GAME #8: No. 9/7 Cornell at Penn
FACE OFF: Saturday, March 27, at 1:00 p.m.
SITE: Franklin Field (Philadelphia, Pa.)
2010 Records: Cornell (6-1); Penn (4-4)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 59-22-3
LAST MEETING: Cornell won 21-11 on March 28, 2009 in Ithaca, N.Y.

RADIO: WHCU 870 AM
LIVE STATS: http://www.PennAthletics.com  
LIVE AUDIO: http://www.cornellbigred.com/showcase/  
LIVE VIDEO: http://www.PennAthletics.com


THE MATCHUP – The No. 9/7 Big Red returns to Ivy League play this weekend when it travels to Philadelphia to take on Penn at Franklin Field on Saturday, March 27 at 1 p.m. Cornell is coming off an impressive 12-9 victory over No. 17 Stony Brook to improve to 6-1 on the season, while the Quakers are coming off a heartbreaking 11-10 overtime loss to No. 5 Princeton to slip to 4-4 on the year.

SERIES HISTORY VS. PENN — The Cornell and Penn rivalry is the second-oldest in the Ivy League, beginning in the Quakers' second varsity season, 1901. The Big Red, which had already been fielding a team for nine seasons, took the 3-1 victory, the first of six-straight for Cornell. The two programs began playing each other regularly in 1920, meeting nearly every season since. The 2010 edition will be the 85th meeting in the series history, with the Big Red holding a dominating 59-22-3 record. Head coach Jeff Tambroni is 7-2 all-time vs. the Quakers, with both losses coming at Franklin Field (2004, 2006).

LOOKING AT THE QUAKERS — Penn has dropped the past two games to a pair of top-five teams, falling to No. 4 Maryland and No. 5 Princeton last week to even its record at 4-4 on the season. All four of the Quakers losses have come vs. ranked opponents with the other two defeats coming at the hands of No. 8 Duke and No. 20 Lafayette. Corey Winkoff leads the squad with team-highs in points (25) and assists (16), while Rob McMullen has a team-best 15 goals. John Conneely has also shown a balanced attack with 10 goals and 10 assists, while Al Kohart has chipped in 13 goals and five assists. In goal, Chris Casey has seen the majority of minutes in goal (265 minutes), but Joe Hegener has seen substantial playing time as well (187 minutes). Casey has gone 1-2 on the season, posting a 10.41 goals-against average and a .511 save percentage, while Hegener has gone 3-2 on the season with an 8.62 GAA and a .491 save percentage.

A WIN OVER PENN WOULD –
• improve the Big Red to 7-1 on the season.
• make Cornell 60-22-3 all-time, while improving coach Tambroni's record to 8-2 vs. the Quakers.
• improve the Big Red to 24-13-2 against Penn in Philadelphia.
• give Cornell four straight victories over the Quakers.
• be the 672nd in program history.

LAST TIME VS. THE QUAKERS –
• Cornell used a seven-goal second quarter to separate itself from a pesky Penn squad before rolling to the 21-11 victory on Schoellkopf Field.
• The 21 goals were the most scored by the Big Red during head coach Jeff Tambroni's tenure, and are the most since Cornell beat Canisius, 23-2, on May 2, 1998.
• Cornell was led by Ryan Hurley with five goals and one assist, while Chris Finn scored twice and handed out three assists.
• In goal, Kyle Harer made six saves and allowed nine goals in 45 minutes to earn the win, before Jake Myers and Mat Martinez combined for two saves and two goals in the final 15 minutes of action.
• Penn was led by Craig Andrzejewski with three goals and one assist, while Drew Collins scored twice.
• For the Quakers, Joe Hegenen made just six saves and allowed 12 goals in the first half, before Greg Murray closed the game with seven saves and nine goals-against.

CORNELL'S LAST GAME –
• Cornell used a 5-0 run to break open a 5-5 halftime deadlock and defeat No. 17 Stony Brook, 12-9, on Tuesday.
• Rob Pannell led all scorers with seven points on one goal and six assists, while Ryan Hurley registered five goals and two assists.
• In a breakout game, freshman Steve Mock tallied two goals and one assist.
• The Big Red defense held the fifth-ranked scoring offense in the nation to just nine goals, just the second time all season the Seawolves have scored less than 10 in a contest.
• AJ Fiore regrouped after allowing goals on Stony Brook's first four shots to finish with seven saves.

