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ITHACA, N.Y. — Following a season-long nine-day break from competition, the Cornell women’s lacrosse team will face local rival Binghamton on Tuesday, March 18 at 5 p.m. at Schoellkopf Field. The contests will be broadcast on ESPN+.

• Cornell moved to 5-2 on the year and won its Ivy opener after splitting a pair of contests last weekend.

• The Big Red held off a late Brown rally to claim a 16-14 triumph in its conference opener on March 7 behind six goals from Tewaaraton Trophy Watch List selection Caitlin Slaminko.

• The win was the third consecutive in an Ivy opener for the Big Red.

• After an early lead, Cornell suffered its second loss of the season to a ranked opponent when it fell 11-7 to No. 7 Stanford, its first home loss of the year.

• Cornell has won 10 of 11 meetings all-time against the Bearcats, including a 15-7 triumph last season in Vestal.

• The Big Red holds a 162-85-3 (.654) mark all-time against New York State opponents and will look to add to that this week against both the Bearcats and Ivy foe Columbia.

• Cornell’s offense has been explosive, averaging 14.3 goals per game (21st nationally) with six of its seven contests in double figures.

• The Big Red ranks 21st nationally in assists per game (7.7) and is 15th in points per game (22.0) after its first seven contests.

• Head coach Jenny Graap‘s team returns five of its top six scorers, a veteran defense composed of four seniors, and its top two goalkeepers.

• Cornell, picked sixth in the Ivy League’s Preseason Media Poll, is coming off a 7-8 campaign (2-5 Ivy) a season ago.

GAME INFORMATION

Binghamton at Cornell

DATE & TIME: Tuesday, March 18 at 5:00 p.m.

SITE: Schoellkopf Field – Ithaca, N.Y.

RECORDS: Binghamton 3-5 (0-0 America East); Cornell 5-2 (1-0 Ivy)

SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads 10-11

BROADCAST: ESPN+

STATS: CornellBigRed.com

DIGITAL PROGRAM: CornellBigRed.com

GAME NOTES: CornellBigRed.com

A WIN OVER BINGHAMTON WOULD …

• move the Big Red’s record to 6-2 on the season and 5-1 in its past six games.

• improve its advantage in the all-time series with the Bearcats to 11-1.

• give the Big Red a 22-11 mark all-time against current members of the America East Conference

• push Graap’s career record at Cornell to 239-169 (.586). and to 260-213 overall (.550).

• be the 382nd in program history (381-335-4, .532).

VS. THE AMERICA EAST

• Cornell sports a 21-11 (.656) all-time record against current members of the America East.

• The Big Red holds all-time series advantages against Binghamton (10-1), UAlbany (4-3) and Vermont (4-2).

• Cornell trails the all-time series against New Hampshire 5-3.

• The Big Red has never faced Bryant, UMass Lowell and UMBC .

• The is Cornell’s first and of two regular season matchups the Big Red will play against teams from the America East, as it will also travel to New Hampshire on March 31.

LAST TIME VS. BINGHAMTON

• A sunny afternoon was just what the doctor ordered for Cornell women’s lacrosse, as it raced out to a 2-0 lead and never looked back, taking down in-state rival Binghamton, 15-7, at the Bearcats Sports Complex. 

• Junior attacker Josie Vogel lit up the scoreboard, tying her career high with four goals alongside an assist. 

• Kylie Gelabert also had a career day, finding the back of the net twice and adding five assists. 

• Senior Lucy Dwyer recorded her first career hat trick and her first two assists of her Big Red career. 

• Bridget Babcock (two goals, one assist) and Sophie Ward (one goal, two assists) closed out the multi-point club for a Big Red offense that doubled up the Bearcats in both shots (36-18) and shots on goal (27-13). 

• Seniors Hilary Hoover and Annie Thomas locked down the draw control circle for the Big Red with nine combined wins, one more than Binghamton had all game.

• Olivia Muscolino paced the Bearcats offense with three goals and two assists for her fifth hat trick of the season. Kristen Scheidel also had a solid day for Binghamton with two goals and a team-high five draw control wins, while the Big Red offense made netminder Sofia Salgado post a career-high 12 saves in the loss.

MILESTONE WATCH

• Senior Josie Vogel’s 123 points rank 21st all-time at Cornell and are two from joining the top 20.

• Vogel is four goals from becoming the 16th player ever at Cornell to reach 100 career goals.

• Senior Kylie Gelabert (42) is one assist from joining the top 10 in school history, while Maggie Pons (39) is one helper from becoming the 13th player in school history to hit the 40-assist milestone and four from hitting the top 10.

• Senior Ellie Horner is three wins away from becoming the fifth Big Red goalkeeper with 20 career wins in the cage.

LAST TIME OUT

• No. 7 Stanford used a 7-0 run and a stifling second-half defensive effort to hold off Cornell 11-7 at Schoellkopf Field. 

• Senior Caitlin Slaminko scored four goals and Maggie Pons scored twice and assisted on another, but it was the Big Red defense that gave itself a chance. 

• Cornell caused 18 turnovers, including five from junior Caitlin Tully. 

• Tully added five ground balls as the Big Red held a 22-18 edge off the ground. 

• The two teams split 22 draw controls right down the middle, with the Big Red holding a 24-19 edge in shots.

• Lucy Pearson was a difference maker in goal, making 12 saves, causing a turnover and winning five ground balls around the cage for the visitors. 

• Several of her saves came on point-blank shots by the Big Red, allowing Stanford to keep Cornell off the board for nearly 36 minutes of game time before Slaminko netted her fourth of the night with just 37 seconds left. 

• Pearson had seven of her goals after halftime and five in the fourth quarter alone to keep the momentum with the Cardinal. 

NOTES TO KNOW

• The Big Red has reached double figures in goals in six of its seven contests this season.

