ITHACA, N.Y. — The No. 3-ranked Cornell men's lightweight rowing team opens its two-race homestand this weekend when it welcomes No. 2-ranked Princeton to the Cayuga Inlet on Saturday morning as the Big Red and Tigers will battle for the Platt Cup and Harriot Trophies.

Saturday's quartet of races will begin with the 4V8+ at 8:30 a.m. The top three races will launch in succession 20 minutes apart from each other.

"The guys are hungry to defend our home water in what promises to be another critical test, especially for the Varsity," stated Tyler Nase, the Henry E. Bartels '48 Head Coach of Cornell Men's Lightweight Rowing. "Training this week has had a real edge to it, and the lineups are dialed in for a tough morning of racing. If you're in the Ithaca area, we'd love to have you down at the boathouse to support the team. Come early, bring your coffee, and get loud."

"Some intense weekends of racing have left the squad eager to prove ourselves against Princeton," said senior team captain Emmett Patterson. "Every practice has seen every boat make a concetrated effort to be better when they get off the water than when they got on. This is our inlet and we will fight tooth and nail to defend it."

PLATT CUP HISTORY
Cornell will be seeking to regain possession of the Platt Cup after having its three-race win streak snapped last year as Princeton used an impressive push over the final 500 meters to defeat Cornell by 1.2 seconds in a closely-contested race. After being edged in the varsity race, Cornell generated victories of three and 32 seconds, respectively, to retain the Harriott Trophy for a second straight year.

Princeton leads the all-time series, 39-20, since the first race was held in Ithaca in 1964. Cornell has excelled of late, winning eight of the last 11 Platt Cup races, dating back to 2012.

Should the Big Red defeat the Tigers on Saturday, it would be the Big Red's sixth consecutive time winning the Platt Cup on its home waters, serving as the Big Red's longest home win streak in the series.

LAST TIME OUT
Penn regained possession of both the Matthews Cup and Leonard Trophy after narrowly defeating Cornell in the first three varsity 8+ races last Saturday morning on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia.

The Quakers won the Leonard Trophy after posting near-three-second victories in the 3V8+ and 2V8+ events before the Quakers completed their sweep of the hardware by edging Cornell by six-tenths of a second in the 1V8+ race. Harvard placed first overall in both the 1V8+ (5:31.6) and 2V8+ (5:39.1) events, resulting in the Crimson winning the inaugural Franklin Trophy for its victory in the 1V8+ over Penn.

Cornell's only first-place victory of the day occurred in the first event, where the Big Red's 4V8+ recorded a time of 5:52.5, ahead of Penn's crew at 5:54.7.

"The 4V led the charge, rebounding from a loss to Penn last week at the National Collegiate Lightweight Invitational (NCLI)," Nase said. "They got off the line clean, grabbed an early lead, and rowed with purpose all the way down the course. Proud of how that group rallied and executed.

"The 3V had a rematch against Penn and came out swinging," Nase said. "We were more aggressive off the line and applied real pressure in the first 500 meters. Penn stayed high a touch longer and retook the lead, but we weren't sharp enough in the body of the race to keep pressing the pace. That gave Penn time to reset and respond to any moves we made. It was a missed opportunity, but one that's already informed how we're approaching training this week.

"The 2V had a tough race against what I believe is probably the fastest JV crew in the league right now. We got off the line well and held our own early, but Harvard put on a big move in the second 500 meters to get open water on us and Penn. Unfortunately, Harvard's steering caused issues — they moved directly into our lane and required multiple warnings and corrections from the referee. That disruption certainly didn't help our efforts to race Penn cleanly.

"The V8 closed out the morning. We knew going in Harvard and Penn were going to be strong. I think there were some nerves in our boat, and while we had a solid start, our transition to base pace lacked the rhythm and sharpness we've practiced. From 250-750 meters, we lost contact. I was proud to see the grit in this crew — they made a strong move at the 1000-meter mark, started clicking together, and began charging back through the field. We pulled even with Penn and closed the gap on Harvard to just a few seats going into the final 400 meters. We were chasing the storybook ending but came up just short."

SATURDAY'S SCHEDULE
Subject to change
8:30 a.m. — 4V8+
8:50 a.m. — 1V8+
9:10 a.m. — 2V8+
9:30 a.m. — 3V8+

BOATINGS
1V8+: Aden Walsey (coxswain), Jack Savell (stroke), Emmett Patterson, Andrew Hohlt, Nathan Bechard, Grant Smith, Peter Albrecht, Sam Alston, Eliott Swinney (bow).

2V8+: Amanda Johnson (coxswain), Eric Genden (stroke), Colin Bailey, Rahil Dundon, Gabe Xu, Steven Busby, Owen Brown, Tomas Eliot Foxley, Teddy Holtman (bow).

3V8+: Mia Goldstein (coxswain), Jack Oliveira (stroke), Keaton Lynch, Sebastian El Hadj, Maximilian Purcea, David Soucie-Garza, Luke Zaslow, Jon Mayer, Patrick Reilly (bow).

4V8+: Sofia Lago (coxswain), Matteo Calalang (stroke), Calder Fritz, Ryan Aghazadeh, Tyler Forg, John Zegger, Dylan Price, William Fang, Tanas Kazlas (bow).