ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell men's lacrosse team kicks off its home schedule when it welcomes No. 13/12 Denver to Schoellkopf Field for the first time on Saturday, Feb. 22 at 11 a.m. The contest will be broadcast on ESPN+.

• The Big Red, ranked as high as third in the national polls entering week, will meet a 2-1 Denver team ranked in the top 15 nationally.
• The contest will be the first in Ithaca between the teams, with Cornell winning two of the first three matchups.
• The game will also be a rematch of last season's thrilling 17-16 contest in Colorado, a game that saw the host Pioneers go on a 7-1 run in the second half to erase a four-goal deficit.
• Cornell opened the 2023 season with an impressive 18-10 victory at defending Patriot League champion Lehigh this past weekend.
• Senior CJ Kirst, the nation's active leading scorer at 236 points, scored six goals against the Mountain Hawks, while Michael Long (three goals, four assists) currently leads the nation with his 7.0 points per game.
• The Big Red assisted on 15 of its 18 scores in the opener, with both Long and Ryan Goldstein registering four helpers.
• Cornell won 63 percent of its faceoffs, with Jack Cascadden successful on 17-of-25 restarts.
• Wyatt Knust made 14 saves, caused a turnover and won three ground balls in picking up his 10th career win in goal.
• Head coach Connor Buczek's Big Red team returns eight starters and 22 letter winners from last season's 9-5 squad that won the Ivy League regular season title — its third straight and 32nd overall in program history.



GAME INFORMATION
#13/#12 Denver at #3/3 Cornell
DATE & TIME: Saturday, February 22 at 11 a.m.
SITE: Schoellkopf Field – Ithaca, N.Y.
RECORDS: Denver 2-1 (0-0 Big East); Cornell 1-0 (0-0 Ivy)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads 2-1
BROADCAST: ESPN+
STATS: CornellBigRed.com
DIGITAL PROGRAM: CornellBigRed.com
GAME NOTES: CornellBigRed.com

THE SERIES
Overall: Cornell leads 2-1
In Ithaca, N.Y.: First Meeting    
On neutral fields: Cornell leads 2-0
Streak: Denver, 1
Last 5: Cornell leads 2-1
Last 10: Cornell leads 2-1
Last meeting: Denver 17, Cornell 16 (2/24/24 at Denver)
Last Cornell win: Cornell 9, Denver 8 (3/20/12 in Hempstead)
First meeting: Cornell 20, Denver 7 (3/18/08 in Dallas)
 


A WIN OVER DENVER WOULD ...
• make Cornell 2-0 for the third time in four seasons under head coach Connor Buczek.
• extend its lead in the all-time series over the Pioneers to 3-1.
• make the Big Red 20-3 at Schoelkopf Field under Buczek.
• improve Cornell's record to 4-5 all-time against current members of the Big East.
• make the Big Red 9-1 in the month of February under Buczek.
• push Buczek's career record to 36-14 (.720).
• be the 810th in program history (809-501-27, .615).

VS. THE BIG EAST
• Cornell sports a 3-5 (.375) all-time record against current members of the Big East.
• The Big Red lost the last meeting against a Big East foe in a 17-16 defeat at the hands of Denver last season on the road.
• Cornell's last win against a Big East foe came on April 11, 2023 when it defeated Marquette 21-11 at Schoellkopf Field.
• The Big Red has never faced Providence or Villanova.
• This is the only regular season contest scheduled against a Big East foe in 2025.

LAST TIME VS. DENVER
• Denver's second-half surge of 11 goals helped the Pioneers to their fourth-straight win in a 17-16 decision at Peter Bartron Lacrosse Stadium. 
• 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. 

LAST TIME OUT
• The third-ranked Cornell men's lacrosse team shook the rust off from a long offseason, looking at times to be a dominant unit in an 18-10 victory at the Ulrich Sports Complex. 
• Seniors Michael Long (three goals, four assists) and CJ Kirst (six goals) combined for 11 points for a unit that assisted on 15 of its 18 goals and had seven players with multi-point efforts. 
• Cornell dominated in all phases, out-shooting the home team 54-40, winning the ground ball battle 37-23 and winning 20-of-32 face-offs. 
• Cornell's defense caused seven turnovers and Wyatt Knust made 14 saves in the cage for Cornell. 
• The Big Red cashed in on all three extra-man opportunities, including two by Willem Firth, who scored four times. 
• Ryan Goldstein added a goal and four assists in the victory.
• Kasey Heath made 20 saves in a strong effort in goal for the home team, keeping the damage to a minimum. 
• Luke Winkler and Dakota Eierman each had two goals and an assist, while Andrew Kelly scored a pair of goals. 
 
MILESTONE WATCH
• Senior CJ Kirst enters the contest with 171 career goals, 20 shy of reaching Mike French '76 (191), a record that has stood for 48 years.
• Kirst is five assists shy of joining the top 10 all-time in assists (65), with Matt Donovan '15 next on the list. 
• With his next man-up goal, Kirst would reach 15th on the school's career list with 13 and is two away from jumping to 13th place.
• Senior Michael Long is four goals short of surpassing former Tewaaraton Trophy winner Max Seibald '09 for 20th on the school's career list.
• At eighth place in career assists, Long is one from matching Anthony Pavone '95 for seventh with 89.
• Long is four points from reaching eighth in career points (Ryan Hurley '10 with 179).
• Junior goalkeeper Wyatt Knust has 173 career saves, 28 shy of reaching jumping into 18th place at Cornell.
• His next win in goal would give him 10 and move him into 17th on the school's list.
• Senior Hugh Kelleher's next earned ground ball will be his 50th.
• Kelleher is 11 points from reaching 100 for his career.
• Junior Brendan Staub had 47 ground balls and is just three from hitting 50.

