Phillips also holds the longest active goal scoring streak at 12 games.

Two's Company
• Cornell is just the second school to have hosted both a men's and women's Ivy League lacrosse tournament.
• Princeton is the only other Ancient Eight school that has hosted both  a men's and women's lacrosse tournament.
• Cornell has hosted the men's tournament three times (2010, 2011, 2013) and can now claim the 2017 women's tournament.
• Princeton hosted the men's tournament in 2012 while the women's tournament was held in New Jersey in 2014 and 2015.
• Cornell is the first school that doesn't start with the letter "P" to host the women's tournament, as all previous orations took place at either Princeton or Penn.

Dickson with the Assist(s) 
• Senior Amie Dickson's assist against Dartmouth on April 15 moved her into third place all-time in program history and she now has 82 in her career.
• Her 69th career assist also made her the only player in program history to sit in the top three in both assists and draw controls (141). 
• Dickson has 38 helpers on the year, a new single-season program record, and has a career-high 65 points.
• She is the first Big Red player to reach the 60 point mark in a season since Jessi Steinberg (65) and Caroline Salisbury (62) both did it in 2012.

Ellis Hits 100
• With a three goal performance at Rutgers on April 1, tri-captain Catherine Ellis became the 15th player in program history to record 100 career goals.
• She also became the 12th player in program history to hit the 150 point mark.
• Ellis has set career highs in goals (42), assists (15) and points (57) this year.
 
Free-Position Success
• On April 29 against Harvard, senior tri-captain Kristy Gilbert set a program record for free-position goals in a game with four. 
• Cornell now has 59 free-position goals on the year, which is 15 more than the previous single-season best set in 2002.

Smith Nominated for Tewaaraton Award
• Senior tri-captain Catie Smith was named one of 25 nominees for the Tewaaraton Award on April 28.
• The Tewaaraton Award annually honors the top male and female college lacrosse player in the United States.
• In 2016, she set the single-season program record with 41 caused turnovers.
• Jessi Steinberg '12 was the last Big Red player to make the cut to the final 25 athletes. 

Red Clinches The Regular
•Cornell's13-6 win over Harvard on April 29 gave the program its second-ever Ivy League Regular Season Championship.
• The Big Red last had a share of the title in 2006.
• Both title-clinching victories came in an Ancient Eight regular season finale win over Harvard.

Road Warriors
• With a 14-12 win at Dartmouth on April 15, Cornell set a program record for the best away-from-Ithaca start to a season at 7-0.
• Cornell went undefeated in its first six road games of the 1987 season before dropping an overtime tilt at Princeton, 6-5.
• That year's squad went on to finish with a road record of 9-1 and claim the New York State Championship. 

Renee Says No!
• In a span of 11 days, goalkeeper Renee Poullott set a career-high in saves in two consecutive games and then tied it in a third.
• The senior set a career-high of 14 against Syracuse on April 18 and then four days later, made a career-high 15 saves on April 22 against Princeton.
• Poullott then went out and made 15 saves against Harvard in the regular season Ivy title clinching win on April 29.
• The senior is currently seventh in the nation with a .507 save percentage while her goals against average of 8.58 is ninth.
• She sits at 40 career wins, which is tied with Carrie Giancola for the most in program history.

Balanced Offense
• Cornell has had at least six different goal scorers in 14 of its 17 games played this season.
• Nine different players scored in the season-opening win over Villanova and also against Binghamton. 
• The Big Red's comeback win over Yale included eight different goal scorers. 
• Against Columbia, Colgate, Rutgers and in the Ivy semifinals against Harvard, seven different players found the back of the net.
• The Big Red got goals from six different players in games against Penn State, Penn, USC, Brown, Dartmouth, Princeton and Harvard.

Multi-Goal Games
• Ten different Big Red players have posted at least one multi-goal outing this season.
• Senior Catherine Ellis has 13 multi-goal efforts while sophomore Sarah Phillips has 11. 
• Junior Taylor Reed and senior Kristy Gilbert each have nine multi-goal games, senior Amie Dickson has registered eight such outings and sophomore Tomasina Leska has six.
• Junior Ida Farinholt has four games with multiple goals while freshman Caroline Allen, junior Joey Coffy, and sophomore Christie Raymond each have one.

Player(s) of the Week
• Senior Catie Smith was named the Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week on March 6 and May 1.
• The tri-captain had four caused turnovers, two ground balls and two draw controls in helping the Big Red defense hold Penn scoreless in the second half of Cornell's 10-4 win on March 4. 
• Against Harvard on April 29, Smith had five caused turnovers, three ground balls and one draw control.
• Goalkeeper Renee Poullott was named the Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week on March 20.
• The senior made 10 saves and picked up two ground balls in Cornell's 11-10 win over #4/5 USC on March 19.

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), and was named to the Ivy League All-Tournament Team.
• Gilbert appeared in all 19 contests last year and started 18 of them while putting up 24 points (18g, 6a). 
• Smith set a new single-season program record and led the Ivy League with 41 caused turnovers last season.

2016 Ivy League Tournament Champions
• The Big Red took home the 2016 Ivy League Tournament Championship title.
• 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.