ITHACA, N.Y. — The Cornell women's soccer team opens the home portion of its schedule Sunday with a rare visit from Eastern Washington. The match kicks off at 11:30 a.m. at Berman Field, with the Big Red hoping to rebound from a 3-0 loss to Syracuse in its season opener on Thursday.
GAME INFORMATION
Eastern Washington at Cornell
DATE: Sunday, Sept. 3, 2017
TIME: 11:30 a.m.
SITE: Berman Field – Ithaca, N.Y. (natural surface)
RECORDS*: Cornell 0-1, Eastern Washington 2-3
VIDEO:
Ivy League Network
LIVE STATS:
CornellBigRed.com
UPDATES:
@CUBigRedGameday
ABOUT THE BIG RED
Cornell opened the season with a 3-0 setback Thursday night at Syracuse. The Orange opened the scoring with a penalty-kick goal in the 23rd minute, then doubled the lead about a minute before halftime. Junior
Meghan Kennedy made eight saves in the game for 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. … 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 182-116-30. 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.
Dana Daniels '17 now fills the role of volunteer assistant coach after completing a four-year career with Cornell as both a goalkeeper and field player.
HOME HEALING
Cornell has had great success in the 35 season openers in the program's history, picking up a 19-11-5 mark in the first game of the season. But that early success hasn't necessarily translated to the team's first contests at Berman Field — a trend Cornell will be looking to buck today. The Big Red is 1-7-2 in home openers over the last 10 years, with that lone victory coming in 2014 (when current seniors were freshmen) with Cornell defeating Virginia Military Institute, 5-0.
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 EASTERN WASHINGTON
The Eagles are 2-3 after suffering a 4-0 loss Thursday at Hofstra, marking the team's third consecutive loss. Eastern Washington is coming off the program's first-ever Big Sky Conference championship in 2016, which led to the squad being selected as the conference favorite in this year's preseason poll. Opening-weekend victories over Omaha (5-1 on Aug. 18) and South Dakota (1-0 on Aug. 20) ensued, but the Eagles then came up empty in two games at the Montana Cup — losing to San Jose State, 3-0, on Aug. 25 and Air Force, 3-1, two days later. … Junior forward Alexis Stephenson holds the early team lead in scoring with four points on a pair of goals. Senior forward Chloe Williams has one goal and one assist early on after racking up 15 goals in 22 games last year. … The Eagles have deployed all three of their goalkeepers already this season, with freshman Kelsee Winston (0-2, 2.55, .619) seeing the most playing time so far.
THE SERIES WITH EASTERN WASHINGTON
Sunday's game will mark the first time the Big Red and Eagles will clash. In fact, it will also be Cornell's first game against a current Big Sky Conference program.
UP NEXT
Cornell pays a pair of Empire State non-conference games next weekend, starting with a trip to Buffalo for a 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 8 game against the Bulls. The Big Red then returns home for a regional rivalry game at noon Sunday, Sept. 10 against Binghamton at Berman Field.
