Top-15 Ranked Matchup Comes to Panzer Stadium Saturday Afternoon

HISTORY

• Saturday’s contest between Cornell and Penn State marks the 49th game in a series that dates back to 1923. The two programs renewed the series annually in 2016 following a break after the 2003 season.
• Since the series revival, Penn State holds a narrow 6-4 edge.
• The last meeting between the two teams cam in the 2025 NCAA Tournament semifinals. PSU fell in the contest, 11-9, while the Big Red went on to win a national title. Cornell’s season ended with just one loss, a 13-12 overtime game against the Nittany Lions in the regular season.
• Cornell and Penn State rank in the top-ten oldest lacrosse programs of all time. The Big Red is the third oldest program at 130 years (829-503-27), while Penn State is in its 113th season (595-561-8).
• The all-time series between the two leans slighlty towards the Nittany Lions, 25-23.
• The first meeting in 1923 went the way of the Big Red in a 3-1 decision. Penn State won just one meeting until 1934, when the Nittany Lions rattled off 10 straight wins through 1943.
• Prior to Penn State, head coach Jeff Tambroni was the head coach at Cornell for 10 seasons. At the helm of the Big Red’s program, Tambroni won a pair of games against the Nittany Lions, compiling a 2-1 record versus PSU.

SCOUTING CORNELL

• The reigning national champions, Cornell boasts a 3-1 record so far this season, suffering its first setback of the season last week in a tightly contested 8-7 battle against No. 3 Richmond.
• The Big Red is one of the best team in the country at the faceoff. Ranking third nationally and second in the Ivy League, the team from Ithaca wins 64.6 percent of their pulls from the dot.
• The faceoff group is headlined by Jack Cascadden, who ranks 10th nationally (64.1 percent) among faceoff athletes.
• After the loss of senior CJ Kirst, who concluded his collegiate career as the NCAA’s all-time leading scorer, the Big Red face a big whole to fill offensively. Ryan Goldstein and Willem Firth have so far rose to the challenge.
• Goldstein is the Ivy League leader in assists per game at 2.5. That number ranks ninth nationally.
• Firth ranks third in the conference, 21st nationally in goals pergame, averagin three per game. Firth’s point per game number is equally as notable. The Hill School graduate ranks ninth nationally in points per game, avergaing 5.25.
• In goal, the Big Red needed to replace multi-year starter Wyatt Knust. So far, replacement Matthew Tully has proven to meet the caliber of netminder needed, making over 12 saves per game and saving 58.8 percent of the shots he faces, a number that ranks ninth in Division I. Tully allows fewer than nine goals per game.

LAST TIME VS. CORNELL

• Penn State men’s lacrosse battled for 60 minutes in the NCAA Final Four against top-seeded Cornell in last years tournament in Foxborough, Massachusetts. A back-and-forth contest concluded with an 11-9 win in favor of the Big Red.
• Penn State concluded its season with a 12-5 overall record while Cornell went on to play in the National Championship on Monday, May 26 against Maryland. The Big Red went on to topple the terrapins, eanring the programs first national title since 1978,
• Liam Matthews paced the offense with four goals including two in behind the back fashion. He also added one ground ball, and one caused turnover.
• Matt Traynor was the only other multi-goal scorer with two on the afternoon, continuing his streak to 10 games scoring at least one goal.
• Kyle Lehman, Ethan Long and Will Peden each produced one goal apiece to total nine as a squad.
• The netminder Jack Fracyon made eight saves between the pipes, while getting involved outside the goal mouth by corralling five ground balls and causing two turnovers.
• Jon King led the Nittany Lions in ground balls, recording six to go with one caused turnover.

Alex Ross was tasked with guarding CJ Kirst, a consensus first team All-American. Ross held the Ivy League Offensive Player of the Year to no points for the first and only time in his career.

THE TIES THAT BIND

• Of all games on the docket this season, few will have as strong a connection for Penn State than the battle against the Big Red.
• Penn State’s head coach, Jeff Tambroni, split his time at the helms of programs between Cornell and Penn State. He began his career in Ithaca, New York with the Big Red. Over 10 years, he accumulated a 109-40 record. Tambroni came to Happy Valley in the 2010-11 season and has been at the helm for the Nittany Lions ever since.
• Tambroni has accumulated 11 conference regualr season titles, five final fours, and a national title game appearance in 2009 across both schools.
• During his time at Cornell, Tambroni and his staff earned a commitment from a promising young recruit named Connor Buczek. Buczek, who began his career at Cornell after Tambroni’s departure to PSU, went on to have a strong career as an attackman for the Big Red. Upon graduation, he began coaching with the Big Red, rising through the ranks until ultimately being promoted to head coach in the 2021 season.
• Since Buczek took over at Cornell, Tambroni holds a narrow 3-2 edge in the teams’ series. Of the last five meetings, three have been decided by two or fewer goals.

