ITHACA, N.Y. -- The third-ranked Cornell men's lacrosse team will make its first-ever trip to Richmond to face the 12th-ranked Spiders on Sunday, March 2 at 1 p.m. at Robins Stadium. The contest will be broadcast on ESPN+.

• It will be the second consecutive game against an Atlantic 10 school following its 22-9 triumph at Hobart on Tuesday afternoon in the 142nd meeting in the oldest and most-played rivalry in college lacrosse.
• Preseason Player of the Year candidate CJ Kirst exploded for a career high 12 points on six goals and six assists in the win, moving him within eight goals of the school record 191 set by Mike French '76 48 years ago.
• The nation's active leading scorer at 256 points Kirst is the reigning Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week after his six goals and eight points outscored No. 13 Denver all by himself in a 15-5 victory last Saturday.
• While the offense continues to make headlines as the nation's second-leading scoring team, it is the defense that has made Cornell elite — it is allowing just 7.0 goals per game with its goalies saving 69 percent of its opponents' shots over the past two contests.
• The Spiders bring a 3-1 record into the contest and feature an elite defense (8.0 goals per game allowed) under head coach Dan Chemotti and former Big Red assistant and now Spiders' defensive coordinator, Paul Richards.
• Following a season-opening loss to Maryland, Richmond has bounced back with three consecutive wins, most recently at Virginia (13-10) and Lehigh (9-8), the only opponent they have in common with the Big Red (Cornell won 18-10 at Lehigh on Feb. 15).
• 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
#3/3 Cornell at #12/14 Richmond
DATE & TIME: Sunday, March 2 at 1:00 p.m.
SITE: Robins Stadium - Richmond, Va.
RECORDS: Cornell 3-0 (0-0 Ivy); Richmond 3-1 (0-0 Atlantic 10)
SERIES RECORD: First Meeting
BROADCAST: ESPN+
STATS: CornellBigRed.com
DIGITAL PROGRAM: CornellBigRed.com
GAME NOTES: CornellBigRed.com

THE SERIES
First Meeting

A WIN OVER RICHMOND WOULD ...
• make Cornell 4-0 for the third time in four seasons under head coach Connor Buczek.
• give the Big Red a 2-0 record this season against top 20 opponents.
• improve Cornell's record to 110-52-4 all-time against current members of the Atlantic 10.
• be the fourth consecutive road win for the Big Red.
• push Buczek's career record to 38-14 (.731).
• be the 812th in program history (811-501-27, .615).

VS. THE ATLANTIC 10
• Cornell sports a 109-52-4 (.673) all-time record against current members of the Atlantic 10.
• The Big Red has won eight consecutive contests against current Atlantic 10 members dating back to a 17-8 loss at Hobart on Feb. 25, 2017.
• Cornell holds series advantages over Hobart (91-47-4) and UMass (16-5) and has won the only previous meeting with both High Point (1-0) and St. Bonaventure (1-0).
• The Big Red has never faced Richmond (that will change on Sunday) or Saint Joseph's.

LAST TIME IN VIRGINIA
• The No. 8 Cornell men's lacrosse team scored five goals in the final 2:32 of the game but couldn't find the equalizer as its comeback came up just short in a 15-14 loss to No. 7 Virginia at U-Hall Turf Field. 
• The Big Red played some inspired lacrosse over the final moments of the contest, despite trailing by six goals with less than three minutes to play, but the Cavaliers managed to win the final face-off of the game to run out the clock.
• Virginia goalie Matt Barrett settled down and made 21 saves.
 • Cornell was led by Matt Donovan with five goals and two assists for a career-high seven points, while Dan Lintner registered his first hat trick of the season. 
• Christian Knight made 10 saves in goal, while Domenic Massimilian was outstanding in the face-off circle, going 23-of-32 with a career-high 12 ground balls.
• Virginia was led by James Pannell's seven points (six goals, one assist), while Zed Williams hand a game-high four assists to go along with one goal. 

MILESTONE WATCH
• Senior CJ Kirst enters the contest with 183 career goals, eight shy of reaching Mike French '76 (191), a record that has stood for 48 years.
• Kirst's 256 points are 12 shy of matching Jeff Teat '20 for third on the school's career 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 two goals short of surpassing former Tewaaraton Trophy winner Max Seibald '09 for 20th on the school's career list.
• At seventh place in career assists, Long is nine from matching Andrew Collins '04 for sixth with 98.
• Long is one point from reaching eighth in career points (Ryan Hurley '10 with 179).
• Junior goalkeeper Wyatt Knust has 202 career saves, five shy of reaching jumping into 17th place at Cornell.
• His next win in goal would give him 12, moving him within three of jumping to 16th on the school's list.
• Kelleher is nine points from reaching 100 for his career.

LAST TIME OUT
• Cornell senior CJ Kirst, the nation's leading scorer, had a career night with 12 points as No. 3 Cornell rallied from an early four-goal deficit for a 22-9 triumph at Hobart at Boswell Field. 
• Kirst scored six goals for the third straight game and posted a career-high six assists as part of a 12-point day - tied for the third-most in a game in school history. 
• The Big Red trailed 7-3 early as Hobart was buzzing around, but the Big Red methodically picked the Statesmen apart over the game's final 41 minutes, scoring 19 goals, including a 10-0 run that spanned the halves and turned the game around. 
• Senior goalkeeper Wyatt Knust kept Hobart at bay with 16 saves in another stellar effort between the pipes. 
• Brendan Staub won 10 ground balls and caused three turnovers in the victory.
• Ryan Goldstein registered a hat trick and added three assists.
• Alex Rosa scored three early goals but was kept off the score sheet in the final 47 minutes.
• Jackson Faiola kept the damage from being even worse, making 14 stops.

NOTES TO KNOW
• Cornell has scored at least 15 goals in all three contests this season.
• Senior CJ Kirst is the nation's active leader in career goals (183) and points (256), well ahead of Princeton's Coulter Mackesy (131) and Michigan's Ryan Cohen (201), respectively.
• Both Kirst (first, 5.02) and senior Michael Long (sixth, 4.05) rank among the nation's active leaders in career points per game.
• Willem Firth is the nation's leader with four extra-man scores.
• The Big Red is assisting on 71 percent of its goals this season, well above the national average of 57 percent this year.
• Since regaining his starting spot last April, senior Wyatt Knust has 135 saves (15.0 saves per game) with a 9.43 goals against average and a .628 save percentage in his past eight contests.
• Knust has double figure saves in all three games this season.
• Junior Jack Cascadden has scored eight career goals (with three assists) directly off face-offs in his career, including three goals in his past two games.
• Junior Brendan Staub has team highs of 16 ground balls and four caused turnovers in three games.
• Cornell is 19-5 (.792) at home under head coach Connor Buczek.

PRESEASON HONORS
• 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 305-168-7 (.643).
• The Big Red has three New York teams on its schedule during the 2025 season – Hobart (22-9), UAlbany and Syracuse.
• Cornell is 17-2 over its past 19 contests against New York state teams dating back to 2018, including 4-1 vs. Syracuse, and owns a six-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.

NEXT UP
• The Big Red begins a stretch of four home contests in a five-game stretch when it welcomes Penn State to Schoellkopf Field on Saturday, March 8 at 12 p.m.
• The contest will be broadcast live on ESPN+.
• The Nittany Lions hold a narrow 24-23 edge in the all-time series dating back to the first meeting in 1923.
• Penn State has won the two previous meetings, including a 20-9 triumph last year in University Park.