Big Red, Terps Meet For NCAA Title on Monday
ITHACA, N.Y. — The Cornell men’s lacrosse team’s quest for a fourth NCAA title will be decided against a familiar opponent when the top-seeded Big Red meets No. 2 Maryland on Monday, May 26 at 1 p.m. at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. The contest will be broadcast on ESPN with Anish Shroff, Quint Kessenich, Paul Carcaterra and Dana Boyle on the call.
• For the fourth time, Cornell and Maryland will meet in a series as old as the NCAA Tournament itself — the Big Red topped the Terrapins 12-6 in the first-ever championship game on June 5, 1971 at Hofstra, the site of the Big Red’s quarterfinal win over Richmond.
• The two teams also met in the final in 1976 (Cornell won 16-13 on May 25 at Brown) and again in 2022 (Maryland won 9-7 on May 30 in East Hartford, Conn.).
• This is the second time Big Red head coach Connor Buczek has reached the national championship game, joining the legendary Richie Moran (six times) as the only Big Red coaches to reach the final game multiple times.
• His opponent, for the second time, will be Cornell graduate John Tillman ’91, who is in search of his third NCAA title at Maryland (2017, 2022).
• The two schools, linked by history and the late, great Richie Moran — a U.S. Lacrosse Hall of Famer and one of the great ambassadors of the sport, Maryland graduate and legendary championship coach at Cornell who coached Tillman as an undergraduate.
• The number 21 is special to the Cornell lacrosse program — it was the number worn by Big Red captain and Hard Hat recipient George Boiardi ’04, who tragically passed away in a 2004 contest. It has been 21 years since his passing.
• Cornell’s vaunted senior class, who missed their graduation on Saturday as it defeated No. 5 Penn State to advance to the finals, lost to Maryland in the championship game in 2022 as freshmen.
• The Big Red also suffered an overtime loss in 2009 to Syracuse in the last NCAA title game played at Gillette Stadium.
• Cornell, the 2025 Ivy League regular season and tournament champion, enters the NCAA Championship game with a 17-1 overall record in its ninth consecutive week atop the national polls.
• The Big Red clinched its 21st outright Ivy title on the strength of its 18th unbeaten season in conference play in program history.
• The Big Red earned its 31st NCAA Tournament bid in school history after claiming its third Ivy Tournament title (2011, 2018), scoring at least 20 goals in wins over Yale (21-14) and No. 2 Princeton (20-15) to garner the auto bid.
• The 2025 season marks Cornell’s 17th trip to the NCAA tournament since 2000, making it to the quarterfinal round 11 times, the semifinals six times and the national championship game three times in that span.
• Cornell sports a 13-game win streak, the eighth-longest in school history.
• A win over Maryland would not only be the first NCAA title for the Big Red men’s lacrosse team since 1977, but also the first team title in any sport since that season. Cornell’s NCAA team titles are: 1966-67 and 1969-70 men’s ice hockey; and 1971, 1976 and 1977 men’s lacrosse).
• During that span, men’s lacrosse has been the runner-up four times (1978, 1987, 1988, 2022), women’s ice hockey has finished second once (2009-10) and wrestling twice (2010, 2011).
• Buczek’s 2025 Big Red team returned eight starters and 22 letter winners from last season’s 9-5 squad that won the Ivy League regular season title — its third straight and 32nd overall in program history — but did not get an invite to the NCAA Tournament as an at-large selection.
• The National Coach of the Year candidate has a 51-15 career record with four consecutive Ivy titles in his four seasons directing his alma mater and is now in search of his first national championship.
• The Big Red ranks No. 1 nationally in goals (15.9), assists (10.7), and points (26.6) per game, as well as in shooting percentage (.365), while scoring at least 10 goals in every contest this season.
• Cornell has set new season records for goals (286) and points (479) and is second in assists (193).
• Senior All-American and Tewaaraton Trophy candidate CJ Kirst became Division I men’s lacrosse’s all-time leading goal scorer with two in the win over Dartmouth, surpassing Virginia’s Payton Cormier (224 from 2020-24). He enters the NCAA Finals with 241 scores.
• The nation’s active leading scorer at 338 points, the six-time Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week in 2025 paces all of college lacrosse with his 108 points (76 goals, 32 assists) this season.
Kirst, who has already surpassed former teammate John Piatelli ’22 for the school’s single-season goal scoring record (66), is now chasing the Division I single-season record. Kirst’s total is now up to 76, six behind Jon Reese of Yale in 1990 and Miles Thompson of UAlbany in 2014.
