Game Notes (PDF)

GAME #12: No. 3 Cornell at Brown
FACE OFF: Saturday, April 23, at 3:00 p.m.
SITE: Stevenson Field (Providence, R.I.)
2011 Records: Cornell (9-2, 4-0 Ivy); Brown (5-7, 1-3 Ivy)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 33-17
LAST MEETING: Cornell won 14-8, May 7, 2010 in Ithaca, N.Y.

RADIO: WHCU 870 AM (Barry Leonard, play-by-play; Howie Borkan, color commentary)
LIVE STATS: http://livestats.prestosports.com/brown/
LIVE VIDEO: http://www.brownbears.com/multimedia/schedule
LIVE AUDIO: http://www.cornellbigred.com/showcase/
TELEVISION: None

THE MATCHUP – The No. 3 Big Red will seek the outright Ivy League title this weekend as it travels to Providence, R.I., to take on Brown at Stevenson Field on Saturday, April 23 at 3 p.m. Cornell is currently riding a six-game winning streak, with four of the six wins coming against nationally ranked opponents, including last week's 11-6 victory over No. 1 Syracuse. The Bears (5-7; 1-3 Ivy), who dropped their last conference game to Yale, but rebounded with a 6-4 midweek triumph over Providence, are fighting to stay alive for a spot in the Ivy League tournament.

THE SERIES VS. BROWN – The Cornell and Brown rivalry began when the Bears joined the Ivy League in men's lacrosse in 1964. The Big Red came away with an 8-7 victory in that first meeting, and won 23 of the first 28 games between the two programs. The Bears won eight-straight contests vs. Cornell from 1991 to 1997 to gain some ground in the series, but the Big Red still holds the advantage, 33-17, despite dropping its last two of its last three outings against Brown.

LOOKING AT THE BEARS – Brown (5-7, 1-3 Ivy) is fighting to keep its Ivy League tournament hopes alive after falling in its last conference outing to Yale, 10-6. The Bears rebounded with a 6-4 midweek victory against instate rival Providence to improve to 5-7 on the year. The team's hopes lie squarely on the shoulders of Matt Chriss. The senior netmider has played nearly every minute in goal and currently ranks fourth in the nation in save percentage (.606) and saves per game (12.18) while posting a 7.78 goals-against average. Chriss isn't helped much by an offense that has scored 10+ goals in only four games, and just once in Ivy League play, while averaging 8.17 goals per game. Parker Brown and Andrew Feinberg lead the team with 32 and 31 points, respectively. Parker Brown and David Hawley have scored a team-high 18 goals as just four Bears have more than 10 goals on the season.

A WIN OVER BROWN WOULD –
• improve the Big Red to 10-2 on the season and 5-0 in the Ivy League, securing its 16th outright conference crown and home field advantage for the Ivy League tournament.
• give Cornell 10 wins for the seventh straight season.
• be the second straight over the Bears and improve Cornell to 34-17 in the series.
• be the 687th victory in program history.
• improve Cornell's current winning streak to seven games, dating back to an 11-9 loss to Virginia on March 12.
• make the members of the senior class 3-2 vs. Brown.

LAST TIME VS. THE BEARS –
• No. 7 Cornell used a five-goal spurt early in the third quarter to put away Brown, 14-8, and advance to the finals of the first-ever Ivy League championship tournament.
•The Big Red won 20-of-26 face-offs, thanks to Austin Boykin, who took all but one restart for Cornell, finishing the night with 20-of-25 wins to go along with a game-high 10 ground balls
• The home team also held a decisive edge in shots (51-27) and ground balls (37-18).
• Rob Pannell (two goals, three assists) and Ryan Hurley (four goals, two assists) spearheaded the offensive, while rookie Steve Mock added a career-best four goals.
• With his four goals and two assists, Hurley moved into third place all-time in Cornell history for career goals (129) and sixth overall for career points (164).
• Pannell's three assists moved him into seventh place for single season assists (42) and sixth place for career assists (84).
• Defensively, goalie AJ Fiore overcame a slow start to finish with nine saves.
• Brown was kept in the contest through the strong play of its goalie, Matt Chriss, who finished with 18 saves, 13 of which came in the first half.
• Offensively, the Bears were led by Reade Seligmann with one goal and three assists, while David Hawley added a pair of tallies.

