ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell men's lacrosse team will attempt to build on its road success this season when it meets perennial Ivy contender and preseason top 10 squad Yale on Saturday, March 22 at 1 p.m. at Reese Stadium. The contest will be broadcast on ESPN+.

• Cornell is coming off a 15-10 victory over No. 2 Princeton in the Ivy opener, collecting a signature win and vaulting the Big Red up to No. 3 in the national rankings this week.
• Senior CJ Kirst not only poured in seven points (five goals, two assists), but he also surpassed legendary Mike French '76 in career goals at Cornell (191), breaking a nearly 50-year-old record and ending the day with 193 in his four seasons.
• The nation's active leading scorer at 270 points, the three-time Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week paces Division I with his 40 points (28 goals, 12 assists) this year.
• The Big Red defense has held four of its six opponents to 10 goals or fewer after limiting the high-scoring Tigers to 10.
• Cornell and/or Yale have been at the top of the Ivy League standings in five of the past six seasons.
• 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
#3/4 Cornell at Yale
DATE & TIME: Saturday, March 22 at 1:00 p.m.
SITE: Reese Stadium - New Haven, Conn.
RECORDS: Cornell 5-1 (1-0 Ivy); Yale 1-4 (0-1 Ivy))
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads 55-30-1
BROADCAST: ESPN+
STATS: CornellBigRed.com
DIGITAL PROGRAM: CornellBigRed.com
GAME NOTES: CornellBigRed.com

THE SERIES
Overall: Cornell leads 55-30-1
In New Haven, Conn.: Cornell leads 22-14-1    
On neutral fields: Yale leads 4-3
Streak: Cornell, 1
Last 5: Cornell, 3-2
Last 10: Yale 6-4
Last meeting: Cornell 18, Yale 15 (3/23/24 at Cornell)
Last Yale win: Yale 22, Cornell 15 (5/5/23 at Ivy Tourney)
First meeting: Cornell 5, Yale 1 (5/22/1916 at Cornell)

A WIN OVER YALE WOULD ...
• make Cornell 6-1 on the season with its second straight win.
• up the Big Red's record to 4-0 on the road this season.
• get the Big Red off to a 2-0 Ivy start for the third consecutive season.
• bump Cornell's all-time record against Yale to 56-30-1, including two consecutive wins over the Bulldogs.
• give the Big Red a 279-116-1 all-time mark in Ivy League play (.706).
• push Buczek's career record to 40-15 (.727).
• be the 814th in program history (813-502-27, .616).

LAST TIME VS. YALE
• The Big Red used all aspects of its high-powered offense including a five-goal run in the fourth quarter to move to 2-0 in the Ivy League with an 18-15 win over Yale on Schoellkopf Field.
• The Cornell offense was led by CJ Kirst who matched his season-high with eight points on four goals and four assists. 
• Senior Michael Long followed with his third three-goal, four-assist game of the season. 
• In his first career start, Ryan Goldstein tallied a career-high five goals. 
• Marc Psyllos won 14 faceoffs for the second-straight game and scooped a team-high nine groundballs. 
• Brendan Staub led all players with three caused turnovers and Matthew Tully made a career-high 13 saves.
• Yale's Matt Brandau led the Bulldogs offense with five goals and two assists for seven points. 
• Carson Kuhl followed with three goals and two assists for five points. 

MILESTONE WATCH
• Senior Hugh Kelleher is one point from reaching 100 for his career.
• Senior CJ Kirst's 270 points are 26 shy of matching Mike French '76 for second 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 four goals from moving to 14th on the career list with his 95 and is five from becoming the 14th player to hit 100 for a career
• At seventh place in career assists, Long is seven from matching Andrew Collins '04 for sixth with 98 and is nine from becoming the sixth player with 100.
• Long is three points from reaching seventh in career points (Matt Donovan '15 with 189) and is 10 away from sixth (John Piatelli '22) with 196.
• Junior goalkeeper Wyatt Knust has 239 career saves, four shy of reaching jumping into 16th place at Cornell.
• His next win in goal would give him 14, moving him within one of jumping to 16th on the school's list.
• Junior Jack Cascadden is 14th in career faceoff wins with 209, one behind Scott Raasch '04 for 13th and three from Joe Lizzio '88 for 12th.

LAST TIME OUT
• CJ Kirst became Cornell's all-time leading goal scorer and the Big Red men's lacrosse team got its Ivy League season off to a great start with a 15-10 victory over No. 2 Princeton at Schoellkopf Field. 
• Kirst scored five goals as part of a seven-point effort to eclipse Mike French's nearly 50-year-old goals record of 191, ending the night with 193. 
• His fourth goal of the contest with 4:12 left in the third was the record breaker. French, a lacrosse legend, was in attendance at Schoellkopf Field cheering Kirst and the Big Red on against its longtime rival.
• Willem Firth had two goals and two assists and Michael Long (two goals, one assist), Hugh Kelleher (two goals, one assist) and Ryan Goldstein (one goal, two assists) each had three-point afternoons to pace a balanced offense. 
• Matt Dooley caused three Princeton turnovers and Jack Cascadden won 13-of-23 faceoffs to give Cornell plenty of possessions, especially in the second half when the Big Red won 9-of-12. 
• Wyatt Knust made a dozen saves for the Big Red in goal. 
• Princeton's Coulter Mackesy had a pair of goals among four Tigers with multiple scorers. 



NOTES TO KNOW
• Cornell has scored at least 12 goals in all six contests this season.
• Senior CJ Kirst is the nation's active leader in career goals (193) and points (270), well ahead of Princeton's Coulter Mackesy (143), as well as Mackesy (211) and Harvard's Sam King (211).
• Both Kirst (first, 5.00) and senior Michael Long (11th, 3.96) rank among the nation's top 12 active leaders in career points per game.
• Willem Firth ranks fourth in the nation with five extra-man scores.
• Since regaining his starting spot last April, senior Wyatt Knust has 172 saves (14.3 saves per game) with a 9.91 goals against average and a .601 save percentage in his past 12 contests.
• Junior Jack Cascadden has scored 10 career goals (with four assists) directly off face-offs in his career, including five goals in his past five games.
• Senior defender Jayson Singer has started 34 of the past 35 games for the Big Red.
• Cornell is 20-6 (.769) 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 Cornell men's lacrosse team returns home to face nationally-ranked Penn on Saturday, March 29 at 12 p.m. at Schoellkopf Field.
• The contest will be broadcast live on ESPN+.
• Cornell leads the all-time series 67-29-3, though the Quakers have won four of five and six of the last eight meetings.
• The Quakers swept last season's two meetings, including a 13-9 win over the Big Red on Schoellkopf in the Ivy League Tournament semifinals .