AT THE HELM — In his 10th season as head coach of the Big Red, Jeff Tambroni owns a career record of 103-35. His winning percentage of .746 is the second-best among the nine coaches who have served as head coach at Cornell, ahead of the legendary Richie Moran (.680) and behind the all-time leader Ned Harkness (.972).

TAMBRONI AMONG THE BEST — Head coach Jeff Tambroni currently ranks second in the nation among active Division I coaches with a .746 winning percentage.

TAMBRONI'S TOUCHSTONE – After taking the 2009 team to the heights of the lacrosse world, Jeff Tambroni was given the Morris Touchstone Award as the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association's Coach of the Year. Tambroni became the third Big Red coach to take home the honor, joining three-time recipient Richie Moran (1971, 1977, 1987) and Dave Pietramala (2000). As a program, Cornell coaches have earned five Morris Touchstone Awards, the most of any program in the nation, surpassing Johns Hopkins and Navy with four apiece.

WHERE WE RANK – Several Big Red players are making their mark on the national scene, ranking in the top-20 of many NCAA statistical categories. As of Monday, March 22, Cornell has players ranked in the following categories …
POINTS PER GAME
• Rob Pannell – 15th (4.17)
GOALS-AGAINST AVERAGE
• AJ Fiore – 10th (8.35)
ASSISTS PER GAME
• Rob Pannell – eighth (2.33)
CAUSED TUNROVERS
• Jason Noble – 11th (2.0)
FACE-OFFS
• Austin Boykin – fourth (.631)
GOALS PER GAME
• Ryan Hurley – 12th (3.0)
SAVE PERCENTAGE
• AJ Fiore – 15th (.548)

BACK-TO-BACK – The Big Red has not lost back-to-back games since the 2002 season when Cornell fell to Princeton and Brown on consecutive weekends, a span of 113 games.

TEWAARATON WATCH – Seniors Pierce Derkac and Ryan Hurley, as well as sophomore Rob Pannell have been named to the 2010 Preseason Tewaaraton Trophy Watch List. The Cornell trio makes up nearly half of the eight Ivy League players selected to the Watch List. Midway through the season an official list of nominees will be selected and from there, five finalists will be chosen.

SENIOR CLASS AWARD – Seniors Pierce Derkac and Ryan Hurley are among 20 NCAA men's lacrosse student-athletes who excel both on and off the field and were tabbed as candidates for the 2010 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award.

BLOGGING THE BIG RED – Cornell senior Pierce Derkac will be contributing regularly to Inside Lacrosse's website with blogs throughout the season.

WIN NO. 670 – Cornell's 18-7 victory over Yale on May 20, 2010 was the 670th win in program history. The team's 670 victories rank seventh all-time among the winningest programs in collegiate lacrosse.

100 GOALS – With his four-goal performance vs. Army, Ryan Hurley became just the fifth player in Cornell history to score 100 career goals. The list of Cornell's 100-goal scorers is short, but distinguished, as Hurley joined the likes of Mike French (1974-76; 191), Sean Greenhalgh (2002-05; 136), Mark Webster (1968-70; 128) and Jon Levine (1974-76; 123).

FASTEST TO 100 WINS – Head coach Jeff Tambroni earned his 100th career win as the Big Red defeated Army, 12-11, in overtime on March 6. He achieved that feat in just 134 games, ranking him 10th all-time among Division I coaches to reach 100 wins the fastest.

100 WINS – With the Big Red's 12-11 overtime victory against Army on March 6, 2010 head coach Jeff Tambroni notched his 100th career win, becoming just the second head coach in Cornell men's lacrosse history to reach that plateau. Tambroni reached the milestone in his 134th career game during his 10th season. The only other Big Red coach to reach 100 wins was Richie Moran, who defeated Penn, 17-8, in his ninth season (1977) to achieve a 100-14 record.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK – Ryan Hurley has won the first Ivy League Player of the Week honor of the season for the Big Red on Monday, March 8. Hurley was instrumental to the Cornell offense as the Big Red picked up a pair of wins over Canisius (9-6) and Army (12-11 in OT) to 3-0 on the season. Hurley registered a game-high three goals and one assist against the Golden Griffins, before tallying four goals, including the overtime game-winner, and one assist versus the Black Knights.