• Cornell set team records for goals (24), assists (17) and points (41) in the Big Red’s 24-7 victory over Niagara, while its 21 draw controls were tied for the third-most in school history.

• Kylie Gelabert recorded seven goals, two assists and nine points in the win over Niagara, scoring goals on all seven shot attempts. The seven goals and nine points were both one shy of the Big Red single-game records.

• Ella Wilmot’s eight-point effort (three goals, five assists) against the Purple Eagles left her one short of the single-game school record for assists and her points total good for ninth all-time.

• Cornell’s offense has put at least 70 percent of its shots on target in six of seven games this season and over 80 percent three times.

• In five contests against unranked opponents in 2025, the Big Red offense is averaging 16.6 goals and the defense has allowed just 8.6 goals and posted a .453 save percentage.

• The Big Red is 5-0 this season when leading at the half, keeping up its wild success when leading at the break under head coach Jenny Graap ’86 (192-21, .901).

• Another big trend under Graap — Cornell is 192-25 (.885) when holding opponents to fewer than 10 goals in a game and 92-2 (.979) when that is six or fewer.

• Senior Josie Vogel was named to the 2024 College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic At-Large All-District Team after sporting a 3.70 GPA in Government.

• In seven games this season, junior Ella Wilmot (12 goals, 15 assists) has more than doubled her career scoring total entering the campaign (12 points).

• Three Big Red players are within striking distance of 100 career points — seniors Kylie Gelabert (95), Maggie Pons (89) and Caitlin Slaminko (89).

• Sophomore defender Julia Ramsey in a two-year letter winner on the field hockey team where she already ranks sixth in school history in career assists (21). Her sister, Caroline ’24, is a two-time All-American, Cornell’s all-time leading scorer and a member of the Team USA in field hockey.

• One of Ramsey’s cousins was Annie Thomas ’24, Cornell’s all-time leader in draw controls (233).

• Junior midfielder Dillyn Patten joined the England Women’s Senior Performance Squad this past December.

• The England Women’s Field Lacrosse Team is ranked third in the world and won the Women’s European Lacrosse Championship 2024. 

• Patten’s sister, Kendall ’24, played soccer for the Big Red, as did her mother, Corinne (Cantrall) Patten ’92.

• The Big Red has qualified for the Ivy League Tournament 10 times in the 14 years it has been held.

• Senior defender Alessia Packard has a sister (Antonia ’25, field hockey) and brother (Charles ’24, men’s lacrosse) who are recent Big Red graduates and varsity athletes.

THE CAPTAINS

• The Big Red is led by three captains this season: seniors Caitlin Slaminko and Lucy Dwyer along with junior Caitlin Tully. 

• Slaminko returns as a two-time captain, while Tully and Dwyer take on the role for the first time.

NEW YORK STATE OF MIND

• The matchup with Niagara on Feb. 25 was Cornell’s 250th all-time game against fellow New York state schools.

• Cornell has traditionally been very successful against collegiate teams from New York state, posting an all-time record of 162-85-3 (.654).

• The Big Red has five New York teams on its schedule during the 2025 season – Syracuse (L, 18-10), Colgate (15-6), Niagara (24-7), BInghamton and Columbia.

NOTES ON JENNY GRAAP ’86

• Jenny Graap ’86 ranks as the 12th active winningest Division I women’s lacrosse coach with her 260 career victories. Directly ahead of her in 11th is Joe Spallina of Stony Brook with 283 victories.

• Her 28 seasons on the Big Red sidelines makes her the third-longest tenured coach at their school entering the 2025 season, behind only Duke’s Kerstin Kimel (1996) and North Carolina’s Jenny Levy (1996).

• Graap ranks fourth on the Ivy League’s all-time wins list, behind only Princeton’s Chris Sailer (433 from 1987-2022), Penn’s Karin Corbett (272 from 2000-present) and Harvard’s Carole Kleinfelder (259 from 1979-2003) as of March 10.

• In her 28th season, Graap is the longest tenured women’s head coach in school history (in any sport) and is currently the Dean among women’s lacrosse coaches in the Ivy League.

• Graap’s 239 career wins (and counting) for the Big Red ranks her 12th all-time among Cornell head coaches in all sports and second among women coaches (behind Andrea Dutcher with 346 volleyball wins from 1974-87).

HALL OF FAME

• Jessi Steinberg ’12 was inducted into the Cornell Athletics Hall of Fame this past fall.

• A three-time first-team All-Ivy League selection and a three-time IWLCA Northeast All-Region pick, she graduated with the fourth-most points (177), third-most goals (136) and eighth-most assists (41) in school history. 

• Steinberg’s senior season total of 65 points was also the third-best single season ever at Cornell.

• The two-time Big Red team captain was the leading scorer for the Israeli national team that competed at the 2017 FIL World Cup and again competed in 2022.

IVY PRESEASON POLL

• The Big Red was chosen sixth in the Ivy League Preseason Media Poll announced in February.

• Cornell finished with a total of 54 points, just behind Harvard (71) and Brown (62) for the coveted fourth spot that will yield a spot in the Ivy League Tournament.

• Yale (125 points, 13 first-place votes), Penn (107 points, two first-place votes) and Princeton (104 points, one first-place vote) were chosen in the top three after making the NCAA Tournament a season ago.

• Dartmouth (54) and Columbia (17) rounded out the field.

NEXT UP

• Cornell returns to Ivy League play and hits the road for the first time to face Columbia on Sunday, March 23 at 12 p.m. at Wien Stadium.

• The contest will be broadcast on ESPN+.

• Cornell is 27-0 all-time against the Lions, including 14-0 in New York City.

• The Big Red has won all 27 games by multiple goals and each of the last four contests by at least seven scores.