• Kirst’s running mate Michael Long, Kirst’s high school teammate at the Delbarton School, is just the sixth player at Cornell to surpass 200 career points, as well as the fourth Big Red player to surpass both 100 career goals (115) and 100 career assists (125). Arguably the most underrated player in the country enters the week with 240 points, sixth all-time at Cornell and sixth among all active Division I players
• Sophomore Ryan Goldstein is the third member of one of the nation’s most connected attacks. He is second on the team and the Ivy League and fourth nationally in points per game (4.94) with 39 goals and 50 assists.
• The trio of Kirst-Long-Goldstein has combined for 146 goals and 123 assists (269 points), more than half of all Division I teams had for the entire season (38 of 74 teams). They are the highest scoring attack trio in a season in school history, ahead of the fabled Mike French-Eamon McEneaney-Jon Levine unit in both 1975 (144-118-262) and 1976 (133-117-250)
• The midfield has been led by senior Hugh Kelleher and sophomore Willem Firth, two offensive-minded players who have combined for 88 points.
• Junior Jack Cascadden has been outstanding at the faceoff X all season, winning 64 percent of his restarts in the past 12 contests (211-of-330) and scoring 10 goals as well. He has set single-season records for faceoff wins (275) and ground balls (154)
• An underrated Cornell defense has surrendered just 10.3 goals over its past 11 games (scoring 15.7 gpg over that span) and is allowing opponents to shoot just 28 percent overall this season.
• Sparked by All-America candidate Jayson Singer and all-league candidates Brendan Staub, Walker Wallace and Chris Davis, the Big Red defensive unit has been exceptional in front of goalkeeper Wyatt Knust.
• Knust owns the record for most goalkeeper wins in a season (17) and sports a 25-5 record in his career between the pipes.
GAME INFORMATION
#2/2 (2) Maryland vs. #1/1 (1) Cornell
DATE & TIME: Monday, May 26 at 1:00 p.m.
SITE: Gillette Stadium – Foxborough, Mass.
RECORDS: Maryland 14-3 (3-2 Big 10); Cornell 17-1 (6-0 Ivy)
SERIES RECORD: Maryland leads 16-5-1
BROADCAST: ESPN / ESPN+
STATS: CornellBigRed.com
GAME NOTES: CornellBigRed.com
A WIN OVER MARYLAND WOULD …
• give Cornell its fourth NCAA title and first since 1977.
• make Cornell 18-1 on the season with its 14th straight victory, closing the season with a school record for wins.
• make the Big Red 3-1 all-time against the Terrapins in the NCAA title game (wins in 1971, 1976, loss in 2022).
• even its record at 4-4 all-time against Maryland in the NCAA Tournament
• improve Cornell’s record in NCAA Tournament play to 40-27 (sixth-most wins in NCAA Tournament history).
• push head coach Connor Buczek‘s career record to 52-15 (.776).
• be the 826th in program history (825-502-27, .619).
LAST TIME VS. MARYLAND
• The Cornell men’s lacrosse team never quit against an unbeaten Maryland team looking to make history, making a late run before falling 9-7 to the Terps in front of 22,1984 Krentschler Field in the 2022 NCAA Championship game.
• The Big Red outscored the Terps 5-2 in the second half, had a late goal disallowed on a questionable crease call and kept the pressure on the Terrapins all afternoon, even as tournament MVP Logan McNaney made 17 saves to stymie a Big Red offense that held a 40-37 shot edge on the high-scoring Terrapins.
• The offense struggled to get going, but netted five goals over the final 19:34 while the defense shut out the Terps over the final 26:05, but it wasn’t enough after Maryland methodically got out to a 9-2 lead five minutes into the second half.
• CJ Kirst, John Piatelli and Gavin Adler were named to the NCAA All-Tournament team for the Big Red.
• McNaney made 17 saves, including 10 in the decisive first half, and Luke Wierman won 8-of-9 face-offs in the final 30 minutes to play a large part in closing out its 18-0 season.
LAST TIME OUT
• Five unanswered goals over a span of 6:40 during the third quarter transformed a 6-5 lead for Penn State (12-5) into a 10-6 advantage for Cornell (17-1), as the Big Red fended off a fourth-quarter comeback attempt by the Nittany Lions to secure an 11-9 victory at Gillette Stadium.
• As their classmates marched to Schoellkopf Field for Saturday’s graduation ceremony, the Big Red seniors took another step toward its goal of winning the program’s fourth national title by avenging its only loss of 2025.
• Senior midfielder Hugh Kelleher recorded a hat trick for the Big Red, while senior attack Michael Long scored a team-high five points (two goals, three assists).
