UPDATED: April 10, 2018 at 6:28 p.m.

From the first day he arrived at Cornell, senior defender Jake Pulver did 100 push-ups and sit-ups before going to sleep every night, senior midfielder Scott Flynn said.

It’s a testament to who Pulver is.

Pulver has consistently played a large role for the Big Red throughout his four-year career. He has earned two All-Ivy selections by fixating on improving his game. No. 9 Cornell (7-3, 3-1 Ivy) and Pulver host No. 7 Syracuse (6-3, 3-0 ACC) on Tuesday at Schoellkopf Field in Ithaca, New York. Since his older brother, Josh, already played for the Orange, Pulver is familiar with SU.

“I’d always hear my brother on the sideline chirping me a little bit. … We had some good ones,” Pulver said.

Pulver grew up in central New York and attended Fayetteville-Manlius (New York) High School, where he was named a 2014 US Lacrosse All American. That year, he served as a senior captain as Fayetteville-Manlius won its county championship, the Section III championship, the regional championship, and made it to the state championship game.

His high school coaches told Cornell’s then-assistant, now-head coach Peter Milliman how sharp and knowledgeable Pulver was with the tactics behind the game. Coming from what Milliman called a “good, quality program” at Fayetteville-Manlius, the coaching staff at Cornell recognized Pulver’s potential early on, Milliman said.

As a recruit, Pulver received a scholarship offer from Syracuse, but his eye was on Cornell.

“Growing up in Syracuse and always being able to watch some of those great teams, I did consider them,” he said. “There’s just something about the athletics and academics at Cornell that I fell in love with.”

Right when he walked on Cornell’s campus, everyone on the roster knew that Pulver was a natural leader, Flynn said. He saw the most playing time of any Big Red first-year player during the 2015 season. He appeared in all 16 games, picking up eight ground balls and causing four turnovers.

While his success on the field was impressive compared to his fellow Cornell freshmen, it was his work off the field that caught the attention of others.

“He changed his body physically,” Milliman said. “He’s developed a strength and a skillset that only comes when you have put in a lot of time around practice and in the weight room.”

During his sophomore season, he was the spearhead of a defense that held Ivy league opponents to nearly 10 fewer shots per game than their season averages. At the conclusion of the 2016 season, he was named second-team All-Ivy.

Entering his third year, there were far more elevated expectations. He was named Inside Lacrosse Preseason All-American and a captain before the start of the season. Pulver did not disappoint. He repeated as a second-team All-Ivy selection and finished the year with seven caused turnovers and 28 ground balls.

“He’s one of those guys who’s willing to call out a teammate or do some of the things that aren’t necessarily easy to do but need to be done,” Flynn said.

Amid Pulver’s strong junior performance, Cornell struggled to the tune of a 5-8 record. But with Pulver’s 100 nightly push-ups and sit-ups setting the tone, his team has followed suit and improved this year, winning two more games to date than it did all of last season.

“I like to lead by example,” Pulver said. “Once guys recognize you’re a hard worker, then you can be more vocal.”

CORRECTION: In a previous version of this post, Jake Pulver was misidentified in a photo caption. The Daily Orange regrets this error.

Published on April 9, 2018 at 10:18 pm

Contact Adam: adhillma@syr.edu | @_adamhillman