Meeting No. 141 Against Hobart Awaits For Men's Lacrosse

STREAKS, STORYLINES & SIDEBARS 
• Cornell looks for a bounce-back win this week when it hosts in-state rival Hobart for the teams' 141st meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 27 in Ithaca, N.Y. Faceoff is set to 5 p.m. on Schoellkopf Field, and the game will be streamed live on ESPN+.
• Cornell, which entered the preseason polls ranked seventh, finds itself at #10 in the USILA poll, and #9 in the Inside Lacrosse poll.
• Cornell boasts Division I's ninth-best opponent clear percentage allowing successful clears on 79.1 percent of attempts.
• The Big Red also ranks seventh in scoring offense and points per game. Cornell averages 16.5 goals per game and 26.00 points per game so far this season.
• Hobart enters the contest with one win and two losses so far this season. Both losses came at the hands of nationally ranked teams in Colgate and Michigan. The lone win came over Canisius in a 13-9 decision last Tuesday.
• Cornell concluded the 2023 season ranked seventh nationally in scoring offense, tallying 14.80 goals per game. The Big Red also ranked sixth in groundballs per game, averaging 36.67, and 14th nationally in caused turnovers per game (9.40). Cornell had the nation's 10th-best scoring margin, outscoring opponents by an average of 3.53 goals per game.
• The Big Red boasts four preseason All-Americans; CJ Kirst, Jack Follows, Hugh Kelleher, and Christopher Davis.
• Cornell returns the 2022 Ivy League Rookie of the Year and 2023 Ivy Player of the Year, CJ Kirst. The now-senior notched 65 goals and 84 points for the Big Red last year. The goal total was good for the most by a junior in Big Red history.

THE SERIES 
Overall: Cornell leads, 89-47-4
In Ithaca, N.Y.: 55-26-3
Current Streak: Cornell, four games
Last Meeting: Cornell won, 17-8 on Feb. 28, 2023, in Geneva, N.Y.
Buczek vs. Hobart: 2-0
Series Notes: 

• One of the oldest rivalries, and the NCAA's most contested, Hobart and Cornell go back 129 years with 140 meetings to date.
• The last time the two opponents faced, CJ Kirst tallied 11 points on seven goals and four assists, tied for eighth-most single-game points in Cornell history.
• Since the 2000 season, Cornell has only dropped three games to the Statesmen.

A WIN OVER HOBART WOULD ... 
• Move Cornell back above .500 (2-1) on the season.
• Extend Cornell's lead in the series to 90-47-4.
• Tie Hobart for the most all-time NCAA wins at 801.
• Mark the fifth straight win for the Big Red in the series.
• Be the 801st win in program history (800-496-27 in 128 seasons, .614).

LAST TIME OUT: Denver 17, Cornell 16
GAME STORY I BOX SCORE I HIGHLIGHTS
• Denver's second-half surge of 11 goals helped the Pioneers to their fourth-straight win in a 17-16 decision on Saturday afternoon at Peter Bartron Lacrosse Stadium.
• With the loss, Cornell fell to 1-1 while Denver improved to 4-0 on the season.
• Cornell was led by seniors Michael Long and Spencer Wirtheim, who each notched five points on the day. Wirtheim's five came at the hands of a hat trick and two assists, while Long's came from one goal and four assists.
• Danny Caddigan (3g, 1a) and Willem Firth (4g) followed with four points apiece.
• A CJ Kirst hat trick and Hugh Kelleher's goal and assist rounded out multi-point scorers.
• Denver's JJ Sillstrop and Noah Manning each tallied six-point days, including a combined eight-goal effort.
• Attackman Michael Lampert followed with a goal and four assists for five points, and Daniel Clark added three points on one goal and two assists.
• Alec Stathakis won the faceoff spot with wins in 22 out of the 37 battles.
• Michael Long extended his goal-scoring streak to 19 in the contest, the eighth-longest in Division I.
• Freshman Willem Firth tallied his second-career four-goal game in his second-career appearance.

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