ITHACA, N.Y. -- Two of the nation's hottest teams will vie for a spot in the NCAA Final Four when Cornell and Richmond meet in a rematch of an early-season contest when the teams meet on Saturday, May 17 at 12 p.m. at James M. Shuart Stadium in Hempstead, N.Y. in the NCAA Quarterfinals. The contest will be broadcast on ESPNU with Chris Cotter, Paul Carcaterra and Morgan Uber on the call.

• Cornell, the Ivy League regular season and tournament champion, enters the national tournament with a 15-1 overall record in its eighth consecutive week atop the national polls and is riding a 11-game win streak.
• The Big Red clinched its 21st outright Ivy title thanks to its 18th unbeaten season in conference play in program history.
• The Big Red earned its 31st NCAA Tournament bid in school history after claiming its third Ivy Tournament title (2011, 2018), scoring at least 20 goals in wins over Yale (21-14) and No. 2 Princeton (20-15) to garner the auto bid.
• The 2025 season marks Cornell's 17th trip to the NCAA tournament since 2000, making it to the quarterfinal round 11 times, the semifinals five times and the national championship game twice in that span.
• The Big Red ranks No. 1 nationally in goals (16.4), assists (10.9), and points (27.3) per game, as well as in shooting percentage (.375), 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 (224 from 2020-24). He enters the NCAA Quarterfinals with 239 scores.
• The nation's active leading scorer at 334 points, the six-time Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week in 2025 paces all of college lacrosse with his 104 points (74 goals, 30 assists) this season.
• Kirst, who has already surpassed former teammate John Piatelli '22 for the school's single-season goal scoring record (66), is now chasing the Division I single-season record. Kirst's total is now up to 74, eight behind Jon Reese of Yale in 1990 and Miles Thompson of UAlbany in 2014.
• Kirst's running mate Michael Long, Kirst's high school teammate at the Delbarton School, is just the sixth player at Cornell to surpass 200 career points, as well as the fourth Big Red player to surpass both 100 career goals (113) and 100 career assists (118). Arguably the most underrated player in the country enters the week with 231 points, sixth all-time at Cornell and ninth among all active Division I players
• Sophomore Ryan Goldstein is the third member of one of the nation's most connected attacks. He is second on the team and the Ivy League and fourth nationally in points per game (5.13) with 34 goals and 48 assists.
• The trio of Kirst-Long-Goldstein has combined for 137 goals and 112 assists (249 points), more than 32 Division I teams had for the entire season. They are the third-highest scoring attack trio in a season in school history, behind only the Mike French-Eamon McEneaney-Jon Levine unit in both 1975 (144-118-262) and 1976 (133-117-250)
• The midfield has been led by senior Hugh Kelleher and sophomore Willem Firth, two offensive-minded players who have combined for 80 points.
• Junior Jack Cascadden has been outstanding at the faceoff X all season, winning 63 percent of his restarts in the past 11 contests (179-of-282) and scoring nine goals as well.
• An underrated Cornell defense has surrendered just 10.2 goals over its past nine games (scoring 16.6 gpg over that span) and is allowing opponents to shoot just 27 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 returned 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 49-15 career record with four consecutive Ivy titles in his four seasons directing his alma mater.
• The Spiders, the Atlantic 10 champions, bring a 14-3 overall mark and a nine-game win streak into the contest following a 13-10 triumph over No. 8 North Carolina in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. 
• Cornell and Richmond meet in a rematch of an exciting 12-11 Big Red victory on March 2 in Richmond. The Big Red overcame a 6-1 deficit and scored the game's final four goals to pick up the win.
• Spiders' Associate Head Coach and Defensive Coordinator Paul Richards was a member of the Big Red coaching staff for two seasons (2013 and 2014) with current Big Red coaches Connor Buczek '15 and Jordan Stevens '15 as players.

