No. 8 Notre Dame takes on its toughest challenge of the year when it travels to Hewlett, N.Y., to play powerhouse No. 4 Cornell Saturday.
The Irish (2-0) are fresh off of an 11-8 victory against Penn State and look to start 3-0 for the first time since 2003. Cornell (2-0) dominated its first two matches of the year with a 19-4 win over Binghamton and a 16-6 victory over Colgate. The Irish dropped the last two matches to the Big Red by an 11-10 tally in 2005 and a 9-6 score last season.
Irish junior goaltender Joey Kemp is particularly excited about his third time playing the Big Red.
"It has been close the last couple of years," Kemp said. "[Cornell] is a really good team. They are good all over the field - they have a great offense, defense and goalie. This year we hope to finally close the gap and come out on top."
Cornell attack David Mitchell is one of the returning senior stars that Notre Dame needs to guard well when he is trying to score.
"He is a great crease guy and finisher," Kemp said of Mitchell. "He is one guy that is hard to stop, but our defense is doing well. We have played well altogether the last couple games."
Along with Mitchell, the Big Red also return three other All-America honorees from last season - goaltender Matt McMonagle, midfielder Max Seibald and defenseman Mitch Belisle.
The Big Red scoring this year has been led by two players who have an impressive 11 points each after two games. Cornell's Eric Pittard has netted seven goals to go along with four assists while John Glynn has six goals and a team-high five assists.
Notre Dame senior midfielder Lucius Polk said the Irish wasted no time in preparing for their opponent.
"We watched film [of Cornell] on the bus ride back from the Penn State game," Polk said. "A lot of top teams that were above Cornell lost last week, so that will place [the Big Red] at a higher ranking."
Senior attack Brian Hubschmann and junior midfielder Michael Podgajny lead Notre Dame with five goals apiece. Freshman attack Will Yeatman leads the Irish in assists; he has three feeds to compliment his three goals for a total of six points.
