ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Ivy League regular season and tournament champion Cornell men's lacrosse team earned its first number one overall seed in the NCAA men's lacrosse tournament in nearly 50 years and will host a first round game on Sunday, May 11 at 7:30 p.m. on Schoellkopf Field. The Big Red will face the winner of Wednesday's play-in game between UAlbany and Siena.
Head coach
Connor Buczek's Big Red team enters the tournament with a 14-1 record and riding a 10-game win streak, the longest in the nation. Featuring the most explosive offense in the country, Cornell is averaging 16.5 goals per game this season and has hit the 20-goal mark in three of its last four outings. The Big Red earned the Ivy League's automatic qualifier after taking home its third conference tournament title in program history, knocking off No. 2 Princeton 20-15 in the championship game on Sunday. Featuring Tewaaraton Trophy candidate
CJ Kirst, the all-time leading goal scorer in Division I men's lacrosse history (233), the Big Red is one of three Ivy League schools to reach the tournament (No. 3 seed Princeton and Harvard).
The Big Red was last the top overall seed in 1978 and reached the championship game before falling to Johns Hopkins, 13-8. It was also the number one seed in 1971, 1975 and 1977 - twice winning the title in both '71 and '77. The 1977 NCAA championship team was the last Cornell team to win an NCAA team title in any sport.
America East champion UAlbany (9-8) and MAAC champ Siena (11-4) will face off on Wednesday with the Great Danes hosting. Cornell defeated UAlbany 18-11 on April 1 this season on Schoellkopf behind six goals from Kirst and a 19-of-26 day on faceoffs by junior
Jack Cascadden. Cornell leads the all-time series with UAlbany 7-4 and captured a victory in its only previous meeting against the Saints.