ITHACA, N.Y. — Coming off its first NCAA Tournament victory since 1977, the Cornell men's soccer team heads north to square off against its Central New York rival Syracuse in the third round of the 2022 NCAA Men's Division I Soccer Championship at SU Soccer Stadium.

Game Information

SITE: SU Soccer Stadium – Syracuse, N.Y. (natural surface)
TIME: Sunday, Nov. 27 – 2 p.m.
RECORDS: Cornell (14-3-1), Syracuse (15-2-4)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 32-19-6
BROADCAST: ESPN+
STATS: CornellBigRed.com

Last Time Out

• Sophomore forward Danny Lokko scored twice in a three-minute span to break open a scoreless game, aiding Cornell to a 2-1 victory over Maryland in second-round action in the 2022 NCAA Men's Division I Soccer Championship at Berman Field last Sunday.

• Lalo Serrano assisted Lokko's first goal, while fifth-year forward Emeka Eneli factored in Lokko's game-winning marker.

• Freshman goalkeeper Ryan Friedberg made three saves to give Cornell its 14th victory of the season.

Big Red in the Tournament

• Today's match marks the 20th all-time NCAA Tournament game for the Big Red. Cornell is 9-10 all-time in the tournament and is playing its 11th tournament in program history.

• Cornell and Syracuse are meeting for the second time in the NCAA Tournament. The Big Red hosted the Orange at Berman Field in its last NCAA Tournament appearance in 2012. Syracuse won the match, 1-0.

• This afternoon's match marks Cornell's first time appearing in the third round or later in an NCAA Tournament since 1975 when its lost to Brown in the quarterfinals.

• With a win this afternoon, Cornell will appear in the quarterfinals of an NCAA Tournament for the third time in program history (1972 and 1975).

What's at Stake

• Despite having its four-game win streak snapped on Nov. 5 at Yale, Cornell remains unbeaten in its last sevem games (6-0-1).

• With a win this afternoon, it would mark Cornell's first eight-game unbeaten streak since going 8-0-1 last year between Sept. 7 and Oct. 12.

• Along with extending its unbeaten streak, a win would give Cornell its 15th victory of the season, matching the program record for wins. The 1995 (15-2-1) and 2012 (15-2-0) squads also posted 15-win seasons.

• With its 14 wins on the season, this year's team is just the third in Cornell's 113 years of competition in which a team has logged at least 14 wins in a season.

Lokko Earning Honors

• Following his two-goal performance against Maryland last weekend, sophomore forward Danny Lokko has received multiple national honors.

• Lokko has been named to College Soccer News' National Team of the Week, as well as Top Drawer Soccer's Team of the Week, both organizations announced earlier this week.

• He is the third Cornell player this year to be named to either College Soccer News or Top Drawer Soccer's weekly team, joining senior defender Connor Drought and senior midfielder Brandon Morales. 

• Over the Big Red's last two matches, Lokko has had a scoring surge, having registered all three of his collegiate goals in the span.

Points Galore

• Senior midfielder Brandon Morales is third in the Ivy League with his 24 points (eight goals, eight assists). Morales is one of three Ivy League players with 20-plus points, joining Korzeniowski (27 points — 11 goals, five assists) and Ben Stitz (27 points — 10 goals, seven assists).

• Morales is tied with Stitz for the Ivy League lead with five multi-point games. The Pharr, Texas, native has a pair of multi-goal games and a trio of multi-assist games.

• Junior Kisa Kiingi and fifth-year Emeka Eneli also rank in the top 10 in the Ivy League in total points. Kiingi is tied for seventh with his 16 points, while Eneli is tied for 10th with 15 points.

All-Ivy Honors

• For the second consecutive season, Cornell had a trio of players earn First Team All-Ivy accolades. Fifth-year forward Emeka Eneli, senior defender Connor Drought, and senior midfielder Brandon Morales were the Big Red representatives on the first team.
 
• Ryan Friedberg was honored as the Ivy League's Rookie of the Year, while also being named an All-Ivy Honorable Mention.
 
• Friedberg became the first Cornell goalkeeper and the fourth overall Ivy League keeper to earn Rookie of the Year honors.
 
• Junior midfielder Lalo Serrano was Cornell's lone Second Team All-Ivy selection, while joining Friedberg as an honorable mention was freshman defender Andrew Johnson and senior defender Cam Maquat.