LAST TIME OUT –
• The No. 5 Big dominated No. 1 Syracuse, handing the previously unbeaten Orange an 11-6 loss in the Carrier Dome.
• The win was Cornell's first over a No. 1 team since 2009 and snapped a four-game losing streak to Syracuse.
• The game was Syracuse's first regular season loss in the Carrier Dome since Feb. 27, 2009 (L, 12-13 vs. #2 Virginia).
• It was also the Orange's worst loss in terms of goal differential since May 5, 2007 (L, 5-12 vs. No. 16 Colgate).
• Rob Pannell led the way for the Cornell offense with three goals and three assists. With his three assists, Pannell moved into second place in Cornell history for career assists, surpassing Tim Goldstein (122; 1987-88).
• The defense was truly impressive, causing 14 of Syracuse's 20 turnovers and holding its top two offensive threats, Stephen Keogh and JoJo Marasco to just one combined assist.
• Thomas Keith and Jason Noble had four caused turnovers apiece, while Mike Bronzino forced three turnovers.
• Noble also led the team with seven ground balls and Bronzino scooped up five.
• The defense was ably backed by sophomore goalie AJ Fiore, who made eight saves.
• Joining Pannell's offensive efforts was Steve Mock, Roy Lang and Scott Austin with two goals apiece.
• Syracuse was led by Josh Amidon's three goals and two assists, while Tommy Palasek scored twice and registered one helper.
• In goal, John Galloway stopped 10 shots in the loss.
• The Big Red held the significant edge in shots (36-25), ground balls (34-26), but Syracuse had a slim lead in face-offs, winning 11-of-21 attempts.
• The Orange also converted 1-of-3 extra-man chances, while Cornell was held without a man-up goal for the first time in 11 games (0-for-3).
• The Big Red raced out to a 6-1 lead in the early moments of the second quarter and then kept a four-goal cushion for all but a span of 1:21 of the remaining 44:47 of the contest.

MEET THE NEW BOSS — Ben DeLuca was named the Richard M. Moran Head Coach of Cornell Lacrosse this past summer. After spending 10 years as first an assistant, then an associate head coach of the Big Red program, he has posted a 9-2 record in his first season at the helm of the program. The 10th head coach in program history, DeLuca played for, or coached under Cornell's last three coaches – Richie Moran, Dave Pietramala, and Jeff Tambroni. DeLuca earned four letters on defense for the Big Red, serving as captain his senior year and went on to be named the team's outstanding senior athlete for his leadership and dedication on and off the field.

IT'S A CLINCH — With its 13-12 victory over Harvard, the Big Red has already claimed at least a share of the Ivy League title for the ninth straight season, the longest stretch since winning 10 straight championships between 1974-83. Cornell's nine consecutive regular season Ivy League titles is the longest current stretch by any men's lacrosse team in any conference in the nation.

NON-CONFERENCE WINS — Cornell owns a 36-9 record in its last 45 regular-season non-conference games, dating back to the Big Red's 16-14 victory over Syracuse in the Carrier Dome on April 12, 2005.

EMPIRE STATE OF MIND – Cornell has traditionally been very successful against collegiate teams from New York state, posting an all-time record of 266-156-6 (.629). Head coach Ben DeLuca has posted a record of 5-1 (.833) vs. teams from the Empire State … The Big Red has faced six teams from New York state (5-1), with none others left on the schedule.

CLOSE CALLS — Since the beginning of the 2003 season, Cornell is 27-7 in games that have been decided by a single goal, a mark that was raised as the Big Red defeated Harvard, 13-12, on April 9, 2011, at Harvard Stadium. Of the seven losses, three have come against Syracuse (12-11 on April 11, 2006; 10-9 (OT) in the 2009 national championship game; 8-7 on April 13, 2010).

ELITE COMPANY – Over the span of the past five seasons (2007-11) Cornell has racked up the third most wins (60) of any Division I men's lacrosse program, and has posted the fifth best winning percentage (77.9 percent) overall.

TOP DOG —Rob Pannell ranks first in the nation in points per game (5.55 pgp), second in the country in assists per game (2.82 apg) and third overall in goals per game (2.73 gpg).

200TH POINT – With his assist on Steve Mock's goal at the 9:30 mark of the fourth quarter against Dartmouth on April 2, junior Rob Pannell registered his 200th career point. He is just the third Cornell player to reach that milestone, joining Mike French (296; 1974-76) and Eamon McEneaney (256; 1975-77).

MOCK'S IVY SURGE – Sophomore attackman Steve Mock had some struggles early in the season, but has returned to form in recent weeks, with exceptionally strong performances against Ivy League opponents. In five non-conference games, Mock averaged just 1.6 goals per game, a mark that has risen to 3.75 against Ivy League foes.

