ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell men's lacrosse team will play for a chance to compete in the Ivy League Tournament championship game when it hosts Yale on Friday, May 2 at 4 p.m. on Schoellkopf Field in the first of two semifinals. The contest will be broadcast on ESPNU with Chris Cotter, Paul Carcaterra and Quint Kessenich on the call.

• Cornell, ranked No. 1 in the national polls for the sixth consecutive week, brings an eight-game win streak into the Ivy League Tournament.
• The Big Red clinched its 21st outright Ivy title thanks to its 18th unbeaten season in conference play in program history.
• The Big Red ranks No. 1 nationally in goals (15.8), assists (10.5), and points (26.3) per game, as well as in shooting percentage (.362), while scoring at least 10 goals in every contest this season.
• Senior All-American and Tewaaraton Trophy candidate CJ Kirst became Division I men's lacrosse's all-time leading goal scorer with two in the win over Dartmouth, surpassing Virginia's Payton Cormier (2020-24). He enters the postseason with 226 scores.
• The nation's active leading scorer at 313 points, the six-time Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week in 2025 paces all of college lacrosse with his 83 points (61 goals, 22 assists) this season.
Kirst's running mate Michael Long is just the sixth player at Cornell to surpass 200 points, as well as the fourth Big Red player to surpass both 100 career goals (105) and 100 career assists (106). • Arguably the most underrated player in the country enters the week with 211 points, sixth all-time at Cornell.
• The midfield has been led by senior Hugh Kelleher and sophomore Willem Firth, two offensive-minded players who have combined for 61 points.
• Junior Jack Cascadden has been outstanding at the faceoff X all season, winning 64 percent of his restarts in the past eight contests (127-of-198) and scoring nine goals as well.
• An underrated Cornell defense has surrendered just 9.5 goals over its past six games and is allowing opponents to shoot just 26 percent overall this season.
• Sparked by All-America candidate Jayson Singer and all-league candidates Brendan Staub, Walker Wallace and Chris Davis, the Big Red defensive unit has been exceptional in front of goalkeeper Wyatt Knust. 
• 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 — but did not get an invite to the NCAA Tournament as an at-large selection. 
• The National Coach of the Year candidate has a 46-15 career record with four consecutive Ivy titles in his four seasons directing his alma mater.

GAME INFORMATION
Yale at #1/1 Cornell
DATE & TIME: Friday, May 26 at 4:00 p.m.
SITE: Schoellkopf Field - Ithaca, N.Y.
RECORDS: Yale 5-7 (3-3 Ivy); Cornell 12-1 (6-0 Ivy)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads 56-30-1
BROADCAST: ESPNU / ESPN+
STATS: CornellBigRed.com
DIGITAL PROGRAM: CornellBigRed.com
GAME NOTES: CornellBigRed.com

A WIN OVER YALE WOULD ...
• make Cornell 13-1 on the season with its ninth straight victory.
• advance the Big Red into the Ivy Tournament championship game for the fourth time in program history and first time since 2018.
• complete a two-game sweep of Yale, marking the first time the Big Red defeated the same team twice in a season since topping Ohio State twice in 2022 (14-11 at home, 15-8 on the road in NCAA first round)
• mark the program's seventh season with at least 13 wins since 2007 and the 13th time in school history to reach a baker's dozen.
• push head coach Connor Buczek's career record to 47-15 (.758), including 24-6 (.800) at home.
• be the 821st in program history (820-502-27, .618).

LAST TIME VS. YALE
• Both senior CJ Kirst and sophomore Ryan Goldstein recorded double-digit point efforts and the fourth-ranked Cornell men's lacrosse team improved to 2-0 in Ivy League play with a 19-14 victory over Yale at Reese Stadium. 
• Kirst scored nine times and Goldstein was credited with eight assists, both totals serving as career highs and just one off the single-game school records. 
• Kirst tallied six times in the first quarter alone and caused a pair of turnovers while winning three ground balls. 
• Michael Long added two goals and two assists, Willem First and Danny Caddigan both scored twice and Hugh Kelleher reached the 100-point mark for his career with an assist. 
• Cornell had strong efforts in every phase of the game, as Jack Cascadden was 17-of-31 at the faceoff X, and both Jayson Singer and Brendan Staub caused a pair of turnovers in front of Wyatt Knust, who made 13 saves. 
• Chris Lyons led the Yale offense with five goals, while Brad Sharp had a goal and four assists. 

