* Watch Coach DeLuca on the Sidelines
Ben DeLuca, a fixture on the Cornell men’s lacrosse sideline for more than a decade, became The Richard M. Moran Head Coach of Men's Lacrosse on June 18, 2010. The 10th head coach in program history, DeLuca aspires to keep his alma mater in the national spotlight as it continues to reach great heights each and every season.
In his three years as head coach, DeLuca has led the team to an overall record of 37-11 (.771) and a mark of 16-2 in the Ivy League to go along with a pair of conference titles. His teams have participated in the NCAA tournament in two of his three seasons, advancing to the quarterfinals in 2011 and the national semifinals in 2013. Offensively, Cornell has scored at least nine goals in 45 of the 48 games (94 percent) played in his three seasons with 38 games in double figures. The Big Red has surrendered nine or fewer goals 29 times during that same span.
Additionally, DeLuca was selected to serve the 2014 United States Men's National Lacrosse team as a member of Player Selection Committee.
Over the years at Cornell, DeLuca’s players have earned nine first-team All-Ivy honors, 19 total, including two Ivy League Player of the Year awards and one Rookie of the Year selection. He has also helped his players to earn a combined 12 All-America honors, including attackman Rob Pannell ’13, who was a four-time All-America selection. Under DeLuca’s tutelage, Pannell became the first-ever Big Red player, and just the fifth in the history of the award, to be named the USILA's Lt. Raymond J. Enners Award as the Outstanding Men's Lacrosse Player in Division I. Pannell also won the 2013 Tewaaraton Trophy, becoming the second Cornell player to earn that distinction.
A coach that believes that his players should also be productive members of both the Cornell community and the Ithaca community, both Pannell and defender Jason Noble ’13 were named finalists for the Senior Class award, an honor that is given on the merits of classroom, competition, community and character. Noble was also a finalist for the YRL Unsung Hero Award.
DeLuca also stresses excellence in the classroom, resulting in five of his players being named USILA Scholar All-Americans, and four earning Academic All-Ivy honors.
The 2013 season proved to be the best yet for DeLuca as the Big Red rose as high as No. 2 in the national rankings, went undefeated in Ivy League play, and advanced to the NCAA semifinals before falling to eventual national champion Duke in an epic game. The team posted a 14-4 record overall, losing three games by a single goal, while its final loss of the season against the Blue Devils was by a two-goal margin.
DeLuca helped Pannell to become the NCAA Division I all-time career points leader (354) as six Big Red players were named All-American. Joining Pannell on the first-team was Noble, while midfielder Connor Buczek ’15 earned a second-team nod. Van Bourgondien (third-team), attackman Steve Mock ’13 (third-team) and long-stick midfielder Thomas Keith ’13 (honorable mention) were also honored.
Pannell, Mock, Buczek and Noble were all also unanimously chosen first-team All-Ivy, with Pannell becoming the first player in conference history to be named Player of the Year three times. Van Bourgondien, Keith and goalie AJ Fiore ’13 all earned second-team selections.
Pannell then punctuated his epic career by winning the Tewaaraton Trophy, as Cornell became one of just four schools to boast multiple Tewaaraton Trophy winners (Duke, Syracuse, UVA).
The Big Red finished the year ranked first in the country in scoring margin (5.5) and second overall in scoring offense (14.56 gpg). Cornell also ranked among the nation’s best in points per game (second – 22.28), caused turnovers per game (fourth – 9.94), assists per game (fourth – 7.72), ground balls per game (fifth – 37.11), man-down defense (7th – .750), scoring defense (15th – 9.06 gpg.), and face-off winning percentage (16th – .551),
After losing the reigning USILA Player of the Year Rob Pannell in the second game of the 2012 season, DeLuca kept the Big Red highly competitive throughout the year, ranking as high as third in the country before seeing its season come to an end in the opening round of the Ivy League Tournament. Cornell finished the year with a 9-4 record overall and a mark of 4-2 in the conference, good for a second-place finish in the league standings.
Under DeLuca's direction, freshman Matt Donovan was named the unanimous Ivy League Rookie of the Year. Roy Lang '12 and Noble were named first-team All-Ivy, while Donovan was joined on the second-team by Chris Langton '12. Keith and Mock were named honorable mention selections. Lang (third-team) and Noble (second-team) also added All-America honors to their list of post-season awards, while Langton was selected to participate in the USILA North/South Senior All-Star Game.