LANG & MOCK GAME-WINNERS – Roy Lang and Steve Mock have scored all but two game-winning goals for the Big Red this season. Lang has tallied four game-winning goals, with his biggest coming against No. 13 Penn when he converted 2:10 into the overtime period to hand the Big Red a 13-12 triumph. Mock has three game-winners for Cornell.

ROUGH ROAD – The Big Red played against six nationally ranked opponents in just over a month from March 5 to April. Five of those six contests occurred away from Ithaca, as Cornell played at Army, vs. Virginia at M&T Bank Stadium, at Yale and at Stony Brook, and at Syracuse with the lone home game coming against Penn on March 26. The Big Red posted a record of 4-2 in those games … According to the April 18 USILA coaches' poll, Cornell has no other nationally-ranked opponents left on its schedule.

THRICE AS NICE – Twice this season, the Big Red has won three straight Ivy League Player of the Week accolades. The first time happened from March 7 through March 21, with the second streak happening between April 4 and April 18. During the first set, junior attackman Rob Pannell earned the award on March 7 & March 14 before sophomore attackman Steve Mock was honored on March 21 … Pannell was instrumental in the second streak as well, with honors on April 4 and April 18 sandwiched around an award for senior attackman David Lau.

AND THE WINNER (AGAIN) … – Rob Pannell earned his fourth Ivy League Player of the Week award of the season on April 18 after registering six points to help the Big Red upset then-No. 1 Syracuse, 11-6, at the Carrier Dome. Five of Pannell's six points came in the first half as Cornell built a commanding 7-2 lead that it would not relinquish.

LAU WINS NATIONAL ACCOLADE – Senior attackman David Lau earned Nike Player of the Week Honors on April 12 after he led the Big Red to a 13-12 victory at Harvard. Lau scored the final two goals of the game, first tying the game at 12-12 and then putting the Big Red up 13-12 with just 1:18 to play. He registered five goals and three assists and he was extremely efficient throughout, taking only seven shots and putting six on goal. He also picked up a game-high four ground balls and caused one turnover.

LAU'S PERFORMANCE IN PERSPECTIVE – David Lau finished the Harvard game with a career-high eight points with five goals and three assists. He became the first Big Red player other than Rob Pannell to register eight points and three assists since Ryan Hurley tallied nine points against Dartmouth on April 12, 2008 and Mitch McMichael handed out three assists vs. Canisius on March 9, 2009.

TEWAARATON NOMINEE – For the second straight year, Cornell lacrosse player Rob Pannell has been named one of 25 Tewaaraton Trophy nominees. Five male and five female finalists will be selected from the nominees. Finalists will be invited to the 11th annual Tewaaraton Award ceremony and the trophy will be presented on June 2 at the historic Warner Theatre in Washington, D.C.

NATIONAL CAREER ASSISTS LEADER – Despite being only a junior, Rob Pannell is currently the national leader in career assists, having posted 124. He has a double-digit lead on second place Jeremy Boltus, a senior at Army that has 114 career assists. Other than Pannell, Virginia's Steele Stanwick (9th) is the only other junior in the top 10.

FRESH FACE FACE-OFF – In a three-game span against Stony Brook, Penn and Dartmouth, Cornell had a different player register a career-high in face-off wins. The streak began as Mitch McMichael won 13 face-offs vs. the Seawolves on March 22. That weekend, Jason Noble won eight restarts against the Quakers. Doug Tesoriero ended the streak by winning 11 face-offs against the Big Green.

HOME IS WHERE THE WINS ARE — Since 2001, the Big Red has gone 61-14 at Schoellkopf Field, including perfect slates in 2011 (4-0), 2009 (6-0), 2007 (7-0) and 2005 (6-0).

GOOD OFF THE GROUND – The Big Red ranks 10th in the nation in ground balls per game, thanks in large part to defender Jason Noble, who ranks 24th in the country with 4.91 ground balls per game.

BALANCED OFFENSE – Cornell's scoring has been fairly balanced this season with the attack accounting for 57 percent of its goals (81-of-142), while the midfield has registered 40 percent (57-of-142). The defense makes up the final three percent (4-of-131).

GOING STREAKING – Junior Rob Pannell has the longest point-scoring streak on the team and second longest in the nation, having registered a point in every game of his collegiate career (46 games). Siena's Bryan Neufeld leads the nation with a 47-game streak.

MOVING ON UP – With his three assists vs. Syracuse on April 12, Rob Pannell moved into second place in Cornell history for career assists. He currently needs 41 more assists to pass Eamon McEneaney and become the Big Red's all-time leader … With his eight points vs. Stony Brook on March 22, Pannell moved into third place in Cornell history, surpassing with Ryan Hurley (179; 2007-10) for career points. He needs 49 more points to surpass Eamon McEneaney (256; 1975-77).

