Syracuse Men's Lacrosse: Previewing the Cornell Big Red

Cornell Quick Facts

Cornell All-Time Record Vs. SU: 35-64-1

Cornell Streak Vs. SU: L3

Cornell Last Win Vs. SU: April 10, 2012

Cornell 2015 Record: 10-6; Lost in the NCAA First Round to Albany Great Danes

Cornell 2016 Record: 4-5; Wins versus Hobart, Virginia, Colgate, Dartmouth; Losses versus Penn State, Albany, Yale, Penn, Harvard

2016 Ivy League Preseason Coaches' Poll: Tied at #5 out of seven

2016 Ivy League Preseason All-Conference Players: F/O Domenic Massimilian

2016 RPI: #34

2016 SOS: #19

The Syracuse Orange will have a midweek game for the second week in a row. The Orange will take on the Cornell Big Red on Tuesday night at 7 PM in Ithaca, NY for the 101st meeting between these two programs that goes back to 1920. Attending the game is the ONLY way to watch, otherwise you can listen to the matchup on TK99. Cornell sits at fifth in the Ivy League standings and it looks like this team will miss the Ivy League Tournament as well as the NCAA Tournament. Syracuse is coming off a 13-6 win over the Hobart Statesmen last Wednesday. A loss to Cornell would be a big blow to SU's NCAA Tournament hopes.

Over the last two games, Jordan Evans has put up seven goals leaving him as the second leading goal scorer on this team. The big knock on Evans is that he carries the ball too much and ends up losing it. Over the last two, however, Evans has just two turnovers. Evans has the best shots on goal percentage for any SU player with over 11 shots and the best shooting percentage of any SU player with more than six shots. I know there are a ton of haters out there, but I think he has definitely improved this year.

One of the poorest parts of Syracuse's game is its man-down defense. SU oppenents have converted on .488 percent of man-up opportunities. The Orange have the 56^th best man-down unit in the nation. On the other side of the field, Cornell sports the number one best man-down unit in division I. The Big Red also has a pretty good defense. As a unit, this team gives up the 22^nd fewest goals in the country and Tony Britton has 1.56 caused turnovers per game, good enough for 22^nd in the nation.

Watch out for Cornell at the faceoff game come Tuesday. Overall, the Big Red are .672 at the faceoff X with Dom Massimilian going .682. The junor out of Dallas, TX, is fourth in the nation in faceoff winning percentage and is first in the country in groundballs per game with 10.38 per game.

Offensively, Cornell is replacing its top four leading scorers from 2015. Senior John Edmonds originally returned as an attackman but has since gone back to the midfield. He has 93 career points, and leads his team in assists with eight. The Big Red average just five assists per game, and will rely heavily on dodging against a slow Syracuse midfield. The leading goal scorer is freshman Colton Rupp. Rupp has four 3+ goal games this season to total 19 on the year. This could be a big day for the SU offense to get back on track. Cornell has a terrible shooting percentage at .250 and gives up 15.11 turnovers per game, 51^st in division I.

Remember, while Cornell is not ranked, this program is still very competitive and could give Syracuse a run for its money. Through nine games, the Big Red fell to Penn State 7-8, Albany 8-12, and beat Virginia 14-10.

Here are the projected starters for Cornell:

Attack

Colton Rupp

Anthony Teixeira

Charlie Estill

Midfield

John Edmonds

Ryan Matthews

Clarke Petterson

Faceoff

Dom Massimilian

Defense

Tony Britton

Marshall Peters

Chad Otterman

Goal

Brennan Donville

Syracuse will visit the Cornell Big Red on Tuesday at 7 PM. The game can be heard on TK99.