GAME 12: Harvard (5-5, 1-2 Ivy) at Cornell (6-5, 2-1 Ivy)

Date & Time: Saturday, April 8 - 1:00 p.m.
Venue: Schoellkopf Field - Ithaca, N.Y.
Twitter: @CornellWLax
Cornell Game Notes
 

STORY LINES

• The Cornell women's lacrosse team begins the stretch run of the Ivy League season when it welcomes Harvard to Schoellkopf Field on Saturday, April 8 at 1 p.m. 
• The contest will be broadcast on ESPN+.
• Cornell will attempt to snap a three-game skid, including a pair of competitive losses to top 20 teams and a road defeat at No. 1 Syracuse, as it begins its stretch of four consecutive Ivy contests to close the campaign.
• The Big Red's explosive offense is averaging 13.2 goals per game and has four players with at least 28 points and seven averaging at least a point per game.
• Senior Katie Castiello, the team's leading goal scorer with 31, enters the game just four points shy of becoming the 28th Big Red player to reach 100 career points.
• In its six wins, Cornell has surrendered just 9.5 goals per game, a number that rises to 15.4 goals in its five losses.
• 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.
 

SERIES HISTORY VS. HARVARD

Overall: Harvard leads 24-19, first meeting in 1980
In Ithaca, N.Y.: Harvard leads 11-10
Current Streak: Cornell, 3
Last Meeting: Cornell, 10-9 (2OT) (3/26/2022 in Cambridge, Mass.)
Graap vs. Harvard: 19-6 (11-2 at home)
Series Notes: Cornell has won seven of the past eight meetings and is 19-5 in the last 24 matchups after Harvard won the first 19 meetings between the programs • the two teams first met in 1980, an 18-3 Crimson victory • the Big Red's first-ever win against Harvard came in 1999, a 10-9 overtime victory in Ithaca
 

A WIN OVER HARVARD WOULD

• improve Cornell's record to 7-5 on the season.
• push the Big Red's Ivy record to 3-1.
• snap the Big Red's three-game skid.
• extend the team's win streak over the Crimson to four games.
• be the 369th in program history (368-315-4 in 51 seasons, .539).
 

LAST TIME OUT

• Cornell battled back from a four-goal deficit to take a third quarter lead, but a 6-0 Penn State run into the fourth quarter propelled the 18th-ranked Nittany Lions to a 13-10 win at Panzer Stadium.
• Cornell's Amanda Cramer and Caitlin Slaminko each recorded a hat trick and Maggie Pons scored once and assisted on two other goals, with Cramer adding four draw control wins and Ellie Horner stopping  10 shots in goal for the Big Red. 
• Cornell hit double figures in goals for the 11th straight game to open the season.
• Penn State's Kristin O'Neill (four goals, two assists) and Meghan Murray (four goals) spearheaded the offense, with Kayla Abernathy winning nine of the Nittany Lions' 14 draws. 
• The home team edged out the Big Red in that category 14-13.
• The big difference in the three-goal decision came on free position shots, where Cornell was just 1-of-7 and Penn State went 4-for-7.
 

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

• The Big Red has scored double figure goals in all 11 contests this season and has allowed single-digit goals four times.
• Cornell has had two players named Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week this season  — goalkeeper Ellie Horner (Feb. 27) and midfielder Shannon Brazier (March 6). 
• 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 33 games, Thomas has 169 draw controls — a mark that already sits atop the school's career charts.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Cornell's 218 draw control wins in 2022 were second all-time in a season, just shy of the 222 recorded in 2017. 
• The team's 13.3 goals per game in 2022 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 226 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 among women's lacrosse coaches in the Ivy League.
• The Big Red is 178-18 all-time under Graap when leading at halftime (.908).
 

NEXT UP

• Cornell will return to the road when it faces No. 22 Penn on Saturday, April 15 at 12 p.m. at Franklin Field.
• It will be a Morgan's Message Game.
• The Big Red won last year's meeting between the teams 13-9 and has won three of the past five.
• Prior to that, Penn had won 12 straight matchups.