GAME INFORMATION
GAME #3: Cornell at Bucknell
DATE: Friday, Sept. 12, 2008
TIME: 7:00 p.m.
SITE: Lewisburg, Pa. - Varsity Soccer Field (1,250)
2008 RECORDS: Cornell - 0-2-0; Bucknell - 2-1-1
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 7-0-0
LAST MEETING: Cornell won, 1-0, on Sept. 16, 1997, in Ithaca, N.Y.
GAME #4: Cornell vs. New Hampshire
DATE: Sunday, Sept. 14, 2008
TIME: 12:00 p.m.
SITE: Lewisburg, Pa. - Varsity Soccer Field (1,250)
2008 RECORDS: Cornell - 0-2-0; New Hampshire - 3-0-1
SERIES RECORD: Series tied, 1-1-0
LAST MEETING: Cornell won, 1-0, on Sept. 10, 2006, in Burlington, Vt.
Returning from its trip to the west coast, the Cornell men's soccer team heads into Pennsylvania in search of its first win of the 2008 season at the Days Inn Invitational, hosted by Bucknell University. The Big Red will take on the host Bison on Friday at 7 p.m. before battling New Hampshire on Sunday in a noon contest.
HEAD COACH BRYAN SCALES
In his 11th season directing the Cornell men's soccer program, Bryan Scales has the Big Red primed for a push to the NCAA tournament in 2008. He has a 60-87-16 career record as the head coach of the Big Red. In 2001, Scales was named the New York Region Coach of the Year after leading the Big Red to a 9-4-3 overall mark and a No. 22 national ranking. Scales, a 1991 graduate of Hartwick College, was a four-year letterman with the Hawks and a two-year starter, helping Hartwick to a pair of NCAA tournament berths. He is assisted by Joe Schneck, in his third year, and Nenad "Ziggy" Zigante, in his sixth season.
ABOUT THE BIG RED
Cornell opened its season last weekend at the Cal Legacy Classic in Northern California and came away with a pair of losses to California and Stanford. The Big Red opened against 11th-ranked Cal and fell by a 5-0 margin, then took on Stanford on Sunday and dropped a 2-0 contest to the Cardinal. Senior goalkeeper Luca Cerretani played the full 90 minutes against Cal and made four saves, while sophomore netminder Scott Brody picked up six saves in the loss to Stanford.
ABOUT BUCKNELL
The Bison are coming off an outstanding weekend that saw them claim a share of the Penn State Classic title with a tie against last year's national runner-up Ohio State and a 2-0 win over the host Nittany Lions of Penn State to improve to 2-1-1 on the year. Bucknell is currently ranked sixth in the Mid-Atlantic Region by the National Soccer Coaches Associaton of America. Chris Hennings has provided a spark off the bench for the Bison, scoring a team-best 10 points on five goals without starting any of the four contests so far this season. Mark Schmiegel and Anthony Ferraro both have a pair of goals to their credit this season, with Schmiegel adding an assist for five points. In goal, Tommy Caso has played every minute this season for the Bison, posting a 1.66 goals-against average and a .759 save percentage with one shutout.
THE SERIES WITH BUCKNELL
Cornell leads the all-time series against the Bison, 7-0-0, but the two programs have not met since the 1997 season. That meeting, a 1-0 Cornell victory in Ithaca, came when Cornell was coached by Dave Sarachan, currently an assistant coach with the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer.
ABOUT NEW HAMPSHIRE
The Wildcats have also gotten off to a strong start, posting a 3-0-1 record on the early season with a pair of in-season tournament titles. New Hampshire defeated Adelphi and Rhode Island to win its own tournament to open the season, then downed Memphis and tied La Salle to claim a share of the Smith Barney Classic last weekend in Burlington, Vt. New Hampshire has gotten three goals from Chris Banks and two goals and two assists from Kyle Urso, who both have six points to lead the team in scoring. In goal, Colin O'Donnell has played in all but the one tie, posting a 0.33 goals-against average and an .889 save percentage, while Dan Smith has a 0.82 goals-against average and a .667 save percentage.
THE SERIES WITH NEW HAMPSHIRE
Cornell and New Hampshire have met twice in men's soccer, with Cornell taking the last meeting between the two sides. Cornell claimed a 1-0 win on Sept. 10, 2006, in the Smith Barney Classic in Burlington, Vt., with the Wildcats taking a 3-0 win on Oct. 2, 1994, in the UNH adidas/Pepsi Classic.
WEST COAST BLUES
Cornell's third-ever trip to the West Coast ended with losses to Cal and Stanford, dropping the Big Red's all-time record on the left coast to 2-4-0. Cornell went 1-1 on its last trip to Cal and Stanford in 1991, then played in a tournament in Oregon in 2004, where it defeated Gonzaga, 1-0, but fell to Oregon State, 5-0.
DEEP END OF THE POOL
Cornell coach Bryan Scales has always stressed the need for a deep roster of players, and that philosophy showed during the first weekend of the season as 20 of the 208 players on the roster saw time in the first two games of the year. Of the eight players who did not see action, two were goalkeepers Steve Lesser and Anthony Ponikvar, while the other two goalies on the roster each played a full match.
AYE, AYE, CAPTAIN
A trio of seniors will serve as captains for the Big Red this season. David Browning, Jarid Siegel and Joe Yonga will share the captain's armband this year.
TOUGH BREAK FOR SIEGEL
Jarid Siegel, who was granted a fifth year of eligibility by the Ivy League after missing the 2006 and 2007 seasons due to injury, will miss his third straight season after suffering yet another injury during the summer. Despite the injury, Siegel served as a captain in 2007 and has again been selected to that role in 2008.
ONE SOLID SEASON
Junior Matt Bouraee exploded onto the scene a year ago with nine goals and four assists to lead the Big Red on his way to second-team All-Ivy League honors. The outburst for Bouraee not only was far above his performance of his freshman season, in which he scored a pair of goals, but was also just two points shy of tying him for the ninth-best individual season in Cornell men's soccer history. Bouraee had 22 points, two shy of the 24 put up by Derl Derr (1950), Jim Rice (1977) and Adam Skumawitz (2000). Additionally, his nine goals were one shy of tying him with six other players for 10th place all-time in Cornell history.
HOMEWARD BOUND
Last weekend's trip to California was a homecoming for Cornell senior Ed Chang, who hails from Palo Alto. Chang has appeared in six games for the Big Red over the past two seasons after missing the 2005 year due to injury.
TOURNAMENT TIME
This weekend's Days Inn Invitational will be the second of two in-season tournaments for the Big Red in 2008. Cornell previously played in the Cal Legacy Classic, hosted by California, and came away with an 0-2 mark after falling to the Bears and Stanford. Last season, Cornell played in a pair of tournaments, winning the UK Nike Classic in Lexington, Ky., to open the year with wins over Kentucky and IUPUI. Cornell also played in the Colgate Adidas Soccer Classic in Hamilton, N.Y., defeating Albany but falling to Richmond.
MILESTONE WATCH
Cornell head coach Bryan Scales is now fourth among all coaches in Big Red men's soccer history with 60 career victories. Scales trails only Jack Writer (91), Nicholas Bawlf (86) and Dave Sarachan (64) in career coaching wins. Additionally, Scales is in his 11th season, marking the third-longest tenure of any coach in Cornell history. Only Bawlf (27 seasons) and Writer (13 seasons) were on the Cornell sidelines longer.
UP NEXT
The Big Red makes its home debut for the 2008 season with a Wednesday night contest against Albany at 7 p.m. on Berman Field.