LAST TIME OUT
• Senior CJ Kirst set the NCAA Division I men's lacrosse goal scoring record and made the game's pivotal play in the second half to lift No. 1 Cornell to a narrow 10-8 win over Dartmouth on Senior Day at Schoellkopf Field. 
• Kirst's first goal of the game came 58 seconds in, fittingly on a pass from high school teammate Michael Long, to set the record of 225 - one more than Virginia's Payton Cormier from 2020-24. 
• It wasn't the record-breaking goal that was the highlight play of the day, but rather his 57th career caused turnover on the ride. 
• With the game tied 6-6 in the closing seconds of the third quarter, Kirst turned the ball after stepping in the crease. 
• Dartmouth immediately attempted to clear, but Kirst got back into the play and intercepted a pass near midfield and quickly whipped it over to Willem Firth, whose deep shot with the goalkeeper out of his spot gave the Big Red the go-ahead goal with 15 seconds left. 
• Jack Cascadden won the ensuing faceoff and scored five seconds later, putting the home team up a pair of goals entering the fourth.

MILESTONE WATCH
• Senior CJ Kirst's 313 points rank second on the school's career list — Rob Pannell '13 sits first with 354 points.
• The senior has 61 goals this season and is just five shy of John Piatelli's 2022 record of 66.
• With 83 points in 2025, Kirst needs one point to reach the top 10 in school history in a season.
• Kirst also has 57 career caused turnovers, one from reaching sixth on Cornell's all-time list.
• At 14th place in career goals with 105, Long is one from matching his Big Red head coach Connor Buczek '15 with 106 for 13th.
• With 20 career wins in goal, Knust is two away from reaching the top 10 at Cornell.
• Sophomore Ryan Goldstein's 50 assists move him into the top 20 in school history.
• Sophomore Willem Firth has eight man-up goals this season and is one from reaching fourth in a season.

KIRST WATCH
• Senior CJ Kirst is Cornell (191, Mike French, 1974-76), the Ivy League (198, Matt Brandau of Yale, 2019-24) and NCAA Division I (224, Payton Cormier of Virginia, 2020-24) all-time leading goal scorer with 226 and counting.
• Kirst is the nation's active leader in career goals (226) and points (313), well ahead of Siena's Pratt Reynolds (161) and Harvard's Sam King (238), respectively.
• The 10th player in Division I history to reach the 200-goal mark, he became the fastest player to reach that mark at 55 games, and his 61 games played is still five fewer than any of the other players on the list.
• Kirst's 3.70 goals per game is the fourth-best average in Division history — and second at Cornell behind Mike French's 4.06, which is No. 2 in NCAA history. NC State's Stan Cockerton scored 4.39 goals per game from 1977-80.
• His points total of 313 puts him 18th in NCAA history and are three from moving up to 16th and five from hitting the top 15 (and hitting third all-time in Ivy history).
• Kirst's 4.69 goals per game is second among all NCAA lacrosse players (Division I, II and III), with Joseph James of Division III Franciscan (4.73) narrowly ahead..

NOTES TO KNOW
• Cornell has scored double figure goals in all 13 contests this season.
• Senior CJ Kirst (first, 5.13), sophomore Ryan Goldstein (fourth, 4.41) and senior Michael Long (14th, 3.91) rank among the nation's top 15 active leaders in career points per game.
• Willem Firth ranks second in the nation with eight extra-man scores.
• Since regaining his starting spot last April, senior Wyatt Knust has 241 saves (12.5 saves per game) with a 9.92 goals against average and a .564 save percentage in his past 19 contests (16-3 record).
• Junior Jack Cascadden has scored 14 career goals (with four assists) directly off face-offs in his career, including nine goals this season.
• Senior defender Jayson Singer has started 41 of the past 42 games for the Big Red.
• Cornell is 23-6 (.793) 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 306-168-7 (.643).
• The Big Red has three New York teams on its schedule during the 2025 season – Hobart (22-9), UAlbany (18-11) and Syracuse.
• Cornell is 18-2 over its past 20 contests against New York state teams dating back to 2018, including 4-1 vs. Syracuse, and owns a seven-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
• With a win over the Bulldogs, Cornell would advance to the Ivy League Tournament for the fifth time in program history on Sunday, May 4 at 1 p.m. at Schoellkopf Field.
• The contest will be televised on ESPNU.
• Cornell would play the winner of the second semifinal between Princeton-Harvard.