NOTES TO KNOW
• Senior CJ Kirst is the nation's active leader in career goals (171) and points (236), well ahead of Princeton's Coulter Mackesy (128) and Michigan's Ryan Cohen (193), respectively.
• Both Kirst (second, 4.80) and senior Michael Long (sixth, 4.17) rank among the nation's active leaders in career points per game.
• In his last two contests dating back to last year, junior Jack Cascadden is 38-of-53 on faceoffs (.717) with 16 ground balls.
• Since regaining his starting spot last April, senior Wyatt Knust has 106 saves (15.2 saves per game) with a 9.28 goals against average and a .654 save percentage in his last seven contests.
Cornell is 18-5 (.783) at home under head coach Connor Buczek.

PRESEASON OPENERS
• Senior attackman CJ Kirst is the USA Lacrosse Division I Men's Preseason Player of the Year and Attackman of the Year.
• Kirst, senior midfielder Hugh Kelleher and senior attackmen Michael Long have been selected to the 2025 Tewaaraton Trophy Watch List.
• Kirst was also chosen as a USA Lacrosse, USILA and Inside Lacrosse Division I Men's Preseason All-America first team selection. 
• Kirst was chosen as college lacrosse's top player by Inside Lacrosse in its IL Top 50, while Long was slotted No. 19.
• Long was a third-team All-America choice by both USILA and Inside Lacrosse.
• Sophomore midfielder Willem Firth, senior defender Jayson Singer and senior goalkeeper Wyatt Knust were honorable mention selections by USILA, while Inside Lacrosse honored Firth, senior midfielder Hugh Kelleher and senior short-stick midfielder Chris Davis.

THE HARD HAT
• Charlie Box was selected to carry the Hard Hat for the 2025 season. 
• Sixth-year senior Michael Long (2023) and fifth-year senior CJ Kirst (2024) have also carried the Hard Hat during their careers.
• The tradition of the Hard Hat began in the fall of 1999. 
• Midway through the fall season, a player is selected to carry the Hard Hat for the year. 
• The recipient is someone that the coaches feel demonstrates a blue-collar approach to the game of lacrosse; he is driven and selfless, not the most talented player on the field, but consistently the hardest worker. He puts the team first, and embodies how the coaches want Cornell players to act and respond on or off the field.

NEW YORK STATE OF MIND
• Cornell has traditionally been very successful against collegiate teams from New York state, posting an all-time record of 304-168-7 (.642).
• The Big Red has three New York teams on its schedule during the 2025 season – Hobart, UAlbany and Syracuse.
• Cornell is 16-2 over its past 18 contests against New York state teams dating back to 2018, including 4-1 vs. Syracuse, and owns a five-game win streak against teams from the Empire State.

PROFESSIONAL NOTES
• Jeff Teat '21 broke the single-season Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) scoring record with 64 points (28 goals, 36 assists), shattering the previous mark of 44 by Lyle Thompson (2022) and matched by Marcus Holman (2023).
• Professional lacrosse's all-time single-season leading point scorer is Rob Pannell '13. The former Big Red player set the record in the 2018 season of the Major League Lacrosse (MLL), putting away 43 goals and 35 assists for 78 points.
• Chayse Ierlan '23 became the fourth Big Red player taken in the PLL Draft after the goalkeeper was chosen No. 29 overall by the California Redwoods last May. He joins Gavin Adler '24, Jeff Teat '21 and Clarke Petterson '19. Teat was the No. 1 overall pick in 2021 and Adler went No. 1 in 2023.
• Since 2002, Cornell has had 38 players chosen in the MLL/PLL Draft.

HALLS OF FAME
• One of the most successful lacrosse coaches of all time, Nevin D. "Ned" Harkness was announced as one of four coaches making up the 2024 class of inductees to the Intercollegiate Men's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IMLAC) Hall of Fame. 
• Another Cornell name to be inducted into this class is Big Red alumnus Howie Borkan '81, who is the "Bob Russell Contributors Award" recipient.
• Additionally, Texas A&M coach Tony Scazzero '75, who was the longest tenured coach in the Men's Collegiate Lacrosse Association before retiring last spring, was inducted into the MCLA Hall of Fame.
• Jason Noble '13 was inducted into the Cornell Athletics Hall of Fame this past fall. 
• The three-time All-America selection (first-team in 2013, second-team in 2012, honorable mention in 2011) was also a two-time first-team All-Ivy pick and anchored of one of the nation's top defenses. 
• He later was named the 2017 NLL Defensive Player of the Year in leading the Georgia Swarm to the league title.

IVY PRESEASON POLL
• The Big Red was chosen first in the Ivy League Preseason Media Poll announced in February.
• Cornell finished first with nine of the 14 first-place votes and a total of 90 points, just ahead of Princeton (87 points, four first-place votes).
• Yale (71 points, one first-place vote) and Penn (57 points) rounded out the top four.
• Harvard (45), Brown (27) and Dartmouth (15) were chosen 5th-7th.

UP NEXT
• The longest running rivalry in college lacrosse will be renewed when the Big Red visits Hobart on Tuesday, Feb. 25 at 6 p.m.
• The contest will be broadcast live on Hobart All-Access.
• It will be the 142nd meeting (Cornell leads 90-47-4) dating back to 1896.
• The Big Red has won five straight meetings and 17 of 18 contests since 2004.