Helping the Team Out

• Senior defender Connor Drought and senior midfielder Brandon Morales each have eight assists this season, becoming the second Cornell tandem to have eight-plus assists in the same season.
 
• Drought and Morales are tied with Adamo Notarantonio (1995), Adam Skumawitz (2000), and Nico Nissl (2012) for the fourth-most by a Cornell player in a season.
 
• Should Drought and or Morales record an assist, they would assume sole possession of fourth place and only trail Chris Agoliati (11 in 1972), Rob Elliott (10 in 1995), and Richard Stimpson (10 in 1998) on the single-season list.
 
• Cornell is one of seven programs to have at least two players with eight-plus assists this season. Joining the Big Red is Washington, who has a nation-leading three players with at least eight assists. Campbell, Creighton, Harvard, Rutgers, and Western Michigan all have two players.
 
• The Big Red tandem are just the second pair of teammates to have eight-plus assists in the same season, joining Rob Elliott (10) and Adamo Notarantonio (8) in 1995.

Balanced Scoring Attack

• Cornell enters this afternoon's match with 120 points as a team, tied with Hofstra and Butler for 23rd in the Division I ranks. The 120 points are second in the Ivy League, trailing Harvard (125).

• Senior midfielder Brandon Morales, junior defender Kisa Kiingi, senior defender Connor Drought, fifth-year forward Emeka Eneli, and sophomore forward Alioune Ka all have at least 10 points this season, marking the first time in Cornell history there has been five players with 10-plus points in a season.

Double-Digit Wins

• Freshman goalkeeper Ryan Friedberg has been the Big Red's go-to keeper this year, having started every game and logging all but 11:25 of the Big Red's minutes this season.

• Friedberg is the third Cornell goalkeeper since goalkeeper wins were tracked in 1979, to register 14-plus wins in a season. He is tied with Quinn O'Sullivan (14 wins in 1995) for the second-most goalkeeper wins and is one shy of tying Rick Pflasterer (15 in 2012) for the program record.

Road Warriors

• Following its tie at Yale earlier this month, Cornell is now 26-10-2 on the road since the beginning of the 2018 season, good for a .711 win percentage.

• Cornell is one of six Division I schools to post a road win percentage north of .700 since 2018. Missouri State (.803), Washington (.738), and Georgetown (.712) have higher percentages than the Big Red, while Saint Mary's and New Hampshire each have a .703 win percentage.

• Additionally, Cornell's 26 wins since the beginning of the 2018 season are the third-most by a Division I program. Washington and High Point are tied for the most road wins in the span (28).

• Following matches completed on Nov. 20, the Big Red is 8-1-1 on the road this season. Cornell's eight road victories are the second-most by any Division I program. Western Michigan (10-1-2) is the lone program with more road wins.

Having an Eye for the Goal

• Cornell has scored 40 goals this year, marking the fourth time Cornell has scored at least 40 goals in a season, joining 1971 (43), 1972 (45), and 1995 (42) squads. 

• Dating back to 2019, Cornell has scored in 48 of its last 51 matches, having been shutout just once in each of the last three seasons.

Scouting the Orange

• Syracuse entered the NCAA Tournament as the No. 3 seed, the highest ranking the Orange have had in an NCAA Tournament.

• Since losing to Cornell on Oct. 4, the Orange have gone on a 10-game unbeaten streak, posting a 7-0-3 mark.

• Levonte Johnson has a Syracuse-leading 24 points (nine goals, six assists), while Nathan Opoku (nine goals, five assists) has added 23 points.

• Goalkeeper Russell Shealy has started 20 of Syracuse's 21 games, posting a 0.64 goals-against average and a .824 save percentage. Shealy has nine clean sheets to his credit on the year, while posting a 14-2-4 record.

Series vs. Syracuse

• This afternoon will be the 58th all-time meeting between the Central New York rivals. Cornell leads the series, 32-19-6, and is unbeaten in its last two meetings with the Orange (1-0-1).

• Today will be the first time Cornell and Syracuse are playing multiple times in the same year. It is only the second time that Cornell is playing consecutive road matches against Syracuse, with the previous instances coming in 2005 and 2009. 

• Matthew Goncalves was the lone Cornell player to register a goal in the Big Red's 2-1 upset victory over then-No. 7 Syracuse on Oct. 4 at SU Soccer Stadium. Goncalves scored a second-half penalty kick to give Cornell a 2-0 lead after the Big Red's first marker came on a Syracuse own goal.