GAME INFORMATION
GAME #9: Cornell vs. Penn
DATE: Saturday, Oct. 4, 2008
TIME: 7 p.m.
SITE: Ithaca, N.Y. - Berman Field (1,000)
2008 RECORDS: Cornell (1-6-1); Penn (5-3-1)
SERIES HISTORY: Penn leads, 10-6-1
LAST MEETING: Penn won, 1-0, on Sept. 28, 2007, in Philadelphia, Pa.
LIVE STATS: http://sidearmstats.com/cornell/wsoc
For the first time this season, the Cornell women's soccer team will play just one game this weekend, taking on Penn in the home Ivy League opener at Berman Field. The Big Red and Quakers will square off on Saturday, Oct. 4, at 7 p.m., as the second game of a doubleheader with the Big Red men's team.
HEAD COACH DANIELLE LAROCHE
Danielle LaRoche is in her second season directing the Cornell women's soccer program. The fourth coach in Cornell women's soccer history, LaRoche picked up her first collegiate head coaching victory on Sept. 7, 2007, when the Big Red knocked off Hartford, 1-0, in double overtime in Ithaca, N.Y. She has a career coaching mark of 5-18-1 entering the the weekend. Prior to her arrival at Cornell, LaRoche had stops as an assistant coach at George Mason, Binghamton and Howard. A 1995 graduate of Maryland, LaRoche played two seasons for the Terrapins under April Heinrichs, who would later go on to serve as the head coach of the U.S. Women's National Team. LaRoche is assisted by Allison Cowan, in her second season, and Brighid Wood, in her first season.
ABOUT THE BIG RED
Cornell took to the road for a pair of games last weekend, dropping its Ivy League opener at Columbia, 3-1, on Sept. 26, in New York City, before losing in heartbreaking fashion at Colgate two days later, 3-2, in double overtime in Hamilton, N.Y. Freshman Brook Chang scored the lone goal in the loss to the Lions on Friday night, while sophomore goalkeeper Jodi Palmer picked up a career-best nine saves in the loss. On Sunday, sophomore Lena Russomagno assisted on both of Cornell's goals on corner kicks, first with junior Kala Neilson scoring and then with sophomore Cristina Law, but the Raiders tied the score on a breakaway in the second half and added the winner with 20 seconds remaining in the match. Russomagno leads the Big Red with six points on two goals and two assists, while both Chang and Law have a pair of goals on the year. In goal, Palmer has played the majority of time, posting a 1.84 goals-against average and a .750 save percentage, though as a unit, Cornell's goalkeepers have a 1.90 goals-against average and a .771 save percentage.
ABOUT PENN
Penn enters Saturday night's contest on a three-game winning streak, collecting shutout victories over Maryland-Baltimore County and Harvard and a 4-2 win over St. Joseph's. The Quakers have struck for 20 goals in nine games, with nine different players scoring at least one goal. Natalie Capuano leads the team with four goals, while Sarah Friedman has been a key playmaker, recording a team-best nine assists to go along with three goals for a team-high 15 points. Kristin Kaiser has also chipped in with a pair of game-winning goals. In goal, Sara Rose has played in just over 600 minutes this season, posting a 1.19 goals-against average and a .579 save percentage and three shutouts.
THE SERIES WITH PENN
The Quakers lead the all-time series against the Big Red, 10-6-1, and have taken 10 of the last 11 meetings. Cornell's last win in the series came in 1996, a 1-0 victory in Ithaca. Since then, the Quakers have gone 10-0-1 against the Big Red, including a 1-0 win last season on Sept. 28 in Philadelphia, with a Cornell own-goal as the only scoring in the match.
CLIMBING THE CHARTS
Despite just being four games into her sophomore season, goalkeeper Jodi Palmer has already climbed into the top 10 with her five career victories. Palmer posted four wins as a freshman last season and picked up win number five in the season opener against Oakland. She is now tied with Katrina Matlin (2003-06) and Taylor Hendren (2005-06) with five wins. Palmer's next victory will move her into a tie for ninth place with Debbie Moreau (1987-90). Sue DeLong holds the career mark with 30 victories from 1990-94.
CLEAN SHEET
Cornell's shutout against Buffalo on Sept. 19 marked the third shutout in the career of sophomore goalkeeper Jodi Palmer. Last season, Palmer posted clean sheets against Hartford and Siena on her way to four victories on the season. One more shutout will move Palmer into a tie for 10th place all-time in Cornell history with Kristin Pepe, who posted four from 1995 through 1997.