• Senior goalkeeper Wyatt Knust made nine saves for Cornell, six of which occurred in the first quarter, during which the Big Red held Penn State scoreless.
• Jack Cascadden won 15-of-23 faceoffs, including eight straight at one point, and scored a goal.
• Penn State’s Liam Matthews spearheaded the Nittany Lions’ offense with four goals, while Jack Fracyon recorded eight saves between the pipes.
MILESTONE WATCH
• Senior CJ Kirst’s 338 points rank second on the school’s career list — Rob Pannell ’13 sits first with 354 points. He is five away from reaching the top 10 in NCAA history (Asher Nolting of High Point with 343 from 2018-22).
• With 108 points in 2025, Kirst surpassed the 49-year-old single-season school record of 105 by Mike French in 1976.
• He needs six goals to match the single-season goal scoring record in Division I of 82 (Jon Reese of Yale in 1990 and Miles Thompson of UAlbany in 2014). He ranks fourth with 76 scores.
• Kirst has 97 career assists and is three shy of becoming the seventh player at Cornell to hit 100.
• Kirst also has 63 career caused turnovers, matching Big Red defensive coordinator Jordan Stevens ’15 and Gavin Adler ’23, the USILA William C. Schmeisser Defensive Player of the Year in 2023 and first pick in the PLL Draft for fourth on the school’s career list.
• Sophomore Willem Firth has nine man-up goals and is one from reaching fourth in a season.
• Cornell is seven assists from matching the 1976 team’s record of 200 in a single season.
NO. 1 SEED HISTORY
• This is the fifth time in NCAA Tournament history (beginning in 1971) that Cornell has been the No. 1 overall seed (1971, 1975, 1977, 1978, 2025).
• The Big Red was the No. 1 overall seed in the 1971 NCAA Tournament, the first-ever national championship — winning that title with a 12-6 victory over No. 3 Maryland in the final.
• Two of its three NCAA titles have come as the No. 1 seed (1971, 1977), with the third in 1976 coming after being the No. 2 seed,
• Cornell sports a 12-2 record as the No. 1 overall seed.
KIRST WATCH
• Senior CJ Kirst is Cornell (191, Mike French, 1974-76), the Ivy League (198, Matt Brandau of Yale, 2019-24) and NCAA Division I (224, Payton Cormier of Virginia, 2020-24) all-time leading goal scorer with 241 and counting.
• Kirst is the nation’s active leader in career goals (241) and points (338), well ahead of Siena’s Pratt Reynolds (170) and Princeton’s Coulter Mackesy (248), respectively.
• The 10th player in Division I history to reach the 200-goal mark, he became the fastest player to reach that mark at 55 games.
• Kirst’s 3.65 goals per game is the fourth-best average in Division history — and second at Cornell behind Mike French’s 4.06, which is No. 2 in NCAA history. NC State’s Stan Cockerton scored 4.39 goals per game from 1977-80.
• His points total of 338 puts him 13th in NCAA history and is two from reaching 12th (Maryland’s Logan Wisnauskas, 2018-22). Entering Championship Weekend, Kirst’s 4.47 goals per game ranked second among all NCAA lacrosse players (Division I, II and III), with Joseph James of Division III Franciscan (4.73) narrowly ahead.
• With 76 goals in 2025, Kirst stands atop the Cornell single-season list (surpassing former teammate John Piatelli ’22 with 66 in 2022). That total is second in Ivy history, behind the NCAA record 82 by Jon Reese in 1990.
• His 108 points make him the 26th player in NCAA men’s Division I history to hit 100 in a season (fourth Cornellian and eighth Ivy player).
• Kirst’s 65 scoring streak, snapped on Saturday vs. Penn State, ranked as the second-longest streak in Ivy League history, behind only Big Red Hall of Famer Rob Pannell ’13 with 72.
• He is the 40th player in Ivy League history to be named to the first-team at least three times (12th from Cornell and first since current Big Red head coach Connor Buczek ’15).
• His nine scores in the regular season victory over Yale are tied for the most in a single-game this season in Division I and was one off a Cornell record.
• Kirst’s 12 points (six goals, six assists) vs. Hobart are also tied for the most in a single-game this season in Division I (Lafayette’s Riley Sullivan vs. Colgate).
NOTES TO KNOW
• Cornell has scored double figure goals in all 18 contests this season with four 20-goal games, including in three of its last seven outings.
• The Big Red (6-0 in Ivy League) was one of just three unbeaten teams in conference play in Division I, joining Richmond (5-0 in Atlantic 10) and Towson (7-0 in Coastal Athletic Association).
