Road Trip to Dartmouth Has Plenty on the Line for Men's Lacrosse

STREAKS, STORYLINES & SIDEBARS 
• The Big Red travels to Hanover, N.H., this weekend in the final matchup of the Ivy League regular season taking on Dartmouth on Saturday, April 27 at Scully-Fahey Field. With a win over the Big Green, Cornell would clinch at least a share of the Ivy League regular season title and give the Big Red the #1 seed in the conference tournament, bringing the excitement to Ithaca. Faceoff is set for 4:00 p.m. and the game will be streamed live on ESPN+.
• Cornell, which entered the preseason polls ranked seventh, finds itself at No. 9 and No. 8 in the major men's lacrosse polls (USILA Coaches Poll, Inside Lacrosse Media Poll).
• Cornell boasts Division I's second-best shot percentage, scoring on 35.8 percent of shots taken. Nonconference opponent Notre Dame leads the country and shoots less than two percent more accurately than the Big Red (37.1 percent).
• The Big Red also ranks third in scoring offense and second in points per game. Cornell averages 15.58 goals per game and 25.33 points per game so far this season.
• The Big Green enters the contest at 3-9 and is riding a six-game losing streak entering the weekend. Dartmouth has played both of its most recent games close, leading Brown entering the half and losing by three, and leading #9 Yale, 10-7, at the half. The Big Green lost to #13 Penn by three in its Ivy League opener.
• 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 the series, 56-15
In Hanover, N.H.: Cornell leads, 26-8
Current Streak: Cornell, 11 games
Last Meeting: Cornell won, 22-11 on April 1, 2023, in Ithaca, N.Y.
Buczek vs. Dartmouth: 2-0
Series Notes: 

• Cornell has not lost a road game against Dartmouth since 1997, when the team fell, 12-8, in Hanover, N.H. Since then, Cornell has only lost one game against the Big Green, which came in a neutral site meeting in Foxboro, Mass.
• The 11-game win streak is the longest active Cornell win streak against an Ivy opponent, and the third longest Big Red active win streak overall. Binghamton (13) and Canisius (12) are the only two longer active Cornell streaks.

A WIN OVER DARTMOUTH WOULD ... 
• Improve Cornell's record to 9-4 on the season.
• Tie the second-longest active win streak for the Big Red.
• Clinch at least a share of the Ivy League regular season title for the third straight season.
• Make Cornell the #1 seed and host of the 2024 Ivy League Men's Lacrosse Tournament.
• Move Cornell's all-time lead in the series to 56-15.
• Mark the 23rd win in the series for the Big Red in the past 24 contests.
• Be the 808th win in program history (807-500-27 in 128 seasons, .615).

LAST TIME OUT: Cornell 15, Harvard 8
GAME STORY I BOX SCORE l GALLERY l HIGHLIGHTS
• Mission accomplished. Schoellkopf defended. 7-0. For the first time since 2015, Cornell men's lacrosse has posted a perfect home record in the regular season. The seventh win came over Harvard in a 15-8 victory on Saturday afternoon, where nine different Big Red found the back of the net to clinch an Ivy Tournament bid for Cornell.
• With the win, Cornell improved to 8-4 (4-1 Ivy) and Harvard fell to 7-5 (1-4 Ivy).
• Freshman Willem Firth and senior CJ Kirst led the Big Red attack with five points each, both off of two goals and three assists. Kirst also caused two turnovers on the ride while scooping three groundballs.
• Senior Michael Long was next, notching a goal and two assists for three points.
• Hugh Kelleher, Ryan Goldstein, Spencer Wirtheim, and Andrew Dalton rounded out multi-point scorers. Each tallied two goals.
• Angelo Petrakis went 7-of-11 on the faceoff today and Marc Psyllos posted a team-high five groundballs.
• Wyatt Knust posted his sixth game this season with a save percentage above .500, stopping 16-of-24 shots for .667. The save total marks his second most of the season.
• Harvard's Logan Ip led the Crimson attack with three points on two goals and an assist. Sam King and Graham Blake followed with two goals apiece. Jack Peterson rounded out Harvard's multi-point scorers with two assists.
• Andrew DeGennaro went 13-of-25 from the faceoff X, scooping a game-high six groundballs. Goalkeeper Christian Barnard made 13 saves, allowing 15 goals.
• Cornell's defense held its opponent to fewer than 10 goals for the third time this season.
• The 15 goals scored by Cornell's offense matched the second-most goals given up by Harvard netminder, Christian Barnard.
• Jayson Singer, the primary mark on Harvard's Sam King, held the Ivy League's second-highest point scorer to his worst outing of the season (two points).

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