The 15th ranked Cornell Big Red (3-0) hosts #44 Canisius (2-1) tomorrow at Schoellkopf Field.
The Golden Griffins lost at #5 Denver last weekend while Cornell squeaked by #39 Michigan in OT to move up in the standings from last week’s rank of 19th.
This is Cornell’s last game against competition outside of the Top 25 before facing top 5 Virginia and top 20 Yale. That being said, this is a game the Big Red needs to concentrate on and not direct attention to Virginia until it’s over.
With the exception of their last game against Denver in which they were simply outmatched, Canisius has shown resilience and fight so far this season. Nothing will excite them more than coming into Ithaca, NY with an opportunity to make moves in the standings.
Cornell’s record on the other hand may be somewhat misleading. The Big Red has won all three of their contests in 2014 but they have looked vulnerable at times.
The Big Red’s Matt Donovan came around the cage and buried his fifth goal of the game with 1:41 remaining in the overtime period in Saturday’s game to deny Michigan’s upset bid and to lift Cornell to a 15-14 victory in Oosterbaan Field House in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
The upcoming games against Virginia and Yale won’t mean nearly as much if they can’t conquer Canisius in this weekday tilt.
It’s early in the season but the stakes are already high for both teams. Canisius will look to put the first blemish of the season on Cornell’s clean record and avoid a .500 start at 4 pm tomorrow, Tuesday March 4.