LAST TIME OUT

• No. 15 Penn State men’s lacrosse roared to 17-7 victory over Yale on Saturday, February 28 in Panzer Stadium. The Nittany Lions improved to 3-2 on the season while Yale fell to 2-2 overall. Penn State commanded an early 3-0 lead that it never relinquished to secure the win.
• Freshman attackman Jack Iannantuono dominated offensively, tallying six points on two goals and four assists.
• Redshirt senior Luke Walstrum followed with five points, compiled from two goals and three helpers.
• Graduate student John Jude Considine and redshirt senior Michael Faraone were the other two multi-goal scorers for Penn State with two apiece.
• Senior Alex Ross led the defensive charge for the Nittany Lions, causing three turnovers and corralling four ground balls.
• Senior Will Costin not only contributed defensively with three ground balls and two caused turnovers, but he tallied his first goal of the season and second of his career.
• The faceoff duo of Colby Baldwin and Reid Gills was prominent, winning 21-of-28 attempts at the dot. 

WHAT A WIN WOULD MEAN

• The win would move Penn State to a 4-2 record this season.
• The win would mark PSU’s 26th win all-time series against Cornell.
• A win would mark Penn State’s fourth win in the last five meetings. PSU had a streak of three-straight wins before the second 2025 meeting in the Final Four, where the Big Red won, 11-9, to advance to the national championship.
• It would mark the 68th win all-time for Penn State against a Ivy League opponent. The Blue & White hold a 67-49-1 combined record against Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Penn, Princeton, and Yale.

WEEKLY LOOKS

• In limited week zero action across the country, sophomore faceoff Reid Gills dominated the faceoff X, winning 15-of-19 faceoffs, scooping seven groundballs, and dishing an assist to the team’s leading scorer, Hunter Aquino. For his efforts, Gills was named the Big Ten Specialist of the Week.
• Senior Alex Ross, sophomore Hunter Aquino, and freshman Preston Hawkins were recognized as this week’s Big Ten Players of the Week in their respective categories, creating a near-sweep of the awards for the Nittany Lions. Ross earned defensive honors, Aquino offensive, and Hawkins as the Freshman of the Week.
• The three weekly awards marked the most in a single week since March 12, 2024, when PSU earned offensive, defensive, and specialist honors.
• Princeton’s attack and midfield units entered the season regarded as two of the top five units in their respective roles across the country, but senior captain Alex Ross had other plans for the Tigers’ season opener. He matched his season high groundball and turnover marks in Penn State’s win at No. 3 Princeton over the weekend. He helped hold the Tiger’s attack and midfield core to just seven goals.
• Aquino led the scoring for PSU against Princeton with a hat trick but proved to be effective in the ride as well, causing a pair of turnovers and scooping four groundballs. The caused turnover and groundball numbers each marked new career highs for the sophomore.
• In his third start and second full game of his career, Hawkins put up a career-high 11 saves against a top three ranked Princeton team. The seven goals allowed proved to be a season low for Hawkins when playing a full game. It also marked the fewest goals scored by the Ivy League regular season title favorite since February 28, 2024, when Princeton put up seven goals against Maryland.
• Senior defenseman Alex Ross and freshman attackman Jack Iannantuono of No. 14 Penn State men’s lacrosse helped guide the Nittany Lions to a 17-7 win over the visiting Yale Bulldogs this past weekend. Ross’s lockdown defense earned him a nod on the USILA Team of the Week, and Iannantuono’s offensive numbers warranted a Freshman of the Week nod from the Big Ten Conference offices.
• Ross scooped a season-high four groundballs and matched his career-high caused turnovers with three. To date, the Davidsonville, Maryland native totals nine caused turnovers so far this season. The senior led a defense that held Yale to its second fewest goals scored this season at seven.
• Iannantuono posted a career-best six points to lead the Penn State offense to a ten-goal victory over a Yale team that was first-team-out of the polls last week. His six points match the most by any Penn Stater so far this season. The Pheonix, Maryland native averages the seventh-most assists per game on any freshman in the country.

PRESEASON NODS

• After putting the nation on notice in 2025, sophomore Hunter Aquino and senior Alex Ross raked in the preseason honors this year.
• Aquino, the reigning Big Ten Freshman of the Year, was recognized as a Second Team All-American by USILA and Inside Lacrosse, and earned a third-team spot on USA Lacrosse Magazines list.
• Ross was was a second-team honoree according to Inside Lacrosse, while he picked up third-team honors from USA Lacrosse Magazine.
• Senior captian Jon King joined the duo on Inside Lacrosse's list, earning an honorable mention recognition.
• The trio were named Big Ten Players to Watch by the conference offices prior to the start of the 2026 slate.

The USILA preseason list also recognined short-stick Brendan Leary as a Third-Team Preseason All-American, alongside Aquino.

TEWAARATON TIME

• Penn State senior Alex Ross and sophomore Hunter Aquino were each named to the initial 2026 Tewaaraton watch list.
• The prestigious award, which recognizes the top man and woman lacrosse athletes across all divisions.
• In the past two seasons, Penn State has had a pair of Tewaaraton Award nominees (in mid-April, the Tewaaraton commitee narrows down the watch list to 25 names per gender to created the nominee’s list). Matt Traynor was a two-time recognizee (2024, 2025) and Jack Fracyon was named to the list in 2024.