MOVING ON UP – With his four goals vs. Army on March 6, Ryan Hurley moved into fifth place in Cornell history for career goals, surpassing Chris Danler (1992-95) who had 99 career goals. Hurley needs just seven more goals to move into fourth place and tie Jon Levine (1975-76) with 123 career goals.

TOP 10 TEAM – Cornell has not fallen out of the top 10 in either national poll in over four years, with the last occurrence happening on March 28, 2005 when Inside Lacrosse had the Big Red ranked 11th.

ELITE COMPANY – Over the span of the past five seasons (2005-2009) Cornell has racked up the third most wins (61) of any Division I men's lacrosse program, and has posted the third best winning percentage (80.3%) overall, sitting behind only Duke and Virginia in both categories.

HOME IS WHERE THE WINS ARE — During Coach Tambroni's tenure, the Big Red is 53-11 at Schoellkopf Field, including perfect slates in 2009 (6-0), 2007 (7-0) and 2005 (6-0).

LUCKY NUMBER SEVEN — The Big Red has claimed at least a share of the Ivy League title for the last seven seasons, the longest stretch since winning 10 straight championships between 1974-83.

SEVENTH HEAVEN — Cornell's seven consecutive regular season Ivy League titles is the longest current stretch by any men's lacrosse team in any conference in the nation.

FOR STARTERS - Cornell is 60-50-5 all-time in season openers, including an 8-2 mark during Coach Jeff Tambroni's tenure … The Big Red has won seven straight season openers.

FRESH FACES – Five freshmen saw action in the first game of the season for the Big Red, including starters AJ Fiore (goal) and Ross Gillum (midfield). Also seeing solid action in their first collegiate game were Thomas Keith, Cody Levine and Jason Noble.

NON-CONFERENCE WINS — Cornell owns a 31-6 record in its last 37 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. Three of those six losses during that span have come at the hands of the Orange (2006, 2008, 2009), while the other three came to ACC teams - No. 7 North Carolina (13-8 on March 2, 2008), No. 1 Virginia (14-10, March 8, 2009), and No. 1 Virginia (12-4, March 13, 2010).

CLOSE CALLS — Since the beginning of the 2003 season, Cornell is 22-5 in games that have been decided by a single goal, a mark that was raised as the Big Red defeated Army, 12-11, in overtime on March 6, 2010, at Schoellkopf Field. The only blemishes during the stretch were a 6-5 loss to Navy in the 2004 NCAA quarterfinals, a 12-11 loss to Syracuse on April 11, 2006, a 10-9 loss to UMass in the opening round of the NCAA tournament on May 13, 2006, a 12-11 loss to Duke in the national semifinal on May 26, 2007, and a 10-9 overtime loss to Syracuse in the 2009 national championship game. Coach Jeff Tambroni is 27-11 in one-goal games during his tenure with the Big Red, including a 6-3 mark in overtime games.

SINGLE-DIGIT SUCCESS – When holding its opponents to less than 10 goals, the Big Red under Coach Tambroni owns an 89-10 record. Including its 12-9 victory over Stony Brook on March 23, Cornell has won 44 straight games when holding opponents to single digits, dating back to April 1, 2006, when it lost an 8-6 decision to Penn at Franklin Field.

GOING STREAKING – Cornell senior Ryan Hurley is riding a 39-game point scoring streak, the longest on the team and the third-longest in the nation. Sophomore Rob Pannell has the second longest point scoring streak on the team and seventh longest in the nation, having registered a point in every game of his collegiate career (24 games).

RULE FOLLOWERS – In the 24 games played since the start of the 2009 season, the Big Red has been flagged for more penalties than its opponents on just four occasions.

DYNAMIC DUO – Ryan Hurley and Rob Pannell have teamed up for at least one goal in 17 of the 24 games that they have played together. Of Pannell's 62 career assists, 25 (40.3 percent) have come on Hurley's goals.

