Top-11 Challenge Slated for Tuesday Night

#6 Syracuse vs. #11 Cornell
Game Details	Tuesday, April 10 \| Ithaca, N.Y. \| 7 p.m.
Game Coverage	Live Coverage: Stats Watch: Ivy League DN Listen: Cuse.com\| Tk99/105 \| Syracuse IMG Sports Network \| WAER Twitter: @CuseMLAX Instagram: @CuseMLAX Facebook: /CuseMLAX
Syracuse Links	News \| Roster \| Schedule
Cornell Links	News \| Roster \| Schedule

THE GAME
- Syracuse will look to pick up a fourth-straight win on Tuesday, when the Orange travel to Cornell to continue one of the game's longest rivalries.
- The game will be broadcast on the IVY League Digital Network. Brian Higgins and Kyle Fetterly will carry the game on TK99/105 and WAER will carry the action as well.

THE CORNELL SERIES
- This will be the 103rd meeting between Syracuse and Cornell, making it the fourth-longest running series in lacrosse history.
- The first meeting between the two sides came on May 21, 1920, with 'Cuse winning 5-3 in overtime.
- The Orange own a series record of 65-36-1 all-time against Cornell, including a record of 29-19-1 at Cornell.
- Twice, the Orange has defeated the Big Red in the National Title Game to hoist the NCAA Championship Trophy. A 13-8 victory over Cornell in 1988 gave Syracuse its second national title in program history. In 2009, Syracuse won 10-9 in overtime against Cornell for its 11th championship, the team's last-to-date
- The Orange has won four of its last five against the Big Red, despite dropping the 2016 matchup, 10-9 in overtime. Head coach John Desko is 13-7 against Cornell (since 1999).
- In last season's matchup, Stephen Rehfuss (2-2), Nate Solomon (3-0), Brendan Bomberry (2-0), Jamie Trimboli (1-0), Bradley Voigt (1-0) and Matt Lane (0-1) all scored to lead the Orange to a 15-8 win over the Big Red in the Dome.

'CUSE WINS 900th GAME
- Syracuse became the second program in NCAA Divsion I lacrosse history to win 900 games last Saturday.
- Johns Hopkins (979), Syracuse (901) and Maryland (817) are the only three programs with 800 or more wins. Navy is 4 from the plateau and Army is 14.
- There are six other programs in the 700 win club, Johns Hopkins (979), Maryland (817), Navy (796), Army (786), Hobart (769) and Cornell (755). All but the Terps appear on the Orange's 2018 schedule.

CLINCHED
- Syracuse has clinched the No. 1 seed in this month's ACC Tournament, with Duke being the only team that can reach the Orange's share of the conference regular season title. 'Cuse holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Blue Devils.
- This will be the second-straight season the Orange are the No. 1 seed in the ACC Tournament.
- Since joining a conference for the first time in 2010, Syracuse has won eight titles (either regular season or conference tournament) in eight seasons. Winning the league outright with a win on Saturday would make it at least nine titles in nine seasons.

CONFERENCE KINGS
- After last Saturday's win over Notre Dame, Syracuse has now extended its winning streak in regular season conference games to eight.
- 'Cuse is 3-0 in league play this season and swept the conference last year. The last time the Orange lost was against Notre Dame in the 2016 season.
- Since joining the ACC in 2014, Syracuse is 13-7 in regular season conference play.

AGAINST THE IVY
- Against the seven current members of the Ivy League lacrosse conference, Syracuse owns a 183-55-1 record all-time, including winning records against each team.
- In addition to Cornell, 'Cuse has faced Penn (25-1), Princeton (20-9), Yale (19-4), Dartmouth (19-4), Harvard (18-0), Brown (17-1).

A WIN AGAINST CORNELL WOULD...
- Be the program's 902nd victory, second all-time behind Johns Hopkins.
- Improve SU's record to 56-17 since the start of the 2014 season
- Give John Desko his 243rd career coaching win, fifth among active Division I coaches and move him into a tie for 23rd all-time at the NCAA Division I level.

DOMINANT DOWNERS
- The Syracuse man-down unit entered last Saturday's game against Notre Dame ranked 59th of 68th nationally, before coming away with an 8-for-8 performance in Saturday's win over Notre Dame and went another 3-for-3 against Hobart, killing 11-straight penalties against them.
- The Orange have risen to 31st overall in the nation (.686) in man-down defense after the two games.
- The 8-for-8 performance is the best in head coach John Desko's 20-year tenure at the helm of the program.

21 SAVAGE
- After a stellar 2016 campaign that saw true freshman Nick Mellen head into the 2017 offseason garnering preseason All-America honors, he missed the entire season due to injury.
- Mellen was the first true freshman defender to start 10-or-more games on defense since Brandon Mullins in 2012.
- After missing a year, Mellen returns expected to be the top-cover defenseman on the Orange. He's already held 2017 Tewaaraton Award Finalist Ben Reeves to just one goal in the team's preseason scrimmage and the nation's leading scorer from 2017 - Connor Fields - to two goals and Michael Kraus of UVA to 2-1. On Saturday, he held Justin
Guterding to 1-2, who entered the game averaging almost seven points per game.
- With the assumption that Mellen will be guarding nation's leading scorer Jeff Teat on Tuesday, Mellen will have now defended three of the nation's top-five scorers and five of the top-12 (six if you include the Orange's preseason scrimmage.
- The other two (Guterding and Fields) have combined for three goals and four assists over two games.
- On the year, Mellen is holding his opponents to an average of 3.1 points per game. The group that Mellen has guarded is averaging 3.91 points per game on the season.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Brendan Bomberry

Matt Lane

Nick Mellen

Brandon Mullins

Stephen Rehfuss

Nate Solomon

Jamie Trimboli

Bradley Voigt

Syracuse University Athletics