GAME INFORMATION
GAME #11: Cornell at Colgate
GAMETIME: Thursday, Oct. 9, at 7 p.m.
GAME SITE: Tyler's Field (Hamilton, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Colgate leads, 18-15-3
LAST MEETING: Colgate won 4-2, on Oct. 10, 2007, at Ithaca, N.Y.
2008 RECORDS: Cornell (6-4); Colgate (8-4)
THE HEAD COACH: Cornell head coach Donna Hornibrook is in her fifth season at Cornell (36-40, .474) ... Hornibrook became the sixth coach in Cornell field hockey history in January 2004 ... She has a 207-87-10 (.697) record as a head coach, including a 111-39-4 mark at Houghton and a 60-8-6 record at New Brunswick.
THE BIG RED'S LAST GAME: For the second game in a row, the Big Red offensively dominated its opponent, but struggled to put the ball in the net, as it needed two late goals to defeat Lehigh, 2-0. Cornell outshot the Mountain Hawks, 20-3 and held a 10-1 advantage in penalty corners, but was unable to get on the board until the 43rd minutes when Catie De Stio scored with the assist going to Natalie Appleton. The goal came as a result of a penalty corner in which Appleton, the stick stopper, pushed the ball off to Belen Martinez, but then rolled to the right side of the circle and received the ball back from Martinez. Appleton sent a shot into the circle and De Stio tipped it past the Lehigh goalie. Cornell got a late insurance goal when Kate Thompson was awarded a free hit off a Mountain Hawk penalty at the top of the circle. Thompson shot the ball into the circle and Abbi Horn played it into the goal to put Cornell up, 2-0. Lehigh's Lilia Stefaniwsky stopped 10 shots in the loss, and defender Taryn Hartzell added a defensive save late in the first half to keep the Mountain Hawks in the game. Cornell goalie Melanie Jue needed to make just one save for the win, but it was an impressive one as she stopped a shot at point-blank range to preserve the shut out.
THE MATCHUP WITH COLGATE: The Big Red will look to avenge two straight losses to Colgate as it travels to Hamilton, N.Y., to take on the Raiders on Thursday, Oct. 9, at Tyler's Field at 7 p.m. Colgate holds the slight lead in the series, 18-15-3.
SCOUTING THE RAIDERS: Colgate extended its current winning streak to five straight games after defeating Maine last weekend, 2-1, to improve to 8-4 on the season. The Raiders are led by Lauren Carey and Mika Ella-Tang with 14 points apiece. Carey has scored a team-high six goals, while Ella-Tang leads the squad with six assists. Laura Flisnik is right behind the pair with three goals and five assists for 11 points. Sarah Pedersen has seen the majority of minutes in goal for Colgate, posting a 2.55 goals-against average, while stopping .720 percent of the shots she has faced.
THE LAST TIME VS. COLGATE: The Big Red fell to Colgate, 4-2, on Oct. 10, 2007 at Schoellkopf Field. Cornell dominated the opening stanza, possessing the ball for the majority of the half, and taking an early lead off a goal by Brenna Gulotta. The goal was set up by Alyssa DePaola who sent a cross in front of the crease. The ball was misplayed by a Raider defender and Gulotta collected the ball and slotted it past Colgate goalie Sarah Pedersen to put the home team up, 1-0 at the 15:51 mark. Just under four minutes later, the Raiders converted a penalty corner to knot the game at 1-1. Lauren Carey scored the goal with Natalie Piesniarski and Maddie Watrobski getting credited for the assist. After a back and fourth battle to begin the second half, the visitors capitalized on another penalty corner as Luren Remkus' shot was deflected into the goal by Amanda Gilmore. The Big Red used a Belen Martinez penalty corner goal to tie the game at 2-2. Abbi Horn and Natalie Appleton were credited with the assist. Cornell had two legitimate scoring opportunities late in the game, but couldn't regain the lead. Colgate's third goal was Carey's second tally of the evening, as she scored off a rebound from a Lizzie Goldblatt save to make it 3-2 at the 57:08 mark. The final Raiders' goal came in the 67th minute as a scrum in front of the net ended with Katelyn Nerbonne beating Goldblatt to make it 4-2. Cornell held the slight edge in shots, 15-13, while the Raiders had the advantage on penalty corners, 7-4. Goldblatt made four saves, while Pedersen stopped seven.
