GAME INFORMATION

GAME #1: #14 Cornell at UAlbany
FACE-OFF: Saturday, February 15, at 1 p.m.
SITE: Tom & Mary Casey Stadium (Albany, N.Y.)
2020 Records: #14 Cornell (0-0, 0-0 Ivy League); UAlbany (0-0, 0-0 AE)
SERIES RECORD: UAlbany leads, 4-3
LAST MEETING: Cornell, 17-16 (3/2/2019 in Ithaca, N.Y.)

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FULL GAME NOTES

THE MATCHUP:

The No. 14 Cornell men's lacrosse team will open its 125th season when it squares off against UAlbany on Saturday, Feb. 15 at 1 p.m. at Tom & Mary Casey Stadium in Albany, N.Y. The game will also be the first of the season for the Great Danes, who are receiving votes in the USILA Coaches' Poll. Saturday's contest will be available to fans on ESPN+ or can be heard locally on 97.7 FM/870 AM with Barry Leonard and Howie Borkan on the call. Live audio can be accessed on WHCUradio.com as well.

LET'S GET IT STARTED IN HERE:

The Big Red holds a 65-54-5 all-time record in its season openers. Last season, Cornell snapped a four-game season-opening losing streak when it defeated Hobart, 19-16, to open the 2019 campaign.

THE SERIES VS. UALBANY:

• UAlbany holds a slight edge in the all-time series, leading 4-3.
• Cornell and UAlbany first met in the 2007 NCAA tournament quarterfinals where the Big Red defeated UAlbany in overtime in Princeton, N.J.
• Cornell won the first-ever regular season meeting in 2015 in the seventh annual Patriot Cup held in Dallas.
• The Great Danes earned its first series victory in the 2015 NCAA tournament.
• UAlbany leads the all-time series, 4-3, after winning four-straight from 2015-18.
• Cornell snapped the Great Danes' four game win streak over the Big Red with a 17-16 victory last season in Ithaca, N.Y. on a Connor Fletcher game-winning goal in the final seconds.

A WIN OVER UALBANY WOULD:

• Be Cornell's second-consecutive season-opening victory.
• Be Cornell's second-straight win over the Great Danes.
• Even the series between the Big Red and Great Danes at 4-4.
• Be Cornell's first victory over UAlbany in Albany, N.Y.
• Be the 770th win in program history.
• Improve Cornell to 266-57 all-time vs. unranked teams.

SCOUTING UALBANY:

• UAlbany opens the 2020 season receiving votes in the USILA Coaches' Poll.
• The Great Danes will be looking to rebound this season after finishing the 2019 campaign 5-9 overall and 4-3 in America East action.
• UAlbany was selected to finish third in the America East this season behind first-place Vermont and second-place UMBC, the defending AE champion.
• UAlbany returns two of its six America East All-Conference selections from a season ago – Jakob Patterson and Tehoka Nanticoke.
• The Great Danes will be led this season by Patterson, who is the reigning AE Offensive Player of the Year and was named the conference's preseason Player of the Year.

CORNELL VS. THE AMERICA EAST:

• The Big Red is 24-10 all-time vs. the current members of the America East.
• Cornell is 12-0 all-time vs. Binghamton, 5-0 vs. Stony Brook, and 1-0 vs. Hartford.
• The Big Red has a losing record vs. Albany (3-4) and UMBC (5-6).
• Cornell has never faced Vermont.

IT'S ALL IN THE FAMILY:

• Senior Ryan Maloney's brother, John, was an All-American at UAlbany and now serves on the Great Danes' staff as an assistant coach.
• Sophomore Chayse Ierlan's brother TD was the Great Danes' face-off man for two seasons before transferring to Yale.

CAMPUS CONNECTIONS:

• Sophomore JJ Lombardi and UAlbany's Teioshontathe McComber were teammates at the Salisbury School.
• Ryan Maloney, Chayse Ierlan, and UAlbany's Tanner Hay, Pat Borrow all attended Victor HS.

THE RICHARD M. MORAN HEAD COACH:

• Peter Milliman (23-10, .697) enters his third season as the Richard M. Moran Head Coach of Men's Lacrosse.
• Milliman was promoted to head coach in May 2018 after spending one season as the interim head coach.
• He spent the previous four seasons as an assistant coach and then as the program's Mario St. George Boiardi '04 Associate Head Coach of Men's Lacrosse.
• The 2020 season is his seventh as a head coach (60-36).

FAMILIAR FACES:

Cornell boasts a pair of recent graduates as assistant coaches – Jordan Stevens '15 and Connor Buczek '15. No other Division I staff has two full-time assistant coaches as young as or younger than the Big Red duo.

INSIDE LACROSSE PRESEASON MEDIA ALL-AMERICANS:

• The Big Red trio of senior attackman Jeff Teat (third-team), senior midfielder Connor Fletcher (honorable mention), and senior long stick midfielder Brandon Salvatore (honorable mention) were all named Inside Lacrosse Preseason Media All-Americans.
• The preseason honor is Teat's third-straight, while it is the first for Fletcher and Salvatore.

