ITHACA, N.Y. — With a new but familiar presence at the helm, the women's soccer team will look to regain its success from 2015 when it becomes the first Cornell athletic program to kick off its season when it travels to Syracuse for a game at 7 p.m. Thursday.
 
Dwight Hornibrook enters his first season as the head coach of the Big Red, though he has been an assistant coach with the program since 2012. He's helped the Big Red win 30 games over the last five years — a program best over such a span since 2002-06. Though new to his current role at Cornell, Hornibrook has 17 years of experience as the head coach of the men's soccer programs at SUNY Cortland and Houghton. 
 
Another new but familiar face joins Hornibrook on the sidelines this year in assistant coach Tori Christ '14. After a four-year career as a goalkeeper with the Big Red, the two-time captain went on to play professionally for three years in the National Women's Soccer League, Sweden and Finland. Megan Giles has also been promoted to assistant coach after serving as a volunteer assistant coach with the Big Red in 2016.
 
"I never enter any season with any great premonition of exactly how things are going to go, because my experience tells me I'm going to have some wonderful surprises and I'm going to have a few disappointments along the way," Hornibrook said. "In theory, you have to formulate a plan that will work with the strengths and the weaknesses that you know about. But it never stays the same."
 
Cornell posted a 5-9-2 record last year against one of the most demanding schedules the program has faced in recent memory. The slate was set up that way with a purpose, attempting to build on a memorable 2015 season in which the Big Red was 9-4-4. So while it looks like a big step back, Cornell actually had the same Ivy League record in both of those seasons — 2-4-1, a mark the program hasn't exceeded since 1995.
 
As is the case seemingly every year, some major contributors from last season have since graduated. Departed are three-time All-Ivy League selection Elizabeth Crowell from the central midfield, three-year starter in central defense Kailey Joyce and 2015 All-Ivy League first-team goalkeeper Kelsey Tierney. But beyond those three, the rest of the team's major contributors return.
 
"If you count up the number of seasons of experience we bring to the field overall in terms of the qualities these kids have, I think we'll be deeper and we'll be more experienced," Hornibrook said.
 
A key for the Big Red to take a step forward is to produce more offense. Cornell scored just 11 goals in its 16 games last year, and that including a four-goal outburst in the team's rout of Dartmouth to end the campaign.
 
"What's interesting is that you never read about the chances that you miss. But Paige DeLoach was dangerous every game last year," Hornibrook said. "The frustrating part is that we create the chances, but then we don't score the goals. So the plan is we're going to keep doing things that put our best attacking players in front of their goal."
 
Here is a breakdown of the team by position:
 
GOALKEEPERS
One of the team's most pleasant surprises in 2016 was the emergence of goalkeeper Meghan Kennedy. She played her way into starting the majority of Cornell's games, garnering All-Ivy League honorable mention and sharing the team's Most Improved Player honors. Now a junior, she was 2-4-2 with a 1.01 goals against average, three shutouts and a very strong .852 save percentage that ranked third among all Ivy goalkeepers.
 
"She was great, worked hard and ended up doing an awesome job for us," Hornibrook said. "This year, she's got another year under her belt and (sophomore) Chrissy Mayer has worked really hard, too, to become a really good backup."
 
BACKS
One of the most notable shake-ups with the Big Red in the early going will be in central defense, where senior Kaylee Fitzgerald and junior Zoe McCormick will flip-flop the roles they've filled for the last two years. One of the team's co-captains, Fitzgerald will now play in central defense while McCormick moves forward to the defensive midfield to maximize her strong distribution skills. Of all returning players, McCormick logged the most minutes last season (1,234).
 
Cornell has the rare distinction of returning three starters on the flank. Sophomore Abby Adams was the only newcomer to start all of the team's 16 games last year, and junior Grace Keller shared the team's Most Improved Player honors as the primary presence on the left side. Both gained valuable experience in their first full seasons as starters. Senior co-captain Whitney Farber returns healthy for the first time since she emerged as a starter during her freshman campaign.
 
Sophomore Kaili Gregory played in nine games as a freshman, giving the Big Red the advantage of having a strong left-footed player. Freshmen Maddie Hoitink, Naomi Jaffe and Emily Addis are also looking to join the mix. Freshman Carly Swetz is expected to miss the season with an injury.
 
"I think we'll have perhaps our most athletic back line here for a long time," Hornibrook said.
 
MIDFIELDERS
The Big Red returns a multitude of options, though the center of the field will be different with Crowell's graduation.
 
"They're not the same faces — they never are, because when someone graduates you can't bring them back — but the mix and the maturity could ultimately be better," Hornibrook said. "So I'm excited to see where this all leads, because we do have more depth."
 
Juniors Carolyn Ruoff and Jessica Ritchie played in all 16 games last season, primarily in the central midfield. Sophomores Juliana Comer and Karli Berry were also frequent contributors primarily on the outside, and senior Katerina Weikert has shown steady improvement over her tenure on East Hill and is primed to see an increase in playing time. Senior Tess Pullano may also see more time in an attacking midfield role after spending the bulk of her previous three years at Cornell at forward. Senior Erin Fitzgerald shifts back in similar fashion, providing even more depth alongside classmate Julia Schubauer.

Of the newcomers, Shelby Wray, Omayma Bseis and Julianna Shrekgast are listed as midfielders. The speedy Jaffe could also see time in the midfield, in addition to stints on the back line.
 
FORWARDS
DeLoach returns for her senior season after establishing herself as a very dangerous target forward that required a lot of attention from opposing defenses. From a Cornell perspective, it was probably too much — to the point where neutralizing DeLoach and now-sophomore Kennedy Yearby (who combined to score six of the team's 11 goals) essentially meant shutting down the Big Red's offense.
 
"I have some ideas on how we can mix it up and be less predictable," Hornibrook said. "We can't just rely on Paige and Kennedy to score goals, because it's predictable. I will expect significant contributions from them, but I will also expect significant contributions from our attacking midfield players as well."
 
Senior Meera Dheer will target a larger role after spending the last three seasons as a reserve. Freshman Nicole Long provides a speedy option up top, and sophomore Autumn Brown has transitioned to forward after spending parts of last season both there and as a defender.
 
Many of the aforementioned attacking midfielders figure to see stints at forward, too. Berry scored her first collegiate goal as a forward in last season's finale, and Ritchie, Comer, Pullano and Shrekgast are others that could figure into the mix.
 
SCHEDULE
Cornell will not have to wait long to see where it stands, diving right into a challenging non-league contest to open the season 7 p.m. Thursday at Syracuse. The Big Red scratched out a scoreless draw in Syracuse in 2015, then took the Orange to overtime on the strength of Pullano's goal last season before suffering a 2-1 loss at Berman Field in Ithaca. Cornell then returns home for an 11:30 a.m. contest Sunday against Eastern Washington.
 
The Big Red has five non-league games before open the Ivy League slate on Sept. 22 against visiting Columbia.
 
"I want to know where we are," Hornibrook said. "If we can go in and get great results against Syracuse and Eastern Washington, then it's really good for confidence. It tells us what we need to do to stay where we are or get better.
 
"You can't be afraid of playing good teams," he added. "At the end of the day, if you don't test yourself then you never really maximize your potential. When push comes to shove this year, no one's going to be coasting through 90 minutes against Cornell. We're going to compete hard and I think we're going to make a really good statement about who we are and who we want to be."