NEUTRAL ZONE – Since the start of the 2006 season, the Big Red is 9-2 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, Texas), Harvard (Foxborough, Mass.), Princeton (Hempstead, N.Y.), Virginia (Foxboro, Mass.) and Hobart (Syracuse, N.Y). The two losses came at the hands of Duke in the 2007 national semifinal (Baltimore, Md.) and Syracuse in the 2009 national championship (Foxboro, Mass.).

OH CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN – Seniors Pierce Derkac and Ryan Hurley will serve as captains for the 2010 season.

EVERYBODY'S ALL-AMERICANS – The Big Red returns a pair of All-American attackmen – sophomore Rob Pannell (third team) and senior Ryan Hurley (honorable mention).

TICKLE THE (ALL) IVY – Cornell returns two All-Ivy selections from last season's squad – Rob Pannell (first-team) and Ryan Hurley (second-team).

HARD HAT – Jack Dudley has been selected to carry the Hard Hat for the 2010 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 – Five players on the 2010 Cornell roster have fathers that have won a national championship with the Big Red – David Lau (George '78), Julian and 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.

LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON – David Lau tallied his first points of the 2009 NCAA tournament with a goal and an assist vs. Virginia in the national semifinal. With the assist on Cornell's final goal of the game, Lau surpassed the tournament point total of his father, George, who registered one goal for the Big Red in the 1977 national championship game.

SISTER ACT – Sophomore Roy Lang isn't the only Big Red lacrosse player in the family, as his sister Kelly is a freshman midfielder on the Cornell women's lacrosse team.

GEOGRAPHY LESSON – The 43 players on the 2010 Big Red roster hail from 12 different states – California, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Virginia and Washington – as well as the District of Columbia and Ontario, Canada.

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. During his tenure, Coach Tambroni has had players from 19 different states.

11-WINS – The Big Red has posted at least 11 wins in each of the past five seasons, matching the longest streak in school history (1974-78).

TEAM USA – US Lacrosse has announced that two players with Cornell ties – Ryan McClay '03 and Max Seibald '09 – are among the 23 players that will represent the United States at the FIL Championships in Manchester, England from July 10-24, 2010.

RECAPPING 2009 – The Big Red advanced to the national championship game for the first time since 1988. Although Cornell dropped a heartbreaking 10-9 decision in overtime to Syracuse, the Big Red made its presence felt in the lacrosse community with its second final four appearance in three years. Cornell finished the year with a 13-4 record overall and a mark of 5-1 in the conference, earning a share of its seventh straight Ivy League title, the longest stretch since Cornell won 10-straight championships between 1974 and 1983. Cornell's seven consecutive regular season Ivy titles is the longest current stretch by any men's lacrosse team in any conference. The Big Red was also a perfect 6-0 at home, upping the team's record on Schoellkopf Field to 51-10 (.836) during Tambroni's tenure. Cornell finished the year ranked in the top 10 in the nation in scoring offense (fifth – 12.18), points per game (fifth – 19.12), scoring margin (sixth – 3.76), assists per game (sixth – 6.94), face-off win percentage (10th – .552) and ground balls per game (10th – 34.94).

YOUNG GUN – Rob Pannell was named the Ivy League Rookie of the Year, becoming the fourth Big Red player to earn that distinction. Of those four players, three were recruited by head coach Jeff Tambroni (Sean Greenhalgh, Max Seibald, Rob Pannell).

SEASONED HELPER – With his 42 assists on the season, Rob Pannell etched his name in the Cornell record books, moving into a seventh place for assists in a single season.

BACK-TO-BACK 40s – Last season, Ryan Hurley became the fifth player in Cornell history to register 40 goals in back-to-back seasons, joining Mike French (1974, 75, 76), Jon Levine (1975, 76), David Mitchell (2006, 07) and Mark Webster (1968, 69).

UP NEXT – The Big Red will take on Dartmouth next weekend in the New England Lacrosse Classic on Saturday, April 3 at noon. The game is the first of a double-header, as Princeton will face Brown in the nightcap at 2:30 p.m.