• Cornell (6-0) was one of three Division I teams to go unbeaten on the road in 2025, joining Army West Point (6-0) and Ohio State (5-0).
• Entering the week, senior CJ Kirst (first, 5.20), sophomore Ryan Goldstein (third, 4.65) and senior Michael Long (10th, 4.05) all rank among the nation’s top 10 active leaders in career points per game.
• Willem Firth ranks second in the nation with nine extra-man scores.
• Since regaining his starting spot last April, senior Wyatt Knust is averaging 12.5 saves per game and sports an 21-3 record in those 24 contests.
• Junior Jack Cascadden has scored 15 career goals (with four assists) directly off face-offs in his career, including 10 this season.
• Senior defender Jayson Singer and senior midfielder Hugh Kelleher both entered the NCAA transfer portal in an attempt to play football after graduating from Cornell. Singer, the Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year, has started 46 of the past 47 games for the Big Red on defense. Kelleher, the Ivy League Midfielder of the Year, has started all 66 contests of his career.
• Seniors CJ Kirst and Hugh Kelleher have both started all 66 career games they have played for the Big Red. Only Rob Pannell ’13 (72 games) has opened more contests consecutively for Cornell in school history.
• Sophomore Ryan Goldstein’s eight assists against Yale were one off a school record and are tied for the most by a Division I men’s lacrosse player in a game this season (Ryan Bell of Providence vs. Holy Cross).
• The Big Red set an Ivy League record for fastest consecutive goals at five seconds in a 10-8 win over Dartmouth. Willem Firth scored on a feed from CJ Kirst with 15 seconds remaining in the third quarter to snap a 6-6 tie, then Jack Cascadden won the ensuing faceoff and immediately scored with 10 seconds left in the quarter.
• Cornell is 26-6 (.813) at home under head coach Connor Buczek.
PRESEASON HONORS
• Senior attackman CJ Kirst is the USA Lacrosse Division I Men’s Preseason Player of the Year and Attackman of the Year.
• Kirst, senior midfielder Hugh Kelleher and senior attackmen Michael Long have been selected to the 2025 Tewaaraton Trophy Watch List.
• Kirst was also chosen as a USA Lacrosse, USILA and Inside Lacrosse Division I Men’s Preseason All-America first team selection.
• Kirst was chosen as college lacrosse’s top player by Inside Lacrosse in its IL Top 50, while Long was slotted No. 19.
• Long was a third-team All-America choice by both USILA and Inside Lacrosse.
• Sophomore midfielder Willem Firth, senior defender Jayson Singer and senior goalkeeper Wyatt Knust were honorable mention selections by USILA, while Inside Lacrosse honored Firth, senior midfielder Hugh Kelleher and senior short-stick midfielder Chris Davis.
THE HARD HAT
• Charlie Box was selected to carry the Hard Hat for the 2025 season.
• Sixth-year senior Michael Long (2023) and fifth-year senior CJ Kirst (2024) have also carried the Hard Hat during their careers.
• The tradition of the Hard Hat began in the fall of 1999.
• Midway through the fall season, a player is selected to carry the Hard Hat for the year.
• The recipient is someone that the coaches feel demonstrates a blue-collar approach to the game of lacrosse; he is driven and selfless, not the most talented player on the field, but consistently the hardest worker. He puts the team first, and embodies • how the coaches want Cornell players to act and respond on or off the field.
PROFESSIONAL NOTES
• Jeff Teat ’21 broke the single-season Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) scoring record with 64 points (28 goals, 36 assists), shattering the previous mark of 44 by Lyle Thompson (2022) and matched by Marcus Holman (2023).
• Professional lacrosse’s all-time single-season leading point scorer is Rob Pannell ’13. The former Big Red player set the record in the 2018 season of the Major League Lacrosse (MLL), putting away 43 goals and 35 assists for 78 points.
• Chayse Ierlan ’23 became the fourth Big Red player taken in the PLL Draft after the goalkeeper was chosen No. 29 overall by the California Redwoods last May. He joins Gavin Adler ’24, Jeff Teat ’21 and Clarke Petterson ’19. Teat was the No. 1 overall pick in 2021 and Adler went No. 1 in 2023.
• Since 2002, Cornell has had 38 players chosen in the MLL/PLL Draft.
IVY PRESEASON POLL
• The Big Red was chosen first in the Ivy League Preseason Media Poll announced in February.
• Cornell finished first with nine of the 14 first-place votes and a total of 90 points, just ahead of Princeton (87 points, four first-place votes).
• Yale (71 points, one first-place vote) and Penn (57 points) rounded out the top four.
