No. 8 Cornell (7-3) at No. 9 Syracuse (6-3)
Tuesday’s televised festivities begin in the Carrier Dome with Cornell and Syracuse duking it out for Empire State supremacy. The Big Red swept the two meetings last year, the first a 13-8 win in Ithaca, the second a 10-9 victory in the Carrier Dome during the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Cornell recently suffered setbacks to Penn and Yale, but when the Big Red won, they’ve done so handily (their last four victories were settled by an average of 10 goals), most recently defeating Harvard 19-11 last weekend. Jeff Teat (25G, 29A) led all scorers with five goals and three assists, while Ivy League Player of the Week Clarke Petterson (35, 11) scored five goals on five shots. Petterson, who handed out two assists as well, finished the day with 104 career goals, making him the 10th player in Cornell history to pass the century mark.
Syracuse suffered a 13-10 loss to Notre Dame two Saturdays ago, but the team cleansed its palate last Tuesday with a 17-5 win over Hobart, the Orange scoring the game’s final 12 goals. Stephen Rehfuss (9, 10) led the Orange with two goals and three assists, while Bradley Voight (22, 4) and Jacob Buttermore (12, 2) each recorded hat tricks.
Jeff Teat led all scorers with two goals and four assists in last year’s regular season victory over the Orange, yet contributed just one assist in the second, Petterson (35, 11) scoring five times while Teat dealt with Nick Mellen’s constant harassment. With Teat and Mellen presumably picking back up where they left off last season, Petterson could once again find himself matched up against Tyson Bomberry, both of whom were selected by the Boston Cannons in last month’s MLL collegiate draft.
The Big Red are second in the nation in both goals (15.56) and assists (10) per game, and while the Orange are currently 17th (12.67) and 35th (6.56) in those respective categories, they feature a defense that has held four opponents to single digits this season, and goalie Drake Porter tied a career-high with 16 saves in his last outing.
