GAME INFORMATION

#1 (1) Maryland vs. #10 (7) Cornell
DATE/TIME: Monday, May 30, 2022 at 1:00 p.m.
SITE: Rentschler Field – East Hartford, Conn.
RECORDS: Rutgers 17-0, 5-0 Big Ten / Cornell 14-4 4-2 Ivy League

PURCHASE TICKETS
DIRECTIONS & PARKING
STADIUM INFO
TAILGATING & PARKING INFO (Stadium Guidelines)
Big Red fans, be on the lookout for the Cornell pop-up tents to meet and gather with alumni, family, fans and friends in the tailgating section. The tailgate is BYO, so enjoy your favorite foods and cold beverage with great company before the Big Red takes the field.

BROADCAST TV: ESPN
BROADCAST INTERNET: ESPN+
RADIO (LOCAL): WHCU (870 AM, 97.7 FM)
RADIO (NATIONAL): Westwood One
LIVE STATS: NCAA.com
GAME NOTES
DIGITAL PROGRAM
 

STORY LINES

• For the eighth time in history, the Cornell men's lacrosse team will play for the NCAA title. For the third time, it will be the Big Red squaring off with Maryland when the two teams meet on Monday, May 30 at 1:00 p.m. in the NCAA championship game at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Conn. 
• The contest will be televised on ESPN (Anish Shroff, Quint Kessenich and Paul Carcaterra) and broadcast live on the radio locally on WHCU 97.7 FM/870 AM  (Barry Leonard, Howie Borkan '81 and Tom LaFalce '94) and nationally on Westwood One (Dave Ryan and Mark Dixon).
• The seventh-seeded Big Red sits 14-4 start and stands No. 10 in the latest USILA Coaches and Inside Lacrosse Media polls after winning a share of its 30th Ivy League regular season title - the most of any school in the Ancient Eight.
• The opponent is, again, formidable. Unbeaten, top-ranked and No. 1 seeded Maryland (17-0) is making its case as one of the greatest teams in the history of the sport and is led by Cornell graduate John Tillman '91.
• The two schools, linked by history and the late, great Richie Moran — a U.S. Lacrosse Hall of Famer and one of the great ambassadors of the sport, Maryland graduate and legendary championship coach at Cornell.
• Cornell is making its 29th NCAA Tournament appearance and has advanced by topping Ohio State (15-8), Delaware (10-8) and Rutgers (17-10).
• Inside Lacrosse first-team All-American Gavin Adler has been sensational with the long stick, causing 32 turnovers and winning 68 ground balls, including an impressive 16 caused turnovers and 28 ground ball wins in his past five games — against NCAA qualifiers Princeton, Yale, Ohio State, Delaware and Ruthers.
• A veteran defense featuring fifth-year senior Joseph Bartolotto III (22 caused turnovers, 28 ground balls), graduate student Harrison Bardwell (14 caused turnovers, 47 ground balls), senior Dom Doria (12 caused turnovers, 26 ground balls) and sophomore Jack Follows (three caused turnovers, 12 ground balls) surrenders 11.3 goals per game and has limited opponents to 10 goals or fewer eight times (8-0) this season.
• Cornell has allowed just 26 goals (8.7 per game) in its three NCAA Tournament wins.
• Ivy League Rookie of the Year and Inside Lacrosse honorable mention All-American CJ Kirst is second on the team in points (76), assists (23) and goals (53), and fourth in ground balls (45). 
• His 76 points surpassed Jeff Teat's 2017 rookie record of 72 points in a season. 
• Senior John Piatelli, the nation's leading goal scorer at 3.57 per game and an Inside Lacrosse Honorable mention All-American, leads the team in goals (65) and ranks among the school's top 10 career goal scorers with 146, third on the school's all-time list and four shy of second.
• Kirst and Piatelli, in addition to junior attacker Michael Long (33-32-65), all rank in the top 35 nationally in points per game.
• In goal, Ierlan has at least 10 saves in 14 of his past 17 games and sports an impressive 25-8 career record between the pipes.
• Face-off specialist Angelo Petrakis is winning 50 percent in the circle and leads the team with 113 ground balls, while his 214 face-off wins this season ranks third all-time at Cornell in a single season.
 

LAST TIME OUT

• Nothing, not the weather or sixth-seeded Rutgers, could stop the Cornell men's lacrosse team from playing for the 2022 NCAA title.
• The Big Red scored, it rode, it waited, then three-and-a-half hours later it scored some more. 
• Seventh-seeded Cornell dominated the Scarlet Knights for nearly five hours and will play in its eighth NCAA title game after a 15-6 triumph on Saturday afternoon at Rentschler Field. 
• John Piatelli netted five goals, matching Mike French's 46-year-old record for scores in a single season with 65, to lead the Big Red offense, Chayse Ierlan made 15 saves between the pipes and Angelo Petrakis won 13-of-21 face-offs in a victory that everyone contributed to. 
• The Big Red attack combined for 12 goals and three assists. 
• All-America defender Gavin Adler made two caused turnovers and won seven ground balls, even chipping in his first career point with an assist. 
• Michael Long had four goals and CJ Kirst added three, with both assisting on a score. 
• Hugh Kelleher also had a hat trick of his own. 
• Joseph Bartolotto III caused three Rutgers turnovers.
• It was a game where the numbers didn't show the dominance of the Big Red. 
• The Scarlet Knights out-shot Cornell (45-37), but had four fewer shots on goal (30-26). 
• It was just a 17-14 face-off disadvantage, but the Big Red seemingly won every restart. 
• Rutgers, which led the nation in clearing percentage, coughed it up five times and allowed two breakaway goals in unsettled situations.
• Colin Kirst made 13 saves for Rutgers in a heavily-publicized matchup of All-America brothers, but his younger sibling tallied three times – including the Big Red's go-ahead goal 8:18 into the first quarter. 
• Cornell would never trail the rest of the way.
 