TEAT NAMED USILA PRESEASON ALL-AMERICAN:

• Senior attackman Jeff Teat was also named a second-team USILA Preseason All-American heading into the 2020 campaign. The preseason distinction from the USILA is the first of his career.

DONNING THE MINTO CUP MVP:

• Junior midfielder Jonathan Donville was named the MVP of the 2019 Junior A Lacrosse National Championship after leading the Orangeville Northmen to their seventh Minto Cup in program history on Friday.
• With this accomplishment, Donville joins an exclusive list, becoming only the third Cornell student-athlete to be named the Minto Cup MVP, joining Dan Lintner '15 and Joe Nieuwendyk.

MEET THE CAPTAINS:

• Connor Fletcher '20, Brandon Salvatore '20, Jeff Teat '20, and Jonathan Donville '21 will serve as the Big Red's team captains for the 2020 campaign.

2019 ALL-IVY:

• The Big Red had 10 players named All-Ivy following the 2019 season, the most for Cornell since placing 11 on the All-Ivy teams following the 1987 season.
• Among the 10 were Jeff Teat and Brandon Salvatore, who were unanimous first-team selections.
• Other returners include Connor Fletcher (second-team), John Piatelli (honorable mention), Jonathan Donville (honorable mention), and Chayse Ierlan (honorable mention).

2019 USILA ALL-AMERICANS:

• Both Jeff Teat and Brandon Salvatore were named USILA All-Americans following the 2019 season.
• Teat earned a second-team selection, while Salvatore was named honorable mention.
• Teat became just the 29th player in Cornell history to be named All-America three times during their career after earning first-team accolades in 2018 and honorable mention status as a freshman.

2019 INSIDE LACROSSE MEDIA ALL-AMERICANS:

• For the third consecutive season, Jeff Teat was named an Inside Lacrosse Media All-American with a third-team selection in 2019.
• Brandon Salvatore was also honored with an honorable mention nod.

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK:

• The talented 11-member class of 2023 features five U.S. Lacrosse High School All-Americans, three Under Armour All-Americans, one Boston Lax All-American and six all-state performers.
• The balanced group includes three attackers, two midfielders, one long stick midfielder, one defensive midfielder, two defensemen, one face-off specialist, and one goalie.
• The group hails from five different states, as well as one player coming from Ontario.
• Among the group is two five-star recruits in attackman Michael Long and face-off specialist Angelo Petrakis and two four-star recruits in midfielder Aiden Blake and defenseman Frank Ciniglio.
• Long, Petrakis, Blake, and Ciniglio were all featured this past fall on Inside Lacrosse's Power-100 list.

STIFF COMPETITION:

• Cornell's 2020 schedule includes five opponents that are currently ranked in the USILA Coaches Poll: No. 2 Penn State, No. 3 Yale, No. 5 Syracuse, No. 6 Penn, and No. 12 Ohio State.
• Four additional opponents – UAlbany, Princeton, Towson, and Hobart – are receiving votes.
• The Big Red had one of the toughest schedules in the nation a season ago, with four of its five losses in 2019 coming against teams that finished the regular season ranked in the top-three of the USILA Coaches' Poll.
• Cornell has knocked off the top-ranked team in the country in back-to-back seasons.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK:

• Cornell has traditionally been successful against collegiate teams from New York state, posting an all-time record of 294-168-7 (.636).
• The Big Red has four New York teams on its schedule during the 2019 season – UAlbany, Hobart, Colgate, and Syracuse.

BY THE NUMBERS:

• The 2019 roster feature four unique numbers on it - #51, #77, #88, and #93.
• Jeff Teat is the first player to wear #51 since Jerome Dolins wore it in 1966.
• Gavin Adler is only the second person to ever wear #77, following Tom Reilly, who wore the jersey from 2017-19.
• JQ Stramanak is the first player to wear #88 since Joseph Ryan in 1959.
• Michael Jackman is only the second person in program history to wear #93.

SETTING BIG GOALS: 

Jeff Teat finished 2019 with 34 goals to go over 100 for his career. That accomplishment makes him ...
• the 11th player in Big Red history to reach 100 career goals.
• just the fourth player in Cornell men's lacrosse history to register their 100th goal as a junior, joining Mike French, Rob Pannell and Sean Greenhalgh.
• just the seventh player in Ivy League history, and third overall at Cornell, to register 100 goals and 100 assists in a career, joining Rob Pannell (Cornell – 150-204-354), Dylan Molloy (Brown – 197-121-318), Ben Reeves (Yale – 174-142-316), Darren Lowe (Brown – 111-205-316), Mike French (Cornell – 191-105-296) and Michael Sowers (Princeton – 105-150-255).

THE 30-30 CLUB:

• With 34 goals and 36 assists during the 2019 season, Jeff Teat joined Mike French as the only two players in Cornell history to post 30 goals and 30 assists in a season three times during their career.
• Only two other Big Red players – Eamon McEneany '77 and Rob Pannell '13 – have tallied at least 30 goals and 30 assists in a season twice in their career.
• Including Teat's performance in 2017, 2018, and 2019, there have been just 14 seasons in Cornell history with a 30-30 performer.

