ITHACA, N.Y. — The Cornell women's soccer team starts its 36th season Thursday night at Syracuse. The Big Red is entering its first season under the guidance of head coach
Dwight Hornibrook, looking to regain its form of a breakthrough 2015 season and continue its string of seasons with multiple victories in Ivy League play.
GAME INFORMATION
Cornell at Syracuse
DATE: Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017
TIME: 7 p.m.
SITE: SU Soccer Stadium – Syracuse, N.Y. (natural surface)
RECORDS: Cornell 0-0, Syracuse 2-1-1
LIVE STATS:
Cuse.com
ABOUT THE BIG RED
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. 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. … At the forefront of Cornell's struggles last season was a dearth of offense, though all 11 of its goals were scored by players who return to this year's squad. Senior forward
Paige DeLoach led the team in scoring with nine points on four goals and one assist. Sophomore forward
Kennedy Yearby ranked second with two goals and one assist for five points. … Junior goalkeeper
Meghan Kennedy returns after earning All-Ivy League honorable mention by posting a 2-4-2 record, 1.01 goals against average and three shutouts powered by a stellar .852 save percentage. … For a full preview of the Big Red's 2017 season, click
here.
HEAD COACH DWIGHT HORNIBROOK
After serving as an assistant coach for five seasons,
Dwight Hornibrook was named the head coach in February 2017. While he enters his first season at the helm of the Big Red, he has 17 years of head coaching experience with the men's soccer programs at Houghton and SUNY Cortland. After joining the Cornell women's soccer team, Hornibrook has helped the Big Red win 30 games over the last five years — the program's highest total in such a span since 2002-06. Hornibrook's overall record as a head coach is 182-115-30. After a three-year professional career, two-time Cornell captain goalkeeper
Tori Christ '14 joins the Big Red as an assistant coach.
Megan Giles has been named the team's other assistant coach after serving as the volunteer assistant coach with the Big Red last year.
QUICK STARTERS
Cornell has had great success in the 33 season openers in the program's history, picking up a 19-10-5 mark in the first game of the season. The Big Red is 3-0-1 in its season debut over the last four years, including a 1-0 victory last year at Siena on the strength of a fifth-minute goal from senior
Paige DeLoach. Sophomore
Juliana Comer had the primary assist on the play, earning a point in her first collegiate game.
CASE IN POINTS
Of Cornell's 36 points last season, 32 were notched by players who return to the squad this year. Also, eight of the team's 16 goals from its memorable 2015 season were scored by players on its current squad — four from senior
Paige DeLoach, two from junior
Jessica Ritchie and one each from seniors
Carolyn Ruoff and
Tess Pullano.
A CALL TO ARMBANDS
Seniors
Kaylee Fitzgerald and
Whitney Farber will serve as the Big Red's co-captains this season. Both players figure to be among the leading contributors on the back line this season, with Fitzgerald shifting back to central defense after playing much of her first three years on East Hill as a holding midfielder. Cornell carries eight seniors on its roster of 28 heading into the season.
NATIONAL APPEAL
The Big Red has 14 different states, the District of Columbia and the province of Alberta represented on the team roster. The most represented state on the Big Red is California, which is called home by six players. Five hail from New York, four from New Jersey, two each from Illinois, Maryland and Ohio, and one each from Nevada, Oregon, Virginia, Wisconsin, the District of Columbia and Alberta. Head coach
Dwight Hornibrook also hails from Canada, native to the New Brunswick capital of Fredericton.
ABOUT SYRACUSE
The Orange are 2-1-1 after suffering a 2-1 loss Sunday at eighth-ranked and undefeated Florida. Sophomore Sydney Brackett scored Syracuse's goal midway through the first half to tie the game at 1. It was her team-leading third goal of the season, as she accounted for both strikes in the team's season-opening 2-0 victory Aug. 18 at Bucknell. … Senior forward Alex Lamontagne scored the lone goal in Syracuse's 1-1 draw with nationally-ranked Connecticut on Aug. 21, then she added a goal and an assist three days later in a 3-2 victory at Army West Point. Freshman midfielder Kate Hostage scored the winner in that game in the 57th minute. … Senior Courtney Brosnan is in her fourth season as the team's primary goalkeeper, where she's racked up 14 career shutouts and 255 saves in her collegiate career.
THE SERIES WITH SYRACUSE
The Big Red will be seeking its first-ever victory against the Orange, with Syracuse holding a 8-0-2 lead in the all-time series after Stephanie Skilton led the visitors to an overtime victory last season at Berman Field in Ithaca. Her first goal came on a lofted shot from the top of the 18-yard box in the 42nd minute, but Cornell pulled even on senior
Tess Pullano's goal in the 63rd minute off a mad scramble in Syracuse's goal mouth. Junior
Zoe McCormick assisted on the goal with a header across the box. But Skilton ended the game 4:05 into overtime when her shot deflected off a Cornell defender and high into the net. … Cornell played Syracuse to a 0-0 draw in its last trip to SU Soccer Stadium on Sept. 11, 2015. It was one of the Big Red's program-record nine consecutive clean sheets to start the year.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM LAST YEAR'S GAME vs. SYRACUSE
UP NEXT
Cornell opens the home portion of its schedule at 11:30 a.m. Sunday against Eastern Washington at Berman Field. The first-ever meeting between the two programs will be broadcast on the Ivy League Network.