THE SERIES VS. MARYLAND

First Meeting: 1920    
Overall: Maryland leads, 15-5-1 (2-1 at neutral sites)
In Overtime: Cornell leads, 1-0
In NCAA Tournament Games: 3-3
Current Streak: Maryland, 2 games
Last Meeting: Maryland, 13-8 (5/20/18 in Annapolis, Md.)
Buczek vs. Maryland: 0-0
Series vs. Maryland: The teams first met in 1921, three seasons prior to lacrosse becoming a varsity sport for the Terrapins.
• Maryland does not count the first three meetings in the series.
• The teams played in 1921 and 1922, but would not meet again until 1929, and Maryland went on to win four consecutive contests
spanning 36 seasons (1929, 1951, 1963, 1965).
• The Big Red ended that streak by defeating the Terrapins 12-6 in
the very first NCAA national championship game (1971).
• The Terps won eight straight regular season meetings from 1993-
2000.
 

A WIN OVER MARYLAND WOULD

• Give Cornell its fourth NCAA title and first since 1977.
• Make the Big Red 3-0 all-time against the Terrapins in the NCAA title game (1971, 1976).
• Complete Cornell's record at 15-4 in 2022.
• Improve Cornell's all-time record against Big Ten opponents to 49-56-2, including 5-0 this season.
• Make the Big Red 6-15-2 all-time against Maryland and snap the Terrapins' two-game win streak in the series.
• Push its record against Maryland to 4-3 in NCAA Tournament games all-time.
• Match the program's largest win total since the 1976 team went a school record 16-0 (15-1 in 2007).
• Be the 786th win in program history (785-491-27, .613).
 

SCOUTING MARYLAND

• No. 1 Maryland enters Monday's game as the first team to reach back-to-back title games with an undefeated record since 1981-82 North Carolina. 
• The Terps are looking to complete the fourth perfect season in the last 30 years (1997 Princeton, 2005 Johns Hopkins, and 2006 Virginia.)
• John Tillman '91 is in his 15th season as a head coach, and 12th with the Terps. 
•  He is 158-40 (.798) overall at Maryland with a 2-4 record against his alma mater, Cornell, with both of those wins coming during his time at Maryland.
• Maryland grad student Jonathan Donville graduated from Cornell and was an All-American captain for the Big Red prior to coming to Maryland and earning second-team All-American honors with the Terps. 
• Donville's older brother, Brennan '16, was also a captain for the Big Red, and was a teammate of the Big Red's current head coach, Connor Buczek '15, and associate head coach, Jordan Stevens '15.
• Maryland enters the contest with the top-ranked offense in the nation, scoring 18.17 goals per game. 
• The Terps are led by Logan Wisnauskus, the 2022 USILA national player of the year, who ranks second in the nation, behind Cornell's John Piatelli with 3.4 goals per game, and second overall in points (5.8).
• Face-off specialist Luke Wierman was named first-team All-American after setting Maryland's school record for wins (285), and ranking second in the nation with a .661 winning percentage. 
•    Maryland boasts the fourth-best defense in the nation, allowing just 9.11 goals per game. 
• The unit is led by first-team All-Americans Roman Puglise and Brett Makar, while Alex Zappitello, a third-team selection, leads the team with 36 caused turnovers
•    Backstopping the defense is honorable mention All-American goalie Logan McNaney, who ranks third in the nation with an 8.44 GAA and is fourth overall with a .588 save percentage. 
 

THE RICHARD M. MORAN HEAD COACH

• Connor Buczek '15 (14-4) is in his first season (second year) at the helm of the Cornell men's lacrosse program.
• He was elevated to the Richard M. Moran Head Coach of Men's Lacrosse in the spring of 2020 after five seasons on staff in the capacities of volunteer assistant coach for two years and assistant coach for three.
• His first year in the head coaching role saw the 2021 season get canceled due to COVID-19 and have to navigate his team through the challenges of having the season eliminated due to the pandemic.
• He has served as the offensive coordinator since 2018, and his duties have also included working with the goalies.
• He has helped turn the Big Red offense into one of the most potent units in the country, as Cornell has finished each of its last two seasons ranked among the top-five nationally in shooting percentage, assists per game, shots per game, and goals per game.
• Buczek was a decorated student-athlete during his playing days at Cornell, being named a three-time All-American and unanimous first team All-Ivy selection, among various other awards.
 

MEET THE CAPTAINS

• Joseph Bartolotto III '22, John Piatelli '22, and Chayse Ierlan '22 will serve as the Big Red's captains for the 2022 campaign.
• This marks the second time Bartolotto and Piatelli have been elected captains, having also done so in 2021, while it's Ierlan's first time steering the ship.