THE RAIDERS' LAST GAME: Laura Denenga provided her third game-winning goal of the year and Lauren Carey continued her climb up the all-time career statistical charts as Colgate edged visiting Maine 2-1, last Sunday on Tyler's Field. The Raiders broke on top at 29:02 as Carey ripped her sixth goal of the year by UMaine goalie Brittany Fleck. The goal was set up off a penalty corner by Mika Ella-Tang and Maddie Watrobski. The Black Bears got on the board less than two minutes later at 30:58 as Maire Dineen converted a shot off a penalty corner attempt by Nicole Emery and Mallory Anderson. However, it took Colgate just 49 seconds to regain the lead when Denenga poked in her fourth marker of the year off a rebound in front of the net to provide the winning margin. Sarah Pedersen turned aside six shots in the victory, while Fleck was forced to save eight shots in the loss.
VS. THE PATRIOT LEAGUE: The Big Red is 48-49-6 all-time vs. the current members of the Patriot League. Cornell has a winning record against Lehigh (16-1-1), but holds a losing record against Lafayette (5-12-2), Colgate (15-18-3), American (0-1), Bucknell (9-12), and Holy Cross (3-5) … Cornell is 10-8 vs. the Patriot League during Coach Hornibrook's tenure.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Two Cornell players have earned Ivy League Player of the Week honors so far this season – Catie De Stio and Abbi Horn. De Stio was given the award on Oct. 7 after a stellar weekend in which she registered both game-winning goals as the Big Red defeated Yale, 2-1, in overtime and Lehigh, 2-0. She also assisted on Cornell's first goal against Yale for a five-point weekend. Horn was named the Ivy League Player of the Week on Sept. 23, following an outstanding weekend against Penn and Georgetown. Horn assisted on the final goal in Cornell's 3-1 victory over the Quakers, but that paled in comparison to her performance on Sunday in which she registered a hat trick against the Hoyas.
CIRCLE OF TRUST: Cornell's defense has been extremely calm in the circle this season, allowing just 5.2 penalty corners per game. That is the best school average since the stat began to be recorded in 1998. Since taking over the program, Coach Hornibrook's teams have allowed just 6.8 penalty corners per game. That is significantly down from the 8.4 average prior to her arrival. Last weekend, the Big Red held Yale and Lehigh to just one penalty corner each. That is the best performance in back-to-back games since Cornell held Lafayette and Columbia to one and three penalty corners, respectively, in back-to-back contests in 2006.
QUICK HITS: Abbi Horn scored just 37 seconds into the game against Yale on Oct. 4. The goal was the quickest registered by a Cornell player since Carissa Mirasol scored at the 15 second mark against American on Oct. 28, 2001.
THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE (A NEW) HOME: The Big Red is 4-0 on the newly constructed Marsha Dodson Field. Collectively, the team has outscored its opponents by an impressive margin of 11-2 and has taken four times as many shots (84-21) as its opponents. The defense has been equally solid in the circle, allowing just 12 penalty corners (3.0 per game), including giving up just one penalty corner in each of its last two contests on the field against Yale and Lehigh.
MOVING ON UP: The weekend of Sept. 20-21 proved to be a successful one for Belen Martinez and Abbi Horn, both of whom moved into the top 10 of several career categories at Cornell. Currently, Martinez ranks seventh in career goals (17) and 10th in career points (43), while Horn sits in eighth place in career assists (13) and eighth overall in career points (45). She also sits in eighth place in career goals (16).
STRONG STOPPER: In her first year with the Big Red field hockey team, junior goalkeeper Melanie Jue has been solid, ranking among the best in the nation in save percentage (.786 – seventh) and goals-against average (1.34 – 13th). She has also posted the second-highest number of saves in the nation in a single game with her 19-save performance vs. Albany on Sept. 6, second only to Susie Rowe of Maryland, who made 20 saves against Northwestern on Sept. 7.
WHERE WE RANK: Several Cornell players rank among the best in the conference in several categories. Belen Martinez ranks fourth in goals (6) and goals per game (0.60), and is seventh in points (13) and eighth in points per game (1.30). Abbi Horn ranks fourth in points (15), goals (6) and goals per game (.60) and is fifth in points per game (1.50). Natalie Appleton and Kate Thompson are tied for sixth in assists (4) and tied for eighth in assists per game (0.40). Goalie Melanie Jue is second in goals-against average (1.34), third in save percentage (.786), fifth in saves (44) and seventh in saves per game (4.89).
