GAME INFORMATION
GAME #5: Cornell vs. Penn
GAMETIME: Saturday, Sept. 20, at Noon
SERIES RECORD: Penn leads, 21-9-2
LAST MEETING: Penn won 3-2, on Sept. 16, 2007, at Philadelphia, Pa.
GAME #6: Cornell vs. Georgetown
GAMETIME: Sunday, Sept. 21, at 1:00 p.m.
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 2-0
LAST MEETING: Cornell won 3-0, on Oct. 30, 2005, at Washington, D.C.
SITE: Marsha Dodson Field (Ithaca, N.Y.)
2008 RECORDS: Cornell (1-3); Penn (1-5); Georgetown (0-6)
THE HEAD COACH: Cornell head coach Donna Hornibrook is in her fifth season at Cornell (31-39, .443) ... Hornibrook became the sixth coach in Cornell field hockey history in January 2004 ... She has a 202-86-10 (.695) 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: Bucknell scored two penalty corner goals in the first 11 minutes of the action and held off a late comeback from the Big Red to go onto a 3-2 victory on Saturday, Sept. 13 at Graham Field in Lewisburg, Pa. Bucknell (3-2) jumped out to an early 2-0 lead, with both goals coming off the stick of Amanda Faust. Kelley Kantarian cut into the Bison lead at the 24:16 mark when she took a pass from Kate Thompson and slotted it past Bucknell goalie Jessie Atieh, but Katie Ruiz scored what would prove to be the game-winner when her goal in the 49th minute made it a 3-1 game. Cornell answered back once again when Belen Martinez converted a penalty corner at the 60:20 mark. The Big Red kept up the pressure for the final 10 minutes of the contest, but were unable to get the equalizer as the Bison took the 3-2 victory. Cornell (1-3) held the 14-7 advantage in shots and the 11-8 edge in penalty corners. Junior Melanie Jue made four saves, while Atieh stopped four shots.
THE MATCHUP WITH PENN: Cornell will attempt to end a two-game skid as it plays host to Penn on Saturday in its first-ever game at the newly constructed Marsha Dodson Field. The Big Red and the Quakers have squared off 32 times since first meeting in 1976 and Penn holds a 21-9-2 advantage in the all-time series. Cornell has won two of the last three meetings, after the Quakers defeated the Big Red last season, 3-2 at Franklin Field.
SCOUTING THE QUAKERS: Penn has dropped five straight contests after a season-opening victory over St. Francis on Sept. 5. The Quakers have been able to generate plenty of offense, averaging 1.33 goals per game, but defensively have struggled, as their opponents are averaging 2.33 goals per game. Margaretha Ehret leads Penn with two goals and three assists for a team-high seven points, while Christina Ferrier has registered two goals and two assists. Rachel Eng has also found the back of the net twice. In goal, Alanna Butera has played every minute for the Quakers and has posted a 2.31 goals-against average, while stopping .714 percent of the shots she has faced.
THE LAST TIME VS. PENN: The Big Red held the lead twice, but was unable to put Penn away, falling in overtime to the Quakers, 3-2 on Sept. 15, 2007. Belen Martinez had an outstanding day for Cornell, assisting on both goals from her position at defensive back. She helped the Big Red get on the board just 18:26 into the game as she set up Helena Haas' goal. Penn responded less than eight minutes later when Rachel Eng's shot was stopped and Jamie Callahan collected the rebound and found the back of the net to knot the game at 1-1. Cornell regained the lead when a shot by Martinez was tipped into the net by Kate Thompson just 1:05 into the second half. Once again, the Quakers came back to tie the score with a goal by Kara Bolger. In the 7-on-7 overtime period. Penn's Kathryn Rose scored on a penalty shot to give the Quakers the victory.
THE QUAKERS' LAST GAME: Penn was able to keep Lafayette from finding the net during the first half, but two second-half goals by the Leopards kept the Quakers from getting their second win of the season, falling 2-0. Lafayette opened up the scoring right after the second half whistle when Lindsay Majno scored in the first minutes. Lafayette added an insurance goal in the 60th minute, when Maggie Condon scored on a set shot at the top of the circle following a penalty corner. Quaker Goalie Alanna Butera recorded six saves in the net.
IVY OPENERS: Cornell opens its 30th season of play in the Ivy League this weekend. The Big Red is 11-15-3 all-time in conference season openers, thanks mostly to an 8-3 record since 1997. Cornell has played only four of the seven Ivy League teams in its season openers through the years. Its best records in Ivy openers are 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 seven times in its conference opener, posting a 1-5-1 record against the Quakers. All but one of those games came prior to the 1989 season, with the 2002 meeting proving to be the lone Big Red victory.
THE MATCHUP WITH GEORGETOWN: Cornell will face Georgetown for the first time since the 2005 season as it welcomes the Hoyas to Marsha Dodson Field on Sunday at 1 p.m. The Big Red holds the 2-