DEFENSIVE DUO – Sophomores Mike Bronzino and Jason Noble are proving to be a dynamic defensive duo, ranking among the best in the nation in caused turnovers. Both players rank 20th in the country with 1.73 caused turnovers per game.

MIDFIELD MEN – The offensive midfield remains nearly unchanged from a season ago, with five of the top six players - Jack Dudley and All-Ivy selection David Lau, as well as returning starters Roy Lang, Chris Langton and Ross Gillum - returning. As a group, four of the five ranked among Cornell's leading scorers a season ago and they accounted for 67 percent of the scoring that came out of the offensive midfield in 2010.

ON THE DEFENSIVE – The Big Red returns all three starting defensemen from a season ago, including All-American Max Feely, preseason All-American Jason Noble, and Mike Bronzino.

BACK IN NET – Incumbent starter AJ Fiore returns to backstop the Big Red this year. So far this season, he has posted an 8.55 goals-against average and a .497 save percentage. As a rookie, he posted an 11-6 record, finished the year ranked first in the Ivy League and 15th in the nation in goals-against average (8.69) and was third in the conference and 23rd in the nation in save percentage (.545).

DEFENSIVE STOPPER – Max Feely turned some heads on March 12 when he shut down Virginia's Steele Stanwick, holding the junior attackman without a goal or an assist. At the time, Stanwick ranked third in the nation in points per game and had registered at least seven points in the three games prior to his meeting with the Big Red … One week later, Feely held Yale's Brian Douglass to one single assist. At the time, Douglass ranked second in the country with 4.75 points per game.

NEUTRAL ZONE – Since the start of the 2006 season, the Big Red is 10-5 in neutral site games, with two victories over Notre Dame (Chicago, 2006 and Long Island, 2007), a single victory over Albany (Princeton, 2007), Navy (Long Island, 2008), Denver (Dallas, 2008), Harvard (Foxboro, 2009), Princeton (Hempstead, 2009), Virginia (Foxboro, 2009), Hobart (Syracuse, 2010) and Army (Stony Brook, 2010). The five losses came at the hands of Duke in the 2007 national semifinal (Baltimore, Md.), Syracuse in the 2009 national championship (Foxboro, Mass.), Dartmouth during the 2010 season (Foxboro, Mass.), Notre Dame in the 2010 national semifinal (Baltimore, Md.) and Virginia at the 2011 Konica Minolta Face-Off Classic (Baltimore, Md.).

DARTMOUTH DOMINATION – Since 1998, the Big Red has posted a 13-1 record against Dartmouth, with the lone loss coming last season. Cornell's 19 goals against the Big Green on April 2 was nothing unusual, as the Big Red has registered 15 or more goals in half of the meetings since 1998. Likewise, Cornell's average margin of victory during that span has been seven goals.

OVERTIME NOTES – With its overtime game vs. Penn on March 26, Cornell has played at least one overtime game in each of the past five seasons, dating back to a 12-11 triumph over Albany in the 2007 NCAA quarterfinals. During that span, the Big Red has posted a 5-2 record in overtime games.

NOBLE IN THE MIDDLE – Defender Jason Noble put in an impressive effort at the face-off circle against Penn on March 26, winning 8-of-10 restarts in the finals 21 minutes of action to help the Big Red to a 13-12 overtime victory against the Quakers. Noble now has 12 face-off wins on the season, the most by a Cornell defenseman since Brett Wilderman won 25-of-55 in 1999.

WIN NO. 685 – Cornell's 13-12 victory over Harvard on April 9, 2011 was the 685th win in program history. The Big Red is 686-442-27 all-time, and its 686 victories rank seventh among the winningest programs in collegiate lacrosse.

FLAWLESS DEFENSE – The Big Red did not commit a single penalty vs. Canisius on March 9, marking the first time since the 2010 season-opener against Hobart, a span of 20 games, that Cornell was not flagged.

BRONZINO BONANZA – Sophomore defender Mike Bronzino tallied two goals against Hobart in the season opener, becom¬ing the first Big Red close defender to score twice in a single game since Ryan McClay scored twice against the Statesmen on May 4, 2002. In Cornell's next game against Binghamton, he registered two assists.

SINGLE-DIGIT SUCCESS – Since 2000, Cornell has posted a 108-13 record (89.3 percent) when holding its opponent to less than 10 goals.

RULE FOLLOWERS – In the 46 games played since the start of the 2009 season, the Big Red has been flagged for more penalties than its opponents on just 12 occasions.