CLOSE CALLS: Cornell's 1-0 victory over Yale in overtime on Oct. 4 continued the Big Red's trend of playing in one-goal games. Since the start of the 2006 season, the Big Red has lost 20 games, with 14 of those coming by a single goal, including seven in overtime. During that same span, Cornell has won 11 one-goal games. So far this season, all four of Cornell's losses have come in one-goal contests, including one in overtime.
THAT'S A START: Cornell goalie Alex Botte got her first collegiate start against Fairfield on Sept. 28. The freshman netminder stopped six shots in a 1-0 loss.
HATS OFF: Abbi Horn scored three goals against Georgetown on Sept. 21. The hat trick was the best single-game performance by a Cornell player since Gina Testa tallied four scores at Rutgers on Oct. 31, 2004.
IVY OPENERS: Cornell opened its 30th season of play in the Ivy League on Sept. 20 with a 3-1 victory over Penn. With the win, the Big Red improved to 12-15-3 all-time in conference season openers, thanks mostly to an 9-3 record since 1997. Cornell has played only four of the seven Ivy League teams in its season openers through the years. Cornell has had its best outings in Ivy League openers against Yale (1-0) and Columbia (6-1). The Big Red has played Princeton more than any other team in conference openers (14), posting a 3-9-2 record, but the two teams have not met in the season opener since 1999. Cornell has met Penn eight times in its conference opener, posting a 2-5-1 record against the Quakers. All but two of those games came prior to the 1989 season, with the 2002 and 2008 meetings proving to be Big Red victories.
COMING AT YOU FROM ALL SIDES: Since taking over the Cornell program in 2004, Coach Hornibrook has had a dozen or more players register at least one point in three-of-four seasons, with a high of 14 in 2005. So far this season, 10 different Big Red players have registered at least on point.
KNOCK THREE TIMES: When the Big Red fell to Syracuse during the 2006 season, 4-3, in overtime, it marked the first time in Coach Hornibrook's career with Cornell that the team scored three goals and lost the contest. Under Coach Hornibrook, the Big Red is 21-1 in games in which it scores at least three goals after a 4-3 victory over Columbia on Sept 26.
FAST STARTS: Scoring first has been a big part of the Big Red's success in recent years. Since Coach Hornibrook has taken over the program, Cornell has posted an impressive 34-8 record in games in which they have scored first. Conversely, the team has won only two games in which they have had to come back from an early deficit to win. The first was Coach Hornibrook's very first victory with the team, a 6-3 win over Lehigh in 2004, with the latest coming during the 2007 season as the Big Red came back to defeat Princeton, 4-3.
ROOKIE OF THE WEEK: Melanie Jue was named the Ivy League Rookie of the Week on Sept. 9 after helping the Big Red open the season with a 1-1 record. In her first collegiate start, Jue made 19 saves against No. 19 Albany before dropping a 1-0 decision to the Great Danes on Sept. 6. The following day, Jue was not called upon to make a single save as she recorded her first career shutout. Jue, who is a junior at Cornell, is considered a rookie because she has not played field hockey at the collegiate level prior to this season.
A RUDE WELCOME: After a two-year hiatus from field hockey, junior Melanie Jue saw action in her first collegiate game, getting the start in goal vs. No. 19 Albany on Sept. 6. The two-sport athlete was called on to make 19 saves during the contest, the most since Kaitlin Tierney stopped 20 shots vs. Princeton on Oct. 21, 2000.
BACK-TO-BACK-TO-BACK: Cornell has posted a winning record in Ivy League action in each of the last three seasons (5-2 in 2007, 4-3 in 2005 and 2006), marking the first time in program history that the Big Red field hockey team has had three straight winning records in conference play.
RANKED OPPONENTS: Cornell is 0-1 this season against ranked opponents after losing in the first weekend of play to No. 19 Albany. Last year, the Big Red was 2-1 vs. teams that were ranked in the NFHCA rankings, with its only loss coming to No. 15 Albany.
FOR OPENERS: After the loss to No. 19 Albany, the Big Red is 21-12-4 (.636) all-time in season-openers … The loss vs. the Great Danes was Coach Hornibrook's first in season-openers during her time with Cornell (4-1).
THE 200: Coach Hornibrook secured her 200th career win last season as the Big Red defeated Siena, 4-2, on Oct. 28, 2007.
UP NEXT: The Big Red returns to Ithaca to face Division I newcomer Bryant on Marsha Dodson Field on Saturday, Oct. 11 at 1 p.m.
