ITHACA, N.Y. -- Top-seeded Cornell begins its 2025 NCAA journey when it hosts UAlbany on Sunday, May 11 at 7:30 p.m. on Schoellkopf Field. The contest will be broadcast on ESPNU with Jay Alter and Jules Heningburg on the call.

• Cornell, the Ivy League regular season and tournament champion, enters the national tournament with a 14-1 overall record in its seventh consecutive week atop the national polls and is riding a 10-game win streak (tied with Towson for longest in Division I).
• 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 10 times, the semifinals five times and the national championship game twice in that span.
• The Big Red ranks No. 1 nationally in goals (16.5), assists (11.0), and points (27.5) 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 Tournament with 233 scores.
• The nation's active leading scorer at 328 points, the six-time Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week in 2025 paces all of college lacrosse with his 98 points (68 goals, 30 assists) this season.
• His four scores in the Ivy Championship win over No. 2 Princeton helped him surpass John Piatelli '22 for the school's single-season record. Piatelli scored 66 in 2022 in helping lead Cornell to an NCAA runner-up finish. Kirst is now up to 68.
• Kirst's running mate Michael Long 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 (111) and 100 career assists (114). Arguably the most underrated player in the country enters the week with 225 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 74 points.
• Junior Jack Cascadden has been outstanding at the faceoff X all season, winning 64 percent of his restarts in the past 10 contests (166-of-262) and scoring nine goals as well.
• An underrated Cornell defense has surrendered just 10.8 goals over its past eight games (scoring 16.8 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 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 48-15 career record with four consecutive Ivy titles in his four seasons directing his alma mater.
• The Great Danes, an 11-9 winner over Capital District rival Siena in the opening round game on Wednesday evening, will get its second crack of the season at the Big Red after Cornell earned an 18-11 victory on April 1 in Ithaca.
• UAlbany has not lost since, winning seven consecutive games , including the America East Tournament title to earn an automatic bid into the NCAA's.

GAME INFORMATION
RV/#19 UAlbany at #1/1 Cornell
DATE & TIME: Sunday, May 11 at 7:30 p.m.
SITE: Schoellkopf Field - Ithaca, N.Y.
RECORDS: UAlbany 10-8 (4-2 America East); Cornell 14-1 (6-0 Ivy)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads 7-4
BROADCAST: ESPNU / ESPN+
STATS: CornellBigRed.com
DIGITAL PROGRAM: CornellBigRed.com
GAME NOTES: CornellBigRed.com

A WIN OVER PRINCETON WOULD ...
• advance the Big Red to the NCAA quarterfinals against the winner of No. 8 North Carolina and Richmond next Sunday in Hempstead, N.Y.
• make Cornell 15-1 on the season with its 11th straight victory.
• give the seniors a win in their final home contest on Schoellkopf Field (26-6 overall at home).
• improve Cornell's record in NCAA Tournament play to 37-27 (sixth-most wins in NCAA Tournament history).
• mark the program's fourth season with at least 15 wins in program history and first since 2007.
• extend Cornell's win streak over New York state schools to nine and advance its record to 20-2 dating back to 2018.
• push head coach Connor Buczek's career record to 49-15 (.766), including 26-6 (.813) at home.
• be the 823rd in program history (822-502-27, .618).

LAST TIME VS. UALBANY
• Cornell seniors CJ Kirst and Michael Long both reached career milestones and the top-ranked Big Red rolled to an 18-11 victory over UAlbany at Schoellkopf Field. 
• Kirst scored six goals, jumping into the top five in Division I history in career goals with 210, while Long's five assists and six points pushed him over 100 assists and 200 points in his Big Red career. 
• Long became just the fourth player in school history with both 100 career goals and 100 career assists, joining Mike French '76, Rob Pannell '13 and Jeff Teat '20, becoming just the sixth player overall to surpass 200 points. 
• Junior Jack Cascadden won 19-of-26 faceoffs with 13 ground balls while scoring a goal. 
• Ryan Golstein scored two goals and two assists and both Willem First and Ryan Waldman scored twice with one assist apiece. 
• Both Brendan Staub and Matt Dooley notched three ground balls with a caused turnover. 
• Silas Richmond led UAlbany with four goals and two assists.

