YALE vs. CORNELL
Ivy League Tournament Semifinals
Fri., May 5, 2023 – 6 p.m.
New York, N.Y.
TV: ESPNU
ESPNU Video | Live Stats | Tickets
Yale Game Notes
 
NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Yale men's lacrosse team is in a familiar place in the first weekend of May, competing in the Ivy League Tournament. The Bulldogs, seeded fourth, meet No. 1 Cornell on Friday at 6 p.m. at Columbia's Lawrence A. Wien Stadium. The game will be televised on ESPNU.
 
Yale is making its 11th straight appearance in the tournament and is the only school to appear in each of the previous 10 tournaments.
 
No. 2 Penn meets No. 3 Princeton in the second semifinal on Friday at 8:30 p.m. The championship game is Sunday at noon and will be televised on ESPN2.
 
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
 
* Yale's path to the tournament was far from easy. The Bulldogs dropped their first three league games before rallying to win their final three, including a 14-11 victory over Harvard last Saturday that clinched the fourth seed in the tournament.
 
*  Yale, ranked No. 10 in this week's USILA coaches' poll and No. 11 by Inside Lacrosse, has won five straight games overall, outscoring its opponents 82-52 during the streak.
 
*  Yale is No. 9 in the latest NCAA RPI rankings. Cornell sits at No. 7.
 
* The Bulldogs are eighth in the nation and second in the Ivy League in scoring offense (14.83).
 
* In its first seven games, Yale allowed an average of 15 goals per game. In the last five, the Bulldogs have yielded 10.4 goals per game.
 
* After scoring only one man-up goal in its first five games, Yale has scored 12 in its last seven games. During the five-game winning streak the Bulldogs are 7-of-17 (41.2 percent) with the extra man. Leo Johnson leads the team with five man-up goals.
 
* Yale's starting attack – Matt Brandau, Chris Lyons and Johnson – has combined for 110 goals, 50 assists and 160 points, which is the seventh most by an attack group in the nation.
 
* The Bulldogs' sophomore class has combined for 114 goals and 161 points.
 
* Matt Brandau, who earned first team All-Ivy honors for the second straight season, is 13th in the nation in points per game (4.75), which is third in the Ivy League. In addition, he is 15th in the nation and second in the league in assists per game (2.17). Brandau, one of 25 nominees for the Tewaaraton Award, has had at least one point in all 52 games he has played at Yale. The 52 straight games with at least one point is the third longest active streak in the nation.
 
* Brandau also continues to climb in the Yale record book. His 246 career points is second in school history, trailing only Ben Reeves, who amassed 316 points from 2015 to 2018. Brandau's 148 career goals are third all-time at Yale and his 98 career assists are also third.
 
* Brandau has scored at least one goal in 51 of the 52 games he has played at Yale. The only time he didn't score came at Princeton earlier this season.
 
* Defender Michael Alexander earned first team All-Ivy honors for the first time in his career. He has started all 12 games and is second on the team with 12 caused turnovers and also added 17 ground balls.
 
* Chris Lyons' 49 goals are the sixth most in a season and the most by a sophomore in school history. Four more would move him into third place. Jon Reese is the school record holder with 82 in 1990, and Ben Reeves scored 62 in 2018. Lyons, who earned second team All-Ivy honors, is second in the nation in goals per game (4.08). In the season opener at Villanova, Lyons scored nine goals, the most by a sophomore at Yale. In his two seasons, Lyons has scored 85 goals.
 
* Johnson, an honorable mention All-Ivy selection, has at least one point in all 29 games he has played in at Yale and has scored at least one goal in all but two games.
 
* Lyons and Johnson, both sophomores, each reached 100 career points recently. Lyons did it in the win over Albany when he scored his fifth goal of the night in the fourth quarter. Johnson reached the milestone a week earlier against Brown with an assist on a Brandau goal in the third quarter.
 
* Jack Stuzin, who earned first team All-Ivy honors for the first time in his career, is 18th in the nation and second in the Ivy League in caused turnovers per game (1.75). Stuzin also is second on the team with 32 ground balls.
 
* Goalie Jared Paquette is third in the nation in saves per game at 14.33, which leads the league. He has stopped at least 10 shots in all 12 games, including a season-high 22 in the win at UMass. His 398 saves over two seasons are eighth all-time at Yale.
 
YALE-CORNELL HISTORY
 
Yale and Cornell are meeting in the semifinals of the Ivy League Tournament for the second straight season. Last year at Brown, the Bulldogs avenged a regular season loss with a 14-11 victory over the Big Red. Ten different Bulldogs scored in the victory, and Leo Johnson had a team-high five points on two goals and three assists.
 
In the first meeting this season on Mar. 18 at Reese Stadium, Yale scored the game's first two goals, but Cornell answered with the next eight on its way to a 20-10 victory. Johnson and Chris Lyons each had three goals for the Bulldogs, while CJ Kirst scored five times to lead the Big Red. Yale had a 47-40 edge in shots, but Chayse Ierlan made 21 saves in goal for Cornell.
 
The Big Red leads the all-time series 54-29-1. The teams have met five times in the Ivy Tournament, and Yale has won three, including the last two.
 
IVY TOURNAMENT HISTORY
 
Yale is seeking its sixth Ivy League Tournament title. The Bulldogs won in 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017. Yale has advanced to the championship game in each of the last six tournaments. Last year in Providence, the Bulldogs lost to Penn 16-9 in the title game. Yale's all-time record in the tournament is 13-6.
 
SCOUTING CORNELL
 
The Big Red, ranked No. 6 by both the USILA and Inside Lacrosse, earned the Ivy League regular season title and the No. 1 seed in the tournament with a thrilling 14-13 overtime victory over Princeton last Saturday in Ithaca. Aiden Blake scored the game winner in the extra period. Cornell is seventh in the nation in scoring offense (14.85) and eighth in scoring defense (10.15). Cornell features CJ Kirst, who was named the Ivy League Player of the Year on Wednesday after leading the league with 58 goals, including 30 in Ivy play. Kirst is one of four first team All-Ivy selections. He is joined by midfielder Hugh Kelleher, defender Gavin Adler and goalie Chayse Ierlan. Connor Buczek was named the league's Coach of the Year for the second straight season.