GAME INFORMATION
GAME #3: Cornell at Lock Haven
GAMETIME: Friday, Sept. 12, at 4:00 p.m.
SITE: McCollum Field (Lock Haven, Pa.)
2008 RECORDS: Cornell (1-1); Lock Haven (2-2)
SERIES RECORD: Lock Haven leads, 1-0
LAST MEETING: Lock Haven won 3-1, on Oct. 27, 2007, at Ithaca, N.Y.
LIVE STATS: None
LIVE VIDEO: Click Here (weather permitting)
LIVE AUDIO: Click Here (only if video is not available)
GAME #4: Cornell at Bucknell
GAMETIME: Saturday, Sept. 13, at 1:00 p.m.
SITE: Graham Field (Lewisburg, Pa.)
2008 RECORDS: Cornell (1-1); Bucknell (2-2)
SERIES RECORD: Bucknell leads, 11-9
LAST MEETING: Bucknell won 1-0, on Oct. 15, 2007, at Ithaca, N.Y.
THE HEAD COACH: Cornell head coach Donna Hornibrook is in her fifth season at Cornell (31-37, .456) ... Hornibrook became the sixth coach in Cornell field hockey history in January 2004 ... She has a 202-84-10 (.682) 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: After losing a heart breaking one-goal game to No. 19 Albany last Saturday, the Big Red recovered nicely with an easy 3-0 victory over Siena. Cornell scored its first goal of the season early in the contest when Belen Martinez converted a penalty corner just under eight minutes into the game. Five minutes later, Kelley Kantarian added another goal to give Cornell an early insurance goal before Sara Sanders notched the final tally of the day in the 50th minute. Melanie Jue, who had to save 19 shots the day before against Albany, had an easier outing, not having to make a single save to record her first career shutout.
THE MATCHUP WITH LOCK HAVEN: The Big Red begin its second road trip of the season with a match up against former Division II powerhouse, Lock Haven. This will be only the second meeting between the two teams, with the Lady Eagles defeating Cornell 3-1 last year. The game is scheduled to start at 4:00 p.m. at McCollum Field in Lock Haven, Pa.
SCOUTING THE LADY EAGLES: The Lady Eagles are the team to beat in the NEC. Lock Haven has won the past two tournament championships and the last five regular season titles. For 2008, the team is again favored to win another championship according to the preseason NEC coaches' poll. Leading the Lady Eagles is senior attacker Blair Wynne. Wynne is a two-time recipient of the NEC Player of the Year award and was an All-American last season. So far this year, she is leading Lock Haven with eight points, including three goals. Wynne is joined by sophomore Amy Hornendorf, who has three goals of her own. On defense, the Lady Eagles return the reigning NEC Defensive Player of the Year, Alanna Lewis. Lock Haven is currently 2-2 on the season, including a tough 5-0 loss to No. 2 Maryland the first weekend of play.
THE LAST TIME VS. LOCK HAVEN: Cornell dropped a 3-1 decision to Lock Haven on a cold and wet Schoellkopf Field on Oct. 27, 2007. The Lady Eagles jumped out to a 3-0 lead before the Big Red managed to get on the board late in the second half. Lock Haven's first two goals of the game came off penalty corners, with Suzann Hobart scoring at the 17:59 mark before Blair Wynne made it a 2-0 game just under 10 minutes later. The teams battled back-and-fourth for the first 20 minutes of the second half before the Lady Eagles' Sam Stoyer came up with a loose ball and crossed it back to the center of the circle, where she found Hobart all alone in front of the crease. Hobart one-touched the ball past Cornell goalie Shannon Prescott to put the visitors up, 3-0, in the 56th minute. The Big Red used a penalty corner of its own to get on the score board as Belen Martinez ripped a shot towards cage and Abbi Horn managed to get a stick on it and redirect it past LHU goalie Ali Harris, to make it a 3-1 game with eight minutes left to play. Cornell turned up the pressure and controlled the ball for the remainder of the game, but wasn't able to find the back of the net again. The Big Red outshot LHU, 7-5, but the Lady Eagles held the 5-2 advantage on corners. In goal, Prescott made one save in 61:59, before senior Lizzie Goldblatt came on in relief. Goldblatt did not face a shot. Harris made one save for LHU and allowed one goal to earn the victory.
THE LADY EAGLE'S LAST GAME: Lock Haven fell to Kent State 4-2 on the road last Sunday to fall to 2-2 on the season. All the scoring came in the second half of play after Kent jumped out to a 2-0 lead. Trailing 2-0 the Lady Eagles scored in the 47th minute of play as Alanna Lewis found the back of the cage. Exactly three minutes later LHU tied the match at 2-2 after Wynne converted a penalty corner. Less than three minutes later, however, Kent went up for good before tacking on an insurance goal to get the 4-2 win. Erin Terreson made four saves on the day for the Lady Eagles.
