GAME 1: Cornell (0-0, 0-0 Ivy) at UAlbany (0-1, 0-0 America East)

Date & Time: Saturday, February 18 - 3:00 p.m.
Venue: John Fallon Field - Albany, N.Y.
Twitter: @CornellWLax
Cornell Game Notes
 

STORY LINES

• The Cornell women's lacrosse team will kick off its 2023 campaign when it visits UAlbany on Saturday, Feb. 18 at 3 p.m. at John Fallon Field.
• Cornell looks to open the 2023 season much the same way it has opened virtually every other year under head coach Jenny Graap ... with a win.
• The Big Red is 19-5 (.792) in season openers under Graap, outscoring its opponents 295-200.
• Cornell is 30-19 (.612) all-time to begin its 50 previous seasons (missed the 2021 campaign due to COVID-19).
• Picked fourth in the Ivy League's preseason media poll, Cornell returns eight starters and 18 letter winners from last season's 8-8 squad. 
• Cornell went 4-3 in Ivy play last spring, making its ninth appearance in 11 all-time (including eight of the past nine) Ivy League Tournaments as the No. 3 seed. 
• Four senior All-Ivy selections return in 2023, with Katie Castiello and Amanda Cramer on attack, Annie Thomas in the midfield and Hilary Hoover on defense.
• Cornell and UAlbany met last season, a wild 20-15 Big Red victory that saw eight different players record multi-point games and Annie Thomas pick up a single-game school record of 12 draw control wins.
• The Great Danes, under the direction of fifth-year head coach Katie Thomson, are 0-1 on the season after suffering a 17-10 loss to No. 20 Johns Hopkins in their 2023 opener.
 

SERIES HISTORY VS. UALBANY

Overall: Series tied 3-3, first meeting in 2013
In Albany, N.Y.: Series tied 1-1
Current Streak: Cornell, 1
Last Meeting: Cornell, 20-15 (3/29/2022 in Ithaca, N.Y.)
Graap vs. Albany: 3-3 (1-1 on the road)
Series Notes: Cornell is 1-1 all-time against the Great Danes in Albany, including a 9-5 victory the last time they teams played in the Capital District during the 2016 season • three of the six meetings have been decided by two goals or less • the Big Red holds an 19-13 edge all-time against teams that comprise the America East Conference.
 

A WIN OVER UALBANY WOULD

• give Cornell a 1-0 record this season.
• make Cornell 31-20 all-time in season openers, including 20-5 in head coach Jenny Graap's 25 seasons.
• give the Big Red a 4-3 edge in the all-time series.
• snap a two-game non-conference losing streak.
• be the 363rd in program history (362-310-4 in 51 seasons, .538).
 

LAST TIME OUT

• No. 23 Yale held Cornell scoreless in the first and third quarters, scoring the first five and leading from wire-to-wire in a 16-6 win over the Big Red in an Ivy League Women's Lacrosse Tournament semifinal at Princeton's Class of 1952 Stadium. 
• Amanda Cramer and Sophie Ward both had two goals and Genevieve DeWinter posted a goal and an assist, while Shannon Brazier had a goal and four draw controls. 
• Grace Faircloth had three ground balls and a caused turnover and Karina Schulze matched those numbers and added a draw control. 
• In goal, Katie McGahan made four saves to close her career with 424 - third on the school's career list. 
• The Bulldogs held a 39-24 edge in shots, an 18-7 advantage on draws and earned 15 ground balls to Cornell's 13. 
• Olivia Markert had three goals and an assist and Olivia Penoyer was credited with a goal and three assists. 
• Jenna Collignon had a hat trick, while Sky Carrasquillo (8) and Taylor Lane (5) combined for 13 of the team's 18 draw control victories.
• The storm came early for the Big Red, before the rain picked back up. 
• Yale scored five unanswered, including four in the first 3:47, and never looked back. 
• Cornell played even over the second quarter, but the damage was done.
 

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

• Senior Annie Thomas' cousin, Caroline Ramsey, is an All-Ivy field hockey player for the Big Red and a member of the U.S. national team.
• In just 22 career games, Thomas has 113 draw controls — a mark that already ranks fifth in school history.
• Thomas had 73 draw controls in 16 games in 2022 to set the single-season school record, surpassing Sarah Hefner's 2014 record of 68.
• Sophomore defender Alessia Packard has a sister (Antonia, field hockey) and brother (Charles, men's lacrosse) who are also current varsity athletes for the Big Red.
• Senior captain Amanda Cramer, an honorable mention All-Ivy selection and the team's leading scorer in 2022, is a transfer from Northwestern who mother, Caroline, was a gymnast for the Big Red.
• Cornell's 218 draw control wins in 2022 was second all-time in a season, just shy of the 222 recorded in 2017. 
• The team's 13.3 goals per game ranked second all-time at Cornell (14.2 in 2012).
• The Big Red has qualified for the Ivy League Tournament nine times in the 11 years it has been held.
• Seniors Bridget Babcock, Amanda Cramer and Hilary Hoover will serve as team tri-captains.
• Head coach Jenny Graap has 220 career wins for the Big Red, ranking her 13th all-time among Cornell head coaches in all sports and second among women coaches (behind Andrea Dutcher with 346 volleyball wins from 1974-87).
• In her 26th season, Graap is the longest tenured women's head coach in school history and currently in the Ivy League.
• The Big Red is 174-17 all-time under Graap when leading at halftime (.911).
 

NEXT UP

• The Big Red will play its home opener against Central New York rival Colgate on Tuesday, Feb. 21 at 5 p.m. at Schoellkopf Field.
• Cornell holds a 34-15-1 edge in the all-time series and has won 21 of the past 22 meetings, including a 17-6 contest in 2022.