70-POINT SEASONS:

• Jeff Teat has amassed at least 70 points in three straight seasons.
• He is just the fourth player in Big Red history to put together at least three 70-point seasons in a career, joining Mike French '76, Eamon McEneaney '77, and Rob Pannell '13. 

200 POINTS PLATEAU:

• With an assist on Colton Rupp's man-up goal vs. Yale on March 16, 2019, Jeff Teat registered the 200th point of career.
• Only three other players have amassed 200 points for the Big Red – Rob Pannell (354; 2009-13); Mike French (296; 1974-76); Eamon McEneaney (256; 1975-77). 

CLIMBING THE IVY:

• Jeff Teat currently ranks ninth in Ivy League history for career assists (137) and needs just eight more to move into eighth place.
• Jeff Teat ranks 10th in conference history in career points (241) and needs just two more to move into ninth place.
• Jeff Teat ranks 50th in conference history in career goals (104) and needs just one more to move into 46th place.

TOUGH-D:

• Brandon Salvatore finished the 2019 season ranked third in Cornell's single-season history with 32 caused turnovers.

OUTSTANDING OFFENSE:

The Big Red finished the 2019 season ranked in the top 10 in every NCAA offensive category. Cornell ranked:
• Second in shooting percentage (.368)
• Fourth in points per game (23.20)
• Fourth in assists per game (8.93)
• Sixth in scoring offense (14.27)

INDIVIDUALS IN THE NCAA:

The following Big Red student-athletes finished the 2019 season ranked in the top-30 in the NCAA in their respective statistical categories: 
• Jeff Teat – 11th in points per game (4.67); 13th in assists per game (2.40).
• John Piatelli – 12th in shooting percentage (.459); 12th in man-up goals (7); 13th in goals per game (3.00); 22nd in points per game (4.27).
• Brandon Salvatore – Eighth in caused turnovers per game (2.13).
• Chayse Ierlan – 20th in save percentage (.537); 21st in saves per game (12.15).

CAN'T STOP US:

• During the 2019 season, Cornell's opponents saved just 43.4 percent of shots vs. the Big Red.
• During the 2018 season, Big Red opponents managed to save just 39.2 percent of shots faced – the lowest in program history. 
• Since opponent save percentage started being recorded in 1977, Cornell's opponents have saved fewer than 45 percent of shots faced just one other time (2013; .435 percent).

MOVIN' ON UP THE CORNELL RECORD BOOKS:

• Jeff Teat ranks third in career assists (137). He needs 27 more to move into second.
• Jeff Teat ranks fourth in career points (241). He needs 15 more to move in to third.
• Jeff Teat ranks 11th in career goals (104). He needs two more to move in to 10th.
• Paul Rasimowicz ranks fifth in career faceoffs won (357). He needs 35 more to move into fourth place. • Brandon Salvatore ranks third in career caused turnovers (64). He needs four more to move into second place.
• Dom Doria ranks ninth in career caused turnovers (39). He needs four more to move into eighth place.

DOTTING THE MAP:

• Cornell has seven international players on the 2020 roster (six Canadians, one Australian).
• Tim Graham is the first Cornell men's lacrosse player to come from a foreign country other than Canada since John E. Beeby (Dersingham, Eng.), Thomas H. Beeby (Dersingham, Eng.) and John S. Roederer (Paris, France) all appeared on the 1961 roster.

FROM A LAND DOWN UNDER:

• Tim Graham is the first Australian to play men's lacrosse in the Ivy League.
• Graham became just the eighth Australian to play Division I men's lacrosse, and the first since Adam Sear (Yokin) and James Watson-Galbraith (Perth) played for Maryland and UMBC, respectively, during the 2010 season.

THIS IS OUR HOUSE:

• Cornell has enjoyed a true home field advantage since beginning play on Schoellkopf Field in 1972, going 245-85 for a .742 winning percentage, with 12 undefeated seasons.
• Cornell has been even more impressive since 2000, going 105-30 overall (.782) with perfect slates in 2015 (6-0), 2011 (8-0), 2009 (6-0), 2007 (7-0) and 2005 (6-0).

RECAPPING 2019:

• In his first season as the Richard M. Moran Head Coach, Peter Milliman's Big Red posted a 10-5 overall record despite facing one of the toughest schedules in the nation.
• Cornell posted a 4-2 record in Ivy League play, finishing third in the regular season standings and qualifying for its eighth Ivy League Tournament in its 10-year history.
• The Big Red ultimately fell to Yale in the Ivy League Tournament semifinal, and just missed a spot in the 2019 NCAA Tournament.
• Cornell is determined to get back to the NCAA Tournament this year, as it strives to qualify for its second one in the past three seasons.

UP NEXT:

The No. 14 Cornell men's lacrosse team will travel to Baltimore, Md. for a pair of contests. The Big Red will play at Towson on Friday, Feb. 21 at 4 p.m. before playing a neutral site game against High Point at Calvert Hall High School on Sunday, Feb. 23 at 12 p.m.