AND ANOTHER ON PALMER
Jodi Palmer made a career-best eight saves in the tie against Buffalo on Sept. 19, surpassing her previous high of seven stops, set in her second career game on Sept. 2, 2007, at St. John's. She then bested that mark with nine saves in the Big Red's 3-1 loss at Columbia on Sept. 26.
SHOT STOPPERS
Cornell's trio of goalkeepers have played well this season in terms of making saves, as the three have combined for a 1.90 goals-against average and a .771 save percentage. That second number is the highest save percentage by Cornell goalkeepers as a team since the 2002 tandem of Kristin Lotito and Katie Thomas combined to stop 86.2 percent of the shots they faced on their way to a 9-6-2 record.
NIFTY NEILSON
Kala Neilson scored her first collegiate point in the Big Red's loss to Colgate on Sunday, knocking in a textbook header on a corner kick to put the Big Red ahead, 1-0, in the fifth minute. Normally a defensive midfielder, Neilson is a key target on set pieces, standing 5-9.
TO THE VICTORS GO THE SPOILS
For their efforts in helping the Big Red to a 1-1 mark at the Puma/St. Bonaventure Invitational, both sophomore Lena Russomagno and freshman Brook Chang were selected to the all-tournament team. With Cornell not having played in an in-season tournament last year, this marks the first such honor for both players.
ROAD WORK
Cornell's win on Sept. 5 against Oakland marked the first win away from Berman Field during the short tenure of head coach Danielle LaRoche. The Big Red went 0-8 a year ago away from home, but posted a 4-4 mark on its home turf, including a 4-1 record in non-conference action.
SPEEDY SCORER
Lena Russomagno's goal in the first minute against Oakland on Friday was impressive, but it was not the fastest goal in Cornell women's soccer history, or for that matter, even in the last five years. Jackie Stromberg scored a goal 22 seconds into a match against Syracuse on Oct. 13, 2004, while Molly Easterlin scored a goal 36 seconds in on Sept. 4, 2005, at Robert Morris. The goal did break Russomagno's own personal mark for fastest goal, set on Sept. 14, 2007, against Siena, when she scored at the 2:20 mark of the contest in a 3-0 Big Red win.
NEW YORK STATE OF MIND
While Cornell will be on the road several times in the opening month of the 2008 season, the Big Red will not have to leave the borders of New York state until the second week of October. Cornell's first two games of the year were played in Rochester, and was followed by a four-game home stand. Cornell was on the road last week, but only traveling to New York City and to Hamilton, N.Y. The Big Red won't leave the state until next weekend's trip to Harvard, with the Oct. 11 date marking the latest in Cornell women's soccer history that the Big Red ventured outside of New York State for a match.
AYE, AYE, CAPTAIN
Senior Whitney Stich has been selected as one of three tri-captains for the Big Red in 2008. Joining Stich in wearing the captain's armband will be junior Eva Dixon and sophomore Lena Russomagno.
LATE START
While the Ivy League schools traditionally start after the rest of the nation, the Sept. 5 date for the first game of the 2008 season is the latest Cornell has opened its year since the 2004 season. That year, the Big Red opened at Stony Brook, picking up a 0-0 draw against the Seawolves, on its way to a 4-10-3 overall mark. Still, the Sept. 5 date is not the latest the Big Red has ever had to open a season, as Cornell has begun its season on Sept. 14 three times, most recently in 1996.
ON THE RECRUITING TRAIL
Head coach Danielle LaRoche and assistant Allison Cowan spent countless hours on the road recruiting the incoming class of freshman for 2008, and that hard work paid off with the Big Red's first-ever top-100 recruiting class. Cornell's incoming class was ranked 94th in the nation by SoccerBuzz.com, and was also ranked ninth in the Northeast Region. Additionally, the Big Red was selected as the Ivy League's "hot mover" from 2007 to 2008. The site also singled out a pair of incoming players in Samantha Wright and Brook Chang as key recruits.
BACK FOR MORE
While the newcomers garnered headlines during the offseason, the Big Red will still look to its core of returning players to help the team to success in 2008. Cornell returns a pair of players who were selected honorable mention All-Ivy League last season in junior Eva Dixon and sophomore Lena Russomagno. Dixon struggled with injuries a year ago but still caught the attention of the league's coaches, despite not producing the same numbers she did as a freshman. Russomagno, meanwhile, made a huge impact in her first season, leading the team in goals, assists and points, including recording the 14th hat trick in program history with her three-goal outburst in a 3-2 victory over Lafayette on Sept. 16, 2007.
UP NEXT
The Big Red takes to the road for a matchup against Harvard on Oct. 11, facing the Crimson in an 11:30 a.m. contest in Cambridge, Mass.