VS. THE NEC: Cornell is 8-2 all-time vs. the current members of the Northeast Conference. The Big Red has a winning record vs. Siena (4-0) Rider (2-1), St. Francis (Pa.) (1-0) and Sacred Heart (1-0), and a losing record against Lock Haven (0-1), but has never faced Monmouth, Quinnipiac and Robert Morris.
THE MATCHUP WITH BUCKNELL: Cornell remains in the Keystone State to take on Bucknell on Saturday, Sept. 13, at Graham Field at 1 p.m. The two teams have had a long history against each other with this Saturday being the 21st meeting between the two clubs. Cornell has only played more games against Syracuse (28 games) and Colgate (36 games) among non-conference opponents. Bucknell leads the series 11-9, including a 1-0 victory last season on Oct. 15, 2007.
SCOUTING THE BISON: After starting the season with a 2-1 loss to Villanova, Bucknell won its next two games and made it all the way to the finals in last weekend's Towson Tournament before falling to the host Tigers, 2-1. The Bison are led by new head coach Jeremy Cook, who was a former member of the United States national team. Co-captain Amanda Faust opened the season in eighth place on the Bison all-time scoring list, and has added six more points so far this season. On defense, senior co-captain Steph Graf has been a three-time second-team All-Patriot League selection. Goalkeeper Jessie Atieh has also been a key component to the 2-2 start by the Bison, saving .739 percent of shots on goal.
THE LAST TIME VS. BUCKNELL: Cornell completely dominated the second half of play, controlling the ball nearly the entire time, but were unable to score an equalizer as Bucknell escaped Schoellkopf Field with a 1-0 victory. The Bison's Trina Boyer scored the game-winner in the 12th minute as she redirected Amanda Faust's penalty corner shot into the back of the net. Other than the Bucknell goal, the teams played a fairly even first half, but the Big Red came out of halftime on a mission, forcing turnovers and keeping the ball in its offensive end for nearly the entire 35 minutes. Freshman Catie De Stio set the tone just two minutes into the second half as she picked off a Bucknell pass and streaked toward cage untouched before defensive pressure at the last second forced her shot just wide. That shot was just the beginning, as the Big Red went on to outshoot the Bison, 8-2, in the half and hold a slim, 2-1, advantage in penalty corner. For the game, Cornell held a 12-8 advantage on shots, while the Bison held the 5-3 edge in penalty corners. Big Red goalie Shannon Prescott made three saves, all in the first half of play, while the Bucknell's Jessie Atieh stopped two, both in the second half.
THE BISONS' LAST GAME: Bucknell senior Katie Ruiz scored a goal just 4:56 into the game, but the Bison would be shut out the rest of the way, losing 2-1 to Towson on Sunday. The Tigers' Christina Boarman scored two second-half goals to lead Towson to the comeback victory. Boarman's first goal came 5:16 after halftime on her own drive to the cage to tie the score at 1-1. With 11:13 left in the game, the Tigers finally converted one of their 11 penalty corners, as Boarman gave Towson the lead for good. Ruiz's goal, her second of the season, was only one of four shots on goal for Bucknell (2-2), who were outshot by Towson 17-6. Bison goalkeeper Jessie Atieh made a season-high eight saves, and defender Christine Weiss recorded a defensive save.
VS. THE PATRIOT LEAGUE: The Big Red is 47-48-6 all-time vs. the current members of the Patriot League. Cornell has a winning record against Lehigh (15-1-1), but holds a losing record against Lafayette (5-12-2), Colgate (15-18-3), American (0-1), Bucknell (9-11), and Holy Cross (3-5) … Cornell is 9-7 vs. the Patriot League during Coach Hornibrook's tenure.
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. 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.
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.
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).
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.
THE 200: Coach Hornibrook secured her 200th career win last season as the Big Red defeated Siena, 4-2, on Oct. 28, 2007.
RANKED OPPONENTS: Cornell is now 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.
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.
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 18-1 in games in which it scores at least three goals after last weekend's 3-0 victory over Sienna.
CLOSE CALLS: Cornell's 1-0 loss to No. 19 Albany on Sept. 6 continued the Big Red's trend of playing in one-goal games. Since the start of the 2006 season, the Big Red has lost 17 games, with 11 of those coming by a single goal, including six in overtime. During that same span, Cornell has won nine one-goal games.
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 29-7 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.
UP NEXT: The Big Red will open the home portion of its schedule next weekend as it plays host to Penn and Georgetown on Sept, 20 and Sept 21, respectively. Cornell will hold a field dedication ceremony at its new facility, Marsha Dodson Field, on Sept. 20 at 11:45 a.m., before facing off with the Quakers at noon. The Big Red's game against the Hoyas will begin at 1 p.m.