GAME INFORMATION
#9/9 Richmond vs. #1/1 Cornell
DATE & TIME: Saturday, May 17 at 12:00 p.m.
SITE: James M. Shuart Stadium - Hempstead, N.Y.
RECORDS: Richmond 14-3 (5-0 Atlantic 10); Cornell 15-1 (6-0 Ivy)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads 1-0
BROADCAST: ESPNU / ESPN+
STATS: CornellBigRed.com
DIGITAL PROGRAM: CornellBigRed.com
GAME NOTES: CornellBigRed.com

A WIN OVER RICHMOND WOULD ...
• advance the Big Red to the NCAA semifinals for the 15th time in program history and the second time in four seasons under head coach Connor Buczek.
• make Cornell 16-1 on the season with its 12th straight victory.
• improve Cornell's record in NCAA Tournament play to 38-27 (sixth-most wins in NCAA Tournament history).
• match the school record with its 16th win of the year, equaling the 1976 national championship team (16-0) under the legendary Richie Moran.
• push head coach Connor Buczek's career record to 50-15 (.769).
• be the 824th in program history (823-502-27, .619).

LAST TIME VS. RICHMOND
• Third-ranked Cornell weathered an early Spider infestation, fell behind by three in the fourth and scored the game's final four goals to edge No. 12 Richmond 12-11 at Robins Stadium. 
• Trailing 11-8 with nine minutes to play, senior Michale Long bookended a Big Red rally with classmates CJ Kirst and Hugh Kelleher also cashing in. 
• Long caught the ball behind the cage and beat his defender straight out front where he buried his second of the day with 2:21 left to give the visitors their first lead of the afternoon.
• CJ Kirst had three goals and an assist and Ryan Goldstein notched two goals and two assists to lead the offense, with Long and Kelleher scoring two apiece. 
• Jack Cascadden won 16-of-23 face-offs with 10 ground balls to control possessions and Wyatt Knust made 14 saves in goal. 
• Cornell overcame 19 turnovers by winning the battle on the ground (33-30) and dominating at the face-off circle (19-8). 
• Richmond led 6-1 early and seemed to be off and running, with Aidan O'Neil leading the way with two goals and two assists.

LAST TIME OUT
• Senior Jayson Singer and the Cornell defense suffocated UAlbany all evening and senior CJ Kirst did the rest, matching the Great Danes' scoring total by himself as the Cornell men's lacrosse team opened its NCAA Tournament journey with a 15-6 win at Schoellkopf Field. 
• Singer caused three turnovers in front of Wyatt Knust, who made 12 saves, as the Big Red allowed just six goals, one off a season low. 
• Kirst scored six goals and classmate Michael Long matched his six points with two goals and four assists. 
• Hugh Kelleher notched a hat trick and assisted on a goal and Ryan Goldstein assisted on three scores.
• With his big effort, Kirst became the 26th player in Division I men's lacrosse history to reach 100 points in a season (104), while his 74 goals sits fourth. 
• Jack Cascadden won 13-of-20 faceoffs and Brendan Staub (five) and Christopher Davis (four) combined for nine ground balls for the Big Red. 
• Cornell held a dominant 38-19 edge in that category.

MILESTONE WATCH
• Senior CJ Kirst's 334 points rank second on the school's career list — Rob Pannell '13 sits first with 354 points. He is 10 away from reaching the top 10 in NCAA history (Asher Nolting of High Point with 343 from 2018-22).
• With 104 points in 2025, Kirst needs one to match the single-season school record of 105 by Mike French in 1976 and two to surpass it.
• He needs eight goals to match the single-season goal scoring record in Division I of 82 (Jon Reese of Yale in 1990 and Miles Thompson of UAlbany in 2014). He ranks fourth with 74 scores.
• Kirst has 95 career assists and is five shy of becoming the seventh player at Cornell to hit 100.
• Kirst also has 60 career caused turnovers, three from matching Big Red defensive coordinator Jordan Stevens '15 and Gavin Adler '23, the USILA William C. Schmeisser Defensive Player of the Year in 2023 and first pick in the PLL Draft for No. fourth on the school's career list.
• Sophomore Ryan Goldstein's 60 assists put him No. 14 in school history and needs two to reach the top 12.
• Sophomore Willem Firth has eight man-up goals and is one from reaching fourth in a season.
• Junior Jack Cascadden needs to win 10 ground balls to reach the top 10 (Addison Sollog '02 with 223). He enters the weekend with 213
• At eighth place with 375, Cascadden is 17 faceoff wins from hitting the top five at Cornell for his career
• Cascadden has won 136 ground balls and is 14 shy of Domenic Massimilian's 2015 record total of 150.
• He has 243 faceoff wins and is six away from the single-season record of 259 set by Massimillian that same year.

