By SCOTT CHIUSANO
The Cornell men’s lacrosse team was picked outside the Top-10 in the 2014 Inside Lacrosse Face-Off Yearbook Preseason Poll for the first time since 2003.
The Red comes in at No. 17 in the poll, the second-highest ranked Ivy League team after reigning Ivy League champion Yale, which rounded out the Top-10. The squad finished the 2013 season with a 14-4 overall record and 6-0 conference record, but took an early exit in the Ivy League tournament with a 14-13 overtime loss to Princeton. Cornell fared better in the NCAA tournament, though, advancing to the Final Four before falling to Duke, the No. 1 ranked team in the preseason poll.
The same publication also awarded preseason All-American honors to junior midfielder Connor Buczek, junior attack Matt Donovan and senior midfielder Doug Tesoriero. Tesoriero holds the school-record in faceoff wins with 241, and is just the eighth player in Cornell history to record at least 100 ground balls in a season. Buczek completed a strong 2013 campaign by being named a Second-team All American and a unanimous First-team All-Ivy selection. Donovan ranked fifth on the team in goals last season and was named the Ivy League Rookie of the Year his freshman year, only the fifth Cornell player to receive this honor.
The Red will host its first scrimmage game on Feb. 9 on Schoellkopf under interim head coach Matt Kerwick.