The Big Red finished the year ranked ninth in the country in scoring offense (12.0 gpg) and 15th overall in scoring defense (9.0 gpg). Cornell also ranked among the nation’s best in scoring margin (seventh – 3.0), ground balls per game (seventh – 33.46), man-down defense (11th – .744), man-up offense (13th – .422), face-off winning percentage (14th – .546), and points per game (16th – 17.62).
In his first season at the helm of the program, DeLuca led the Big Red to a 14-3 record and a trip to the NCAA quarterfinals. Cornell ranked as high as No. 2 in the nation as it won its ninth consecutive Ivy League title with a perfect 6-0 conference mark before going on to win its first-ever Ivy League tournament title. DeLuca became only the second coach in the history of the Ivy League to post an undefeated Ivy record in his first season, joining Ned Harkness (Cornell; 1966) and is the first coach in Cornell men’s lacrosse history to lead the Big Red to the NCAA tournament in his first season.
Cornell finished the season ranked first in the nation in scoring margin (4.47), second in scoring offense (12.71 goals per game), second in points per game (19.53), fifth in assists per game (6.82), sixth in ground balls per game (34.82), eighth in man-up offense (.408), 11th in caused turnovers (9.12), 13th in shot percentage (.306) and 16th in scoring defense (8.24).
Under DeLuca's tutelage, Pannell was selected as a first-team All-American and was named the USILA Player of the Year, the USILA Attackman of the Year, the unanimous Ivy League Player of the Year, a Tewaaraton Trophy finalist and a nominee for an ESPY in the category of Best Collegiate Male Athlete. Pannell was joined on the All-American list by Max Feely ’11, Lang and Noble. The quartet was also named All-Ivy, along with Mike Bronzino ’13 and David Lau ’11.
During DeLuca’s time as both an assistant and associate head coach at Cornell, the East Hill saw a resurgence of one of the greatest programs in the history of collegiate lacrosse as the Big Red has advanced to three final fours in four seasons, including a spot in the national championship game in 2009.
In total, DeLuca has spent 17 years at Cornell, including four years as a player for the Big Red before serving as an assistant coach for two seasons. A brief two-year hiatus took DeLuca away from Ithaca and into the business world, but he returned prior to the 2002 season and he was promoted to the top assistant position under Jeff Tambroni in the summer of 2003. He became the first Mario St. George Boiardi Assistant Coach of Men's Lacrosse the following year and was promoted to associate head coach following the 2007 season.
During his time the team’s defensive coordinator, DeLuca was named the 2007 IMLCA Assistant Coach of the Year and saw 11 of Cornell's defensive players earned first-team All-Ivy, as well as All-America honors, including three-time All-American selection Matt Moyer ‘09. DeLuca was also key in the development of Mitch Belisle '07, who became Cornell's first winner of the USILA's Schmeisser Cup, given to the nation's best defender, since Chris Kane garnered the award in 1978.
During the 2010 campaign, DeLuca earned great praise as the Big Red advanced to the NCAA semifinals with two freshmen defenders playing in front of a freshman goalie. Cornell ended the season ranked 15th in the nation in scoring defense (8.72). That performance came on the heels of a 2009 campaign in which DeLuca did one of his best coaching jobs to date. Faced with nearly an entirely new defensive unit, the Big Red jelled over the second half of the season as Cornell advanced to the national championship game. Despite finishing the year ranked 17th in the nation in scoring defense (8.41) and 28th in man-down defense (.667), the Big Red posted significantly better numbers in its final eight games, holding opponents to just 7.35 goals per game and killing 75 percent of its opponents’ extra-man opportunities.
A four-year letter winner on defense for the Big Red, DeLuca donned the Carnelian Red and White for three years under legendary coach Richie Moran, before becoming a captain his senior year under former head coach Dave Pietramala. He was voted the team's outstanding senior athlete for his leadership and dedication on and off the field. DeLuca earned a Bachelor of Science degree in nutritional sciences and biochemistry in 1998.
A native of Rochester, N.Y., DeLuca resides in Ithaca with his wife, Laurie, a former All-American goalie for the women’s lacrosse team at the University of Delaware, and their daughters, Elizabeth and Anne.
* Updated June 2013