LAST TIME OUT
• Top-ranked Cornell used a dominant fourth quarter to pull away from No. 2 Princeton, claiming a 20-15 victory and its third Ivy League Tournament Championship and first since 2018 at Schoellkopf Field.
 • The Big Red completed a season sweep of the Tigers and extended its winning streak to 10 games heading into the NCAA Tournament.
 • Senior CJ Kirst continued to rewrite the record books, leading Cornell with four goals and two assists while surpassing former teammate John Piatelli's 2022 mark of 66 for the program's single-season goals record. 
• He also moved into seventh all-time in single-season points with 98.
• Sophomore Ryan Goldstein added three goals and four assists in the championship game, giving him eight goals and seven assists for the tournament, while senior Michael Long contributed four goals and four assists for the Big Red who set a program record for the most goals in an Ivy Tournament championship game.
• Senior Wyatt Knust made 12 saves to earn his 13th win of the season in the cage.

MILESTONE WATCH
• Senior CJ Kirst's 328 points rank second on the school's career list — Rob Pannell '13 sits first with 354 points.
• Kirst has 95 career assists and is five shy of becoming the seventh player at Cornell to hit 100.
• With 98 points in 2025, Kirst needs two to become just the fourth Big Red player to reach 100 in a season and is seven away from the single-season school record of 105 by Mike French in 1976.
• 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.
• With 22 career wins in goal, Senior Wyatt Knust is one away from reaching ninth at Cornell.
• Sophomore Ryan Goldstein's 57 assists put him No. 15 in school history and needs five to reach the top 12.
• Sophomore Willem Firth has eight man-up goals this season and is one from reaching fourth in a season.
• Junior Jack Cascadden needs to win 17 ground balls to reach the top 10 (Addison Sollog '02 with 223). He enters the NCAA Tournament with 206
• At eighth place with 362, Cascadden is 30 faceoff wins from hitting the top five at Cornell for his career
• Cascadden has won 129 ground balls and is 21 shy of Domenic Massimilian's 2015 record total of 150.
• He has 230 faceoff wins and is 19 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 9-2 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 233 and counting.
• Kirst is the nation's active leader in career goals (233) and points (328), well ahead of Siena's Pratt Reynolds (168) and Princeton's Coulter Mackesy (240), 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 63 games played is still three 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 328 puts him 13th in NCAA history and is 12 from reaching 12th (Maryland's Logan Wisnauskas, 2018-22).Entering the week, Kirst's 4.53 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 68 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 98 points leaves him two from becoming the 26th player in NCAA men's Division I history to hit 100 in a season. 
• Kirst's 63 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 15 contests this season with four 20-goal games, including in three of its last four 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, 4.67) and senior Michael Long (10th, 4.02) 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 18-3 record in those 21 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 is in the NCAA transfer portal in an attempt to play football after graduating from Cornell. The Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year has started 43 of the past 44 games for the Big Red on defense. He excelled on the football field at linebacker and running back at Syosset HS, earning first-team All-Long Island and Nassau County all-county honors as a senior.
• Seniors CJ Kirst and Hugh Kelleher have both started all 63 career games they have played for the Big Red. Only Rob Pannell '13 (72 games) have 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 25-6 (.806) 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
• A second round win would advance the Big Red to the NCAA quarterfinals on Saturday, May 17 at either 12 or 2:30 p.m. at Hofstra's James H. Shuart Stadium in Hempstead, N.Y.
• Cornell would play the winner of No. 8 North Carolina and Richmond in the quarterfinals on ESPNU.