NO. 1 SEED HISTORY
• This is the fifth time in NCAA Tournament history (beginning in 1971) that Cornell has been the No. 1 overall seed (1971, 1975, 1977, 1978, 2025).
• The Big Red was the No. 1 overall seed in the 1971 NCAA Tournament, the first-ever national championship — winning that title with a 12-6 victory over No. 3 Maryland in the final.
• Two of its three NCAA titles have come as the No. 1 seed (1971, 1977), with the third in 1976 coming after being the No. 2 seed,
• Cornell sports a 10-2 record as the No. 1 overall seed.

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 239 and counting.
• Kirst is the nation's active leader in career goals (239) and points (334), well ahead of Siena's Pratt Reynolds (170) and Princeton's Coulter Mackesy (245), 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 64 games played is still two fewer than any of the other players on the list.
• Kirst's 3.73 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 334 puts him 13th in NCAA history and is six from reaching 12th (Maryland's Logan Wisnauskas, 2018-22). Entering the week, Kirst's 4.63 goals per game ranked second among all NCAA lacrosse players (Division I, II and III), with Joseph James of Division III Franciscan (4.73) narrowly ahead. 
• With 74 goals in 2025, Kirst stands atop the Cornell single-season list (surpassing former teammate John Piatelli '22 with 66 in 2022). That total is second in Ivy history, behind the NCAA record 82 by Jon Reese in 1990. 
• His 104 points make him the 26th player in NCAA men's Division I history to hit 100 in a season (fourth Cornell and eighth Ivy player). 
• Kirst's 64 consecutive games with at least one point ranks as the second-longest streak in Ivy League history, behind only Big Red Hall of Famer Rob Pannell '13 with 72.
• He is the 40th player in Ivy League history to be named to the first-team at least three times (12th from Cornell and first since current Big Red head coach Connor Buczek '15).
• His nine scores in the regular season victory over Yale are tied for the most in a single-game this season in Division I and was one off a Cornell record.
• Kirst's 12 points (six goals, six assists) vs. Hobart are also tied for the most in a single-game this season in Division I (Lafayette's Riley Sullivan vs. Colgate).

NOTES TO KNOW
• Cornell has scored double figure goals in all 16 contests this season with four 20-goal games, including in three of its last five outings.
• The Big Red (6-0 in Ivy League) was one of just three unbeaten teams in conference play in Division I, joining Richmond (5-0 in Atlantic 10) and Towson (7-0 in Coastal Athletic Association).
• Cornell (6-0) was one of three Division I teams to go unbeaten on the road in 2025, joining Army West Point (6-0) and Ohio State (5-0).
• Entering the week, senior CJ Kirst (first, 5.21), sophomore Ryan Goldstein (third, 4.60) and senior Michael Long (10th, 4.05) all rank among the nation's top 10 active leaders in career points per game.
• Willem Firth ranks second in the nation with nine extra-man scores.
• Since regaining his starting spot last April, senior Wyatt Knust is averaging 12.9 saves per game and sports an 19-3 record in those 22 contests.
• 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 and senior midfielder Hugh Kelleher both entered the NCAA transfer portal in an attempt to play football after graduating from Cornell. Singer, the Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year, has started 44 of the past 45 games for the Big Red on defense. Kelleher, the Ivy League Midfielder of the Year, has started all 64 contests of his career.
• Seniors CJ Kirst and Hugh Kelleher have both started all 64 career games they have played for the Big Red. Only Rob Pannell '13 (72 games) has opened more contests consecutively for Cornell in school history.
• Sophomore Ryan Goldstein's eight assists against Yale were one off a school record and are tied for the most by a Division I men's lacrosse player in a game this season (Ryan Bell of Providence vs. Holy Cross).
• The Big Red set an Ivy League record for fastest consecutive goals at five seconds in a 10-8 win over Dartmouth. Willem Firth scored on a feed from CJ Kirst with 15 seconds remaining in the third quarter to snap a 6-6 tie, then Jack Cascadden won the ensuing faceoff and immediately scored with 10 seconds left in the quarter.
• Cornell is 26-6 (.813) 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.

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.

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
• A victory over Richmond would send Cornell into the national semifinals for the 15th time in program history and the first time since 2022.
• The Big Red would play on Saturday, April 24 at either 12 or 2:30 p.m.
• A loss would conclude the Big Red's season.