The Big Red Makes National TV Season Debut vs. Penn

STREAKS, STORYLINES & SIDEBARS 
• Cornell hopes to stay perfect in Ivy League play when it takes on Pennsylvania.
• The game will be broadcast live on ESPNU.
• The Big Red has outscored opponents 83-56 across the first six games of the season.
• Penn has only played ranked opponents so far this season, including common opponent Penn State. The Quakers fell in that battle, 15-9.
• Cornell climbed to 5th in both the USILA Coaches Poll and Inside Lacrosse Media Poll following the big conference opener.
• Cornell ranks eighth nationally in scoring defense, allowing 9.33 goals per game. The Big Red also ranks fifth in groundballs per game, averaging 37.50, and 10th nationally in caused turnovers per game (10.17). Penn boasts the nation's best clearing percentage at .945. The Quakers also commit the ninth fewest turnovers per game at just 14.00. Only Yale ranks higher in the Ivy League.
• Cornell returns the Ivy League Rookie of the Year in CJ Kirst, who notched 55 goals and 79 points for the Big Red last year. Kirst has 29 points in five games played. He leads the nation in goals per game (4.50) and sits at fourth in points per game (5.67). Following his 11-point performance at Hobart and five-point day at #9/#8 Ohio State, Kirst was named the Ivy League Player on the Week (March 5).
• Gavin Adler is a three-time National Team of the Week honoree, most recently following last week's performance against Yale, where he tallied eight groundballs and a caused turnover. He aided in holding one of the nation's leading attackman, Matt Brandau, to just one goal, nearly ending a 129-game goal-streak, the longest in the country.
• The Big Red boasts four preseason All-Americans entering 2023.

THE SERIES 
Overall: Cornell leads, 66-27-3
In Ithaca, N.Y: Cornell leads, 37-11-1
Current Streak: Penn won two
Last Meeting: Penn, 15-11 on March 26, 2022 in Philadelphia, Pa.
Buczek vs. Yale: 0-1
Series Notes: 

• Penn is the second eldest Ivy League opponent for the Big Red behind Harvard. The first meeting in the series vs. the Quakers was a 3-1 Cornell win in 1901.
• While Cornell boasts the lead in the all-time series, Penn has won four of the last five meeting, and five of the last seven.
• The four most recent meetings total a 55-54 score, in favor of the Big Red.
• Cornell's most recent win came in the regular season last year, from a narrow 13-12 victory at Schoellkopf Field on March 19.
  
  A WIN OVER PENNSYLVANIA WOULD ... 
  • be the first time that the Big Red open the conference slate with two wins since the 2015 season. Cornell opened conference play with three wins that year, beating Yale, Penn, and Dartmouth.
  • be the third win over a nationally-ranked opponent this season. 
  • be just the third Big Red win in the series since the 2015 season.
  • extend its lead in the all-time series against the Quakers to 67-27-3.
  • be the 794th win in program history (793-492-27 in 126 seasons, .603).

LAST TIME OUT: Cornell 20, Yale 10
GAME STORY I BOX SCORE I GALLERY
• The Big Red bounced back from its first loss of the season in a big way, scoring the most goals in a single game since the 2020 season, while holding the Yale attack to just 10.
• While CJ Kirst led the goal charge with five, it was Billy Coyle who was the back bone of the Cornell attack. Coyle notched an eight point day with two goals and six assists.
• In his season debut, Michael Long tallied a hat trick and an assist for four points. He also added a caused turnover.
• Gavin Adler scooped eight groundballs and caused a turnover to help hold a Yale offense that averaged 15 goals per game to just 10.
• Jared Paquette, Yale's goalkeeper, made 11 saves and had a season-low .355 save percentage.
• Yale had just three multi-point scorers.
• Chayse Ierlan held strong as the Big Red anchor, making a career-high 21 saves in the second straight contest.

Photos by Dave Burbank, Madison Epperson, Eldon Lindsay, and Darl Zehr.