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PROGRAM SCHEDULE PROPAGANDA: PRESS RELEASE
THIS IS WHY WE FIGHT: THE SCHEDULE
Here are some schedule highlights and games of note:
Hoo Boy!
February 15: at Syracuse
How unique is Cornell opening with Syracuse? So unique that I'm willing to cut and paste from a press release, one that did hard work so that I could do no work:
For just the third time in the 95-year history of its rivalry with Syracuse, the Big Red will open its season against the Orange, travelling to the Carrier Dome on Sunday, Feb. 15. The last time Cornell faced its in-state rival in its first game was during the 1979 season, a 10-6 Big Red victory. That game was the Orange's third of the season. Prior to the 1979 meeting, the teams faced off in the first game for both squads in 1946 (Syracuse, 8-3) and 1931 (Cornell, 4-3).
There's a part of me that wishes that this game was in Ithaca and not at the Dome: A mid-February meeting in the snow belt would merit infinite levels of don't-start-the-lacrosse-season-until-July's-gnat-season. There wouldn't be a possibility that it'd snow in Ithaca; it would be a certainty, the only unknown being weather Cornell's grounds crew would clear Schoellkopf with flamethrowers.
At a macro level, Syracuse may become the place to be Valentine's Day Weekend: The Orange will host Duke in the Carrier Dome on Saturday in a pivotal ACC basketball meeting expected to draw at or around 35,000 people; then, on Sunday, the Red will travel north to the Dome to reinvigorate a lacrosse rivalry that has become one of the strongest in Division I. Take my money, Syracuse-area hotels. Just take it, dammit.
Yupstate
February 15: at Syracuse; February 21: at Hobart; February 24: Binghamton; February 28: v. Albany; March 17: Colgate; April 7: Canisius
Over a third of Cornell's schedule is populated with Upstate New York opponents, and here's the best part of that fact: There's a reasonable chance that the Red will play in the snow in three of those meetings. Geneva in late February? Tropical. Ithaca three days later? The humidity is suffocating. Hamilton in mid-March? I once returned from spring break -- spring break -- to a foot and a half of snow in Central New York.
This is going to be awesome. Salt potatoes and trash-can-fires-for-warmth for everyone!
Despotic Rule?
March 14: at Yale; March 21: Pennsylvania; March 28: Dartmouth; April 4: at Harvard; April 18: at Brown; April 25: Princeton
Can the Red keep up their dominance over their Ivy League peers?
| TEAM | '05-'09 IVY RECORD | WINNING % | RANK | '10-'14 IVY RECORD | WINNING % | RANK | |
| Brown | 12-18 | 40.00% | 3 | 13-17 | 43.33% | 5 | |
| Cornell | 27-3 | 90.00% | 1 | 25-5 | 83.33% | 1 | |
| Dartmouth | 12-18 | 40.00% | 3 | 5-25 | 16.67% | 7 | |
| Harvard | 12-18 | 40.00% | 3 | 14-16 | 46.67% | 4 | |
| Pennsylvania | 12-18 | 40.00% | 3 | 13-17 | 43.33% | 5 | |
| Princeton | 23-7 | 76.67% | 2 | 17-13 | 56.67% | 3 | |
| Yale | 7-23 | 23.33% | 7 | 18-12 | 60.00% | 2 |
The Big Red's run through the conference over the last 10 seasons is unrelenting: The team has lost eight times in regular season play. Eight. The team is an insane 52-8 against its conference rivals, a rate of success that seemingly shouldn't exist against one of Division I's best leagues. The team with the next best record in Ivy League competition since 2005 -- Princeton -- is 40-20 and has lost 20 percent more of their regular season conference games over this span than the Red. Good grief.