FOR STARTERS - Cornell is 61-50-5 all-time in season openers … Including 2011, the Big Red has played Hobart 15 times to start a season, posting an 8-7 record against the Statesmen in those games.

PRESEASON ALL-AMERICANS – Cornell had three players named to the 2011 preseason All-American list. Rob Pannell was named a first-team selection, while Max Feely was a second-team choice and Jason Noble was named an honorable mention selection.

11-WINS – Cornell has posted at least 11 wins in each of the past six seasons, surpassing the longest previous streak in school history (1974-78).

OH CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN – Senior Jack Dudley and junior Rob Pannell will serve as captains for the 2011 season.

HARD HAT – Roy Lang has been selected to carry the Hard Hat for the 2011 season. 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.

CHAMPIONSHIP LINEAGE – Four players on the 2011 Cornell roster have fathers that have won a national championship with the Big Red – David Lau (George '78), Cody Levine (Jon '76), Shane O'Neill (John '76) and Matt Taylor (Joe '80). George Lau was a two-time winner as part of both the 1976 and 1977 national championship squads. Jon Levine and John O'Neill joined him on the 1976 team, while Joe Taylor was on the 1977 squad … Additionally, Connor Entenmann's father Ken was on Cornell's national semifinalist team in 1982, while Cole McCormack and Mike O'Neil each have uncles (Brian McCormack and Geoff Hall, respectively) that played together on the Big Red's national runner up squads in 1987 and 1988.

SISTER ACT – Junior Roy Lang and freshman Mike O'Neil each have a sister on the Big Red women's lacrosse team. Lang's sister Kelly is a sophomore, while O'Neil's sister Aly is a junior.

GEOGRAPHY LESSON – The 43 players on the 2011 Big Red roster hail from 11 different states – California, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Virginia and Washington – as well as the District of Columbia, and two Canadian provinces – British Columbia and Ontario.

GEOGRAPHY LESSON, PART TWO – Since 1950, the Big Red has had players from 33 different states – Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

TICKLE THE (ALL) IVY – Cornell returns three players that earned All-Ivy honors last season, led by Rob Pannell, a unanimous first-team All-Ivy selection. Pannell was joined by midfielder David Lau and defender Max Feely, who were both honorable mention selections.

ATTACKMAN OF THE YEAR - For the first time since 1987, a member of the Cornell men's lacrosse team won the USILA's Jack Turnbull Award as the outstanding attackman in Division I, as Rob Pannell took home the award. He became just the seventh sophomore in the 64-year history of the award to earn the honor. Pannell joins an elite list, becoming the fourth Cornell player to win the Turnbull Award, joining Eamon McEneaney '77, Mike French '76, and Tim Goldstein '87.

PLAYER OF THE YEAR FOR PANNELL – Rob Pannell joined rare company when he was named the 2010 Ivy League Player of the Year, becoming just the fourth sophomore, and the first since Princeton's Ryan Boyle in 2002, to earn the league's top honor. Pannell was a unanimous selection for the award, voted on by the league's head coaches, and was the fifth Cornellian to be named Player of the Year during the past 10 seasons.

BIG RED INTERNATIONAL – Brad Kamedulski '10 (Poland), Scott Lee '02 (Korea), Ryan McClay '03 (USA), Max Seibald '10 (USA), and Sten Jernudd '14 (Sweden) all participated in the FIL Championships this summer in Manchester, England. McClay and Seibald won gold medals with Team USA and were both named to the All-World team following the tournament. Jernudd was also honored with a selection to the All-Presidents team as one of the top players in the tournament from a team that did not advance to the medal round.

RECAPPING 2010 – The Big Red advanced to the national semifinal game for the second straight year, and third time in the last four seasons. Although Cornell fell to Notre Dame, 12-7, the Big Red made its presence felt in the lacrosse community with its incredibly young squad impressing all spectators. Cornell finished the year with a 12-6 record overall and a mark of 4-2 in the conference, earning a share of its eighth straight Ivy League title, the longest stretch since Cornell won 10-straight championships between 1974 and 1983. Cornell's eight consecutive regular season Ivy titles is the longest current stretch by any men's lacrosse team in any conference. The Big Red earned an at-large bid to the 2010 NCAA men's lacrosse tournament, garnering a seventh seed. In the first round, Cornell defeated Loyola, 11-10, in triple overtime to advance to the quarterfinals before beating Army, 14-5, to earn a trip to the Final Four.

UP NEXT – The Big Red wraps up the regular season on Schoellkopf Field when it welcomes Princeton on Saturday, April 30 at 12:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast to a nationwide audience by CBS College Sports.