The Cornell–Hobart rivalry is an intercollegiate lacrosse rivalry between the Cornell Big Red, which represent Cornell University, and the Hobart Statesmen, which represent Hobart College. It is one of the oldest rivalries in college lacrosse; the inaugural game in the series was played on May 5, 1898, with Hobart prevailing by a score of 2–1. The game is the oldest ongoing college lacrosse series. The Johns Hopkins–Maryland lacrosse rivalry began in 1895, but the teams only played 7 times before 1924.All-Time Results (PDF), 2009 Johns Hopkins Men's Lacrosse Media Guide, p. 98, Johns Hopkins University, 2009.
In 1995, Hobart promoted its team from Division III to Division I to preserve the lacrosse rivalry with Cornell and a similar one with the Syracuse Orange. In 2008, the continuation of the series was put in jeopardy when the Hobart Board of Trustees decided to reclassify its lacrosse program back to the Division III level on April 26. After an emotional reaction from the alumni community, however, the decision was reversed on May 1. The following day, Cornell played the first night game at Hobart's Boswell Field, in which the #8 Big Red beat the Statesmen by a score of 15 to 7.
Like Cornell, Hobart has never awarded athletic scholarships, and could not after the men's lacrosse program moved to Division I in 1995 due to NCAA policy. Unlike Johns Hopkins, which was grandfathered, Statesmen lacrosse is one of only five Division III programs to compete in Division I without athletic scholarships.
Rival accomplishments The following summarizes the accomplishments of the two programs. TeamCornell Big RedHobart StatesmenPre-NCAA National Titles51NCAA National Titles415*NCAA Final Four Appearances1520*NCAA Tournament Appearances3126*NCAA Tournament Record33–2555–11*Conference Tournament Titles31Conference Championships343Tewaarton Award Recipients30Lt. Raymond Enners Award Recipients60Consensus First Team All-Americans5513All-time Program Record826–502–27788–512–20All-time Winning Percentage
21 of Hobart's NCAA tournament appearances and all 15 titles came at either the NCAA Division II or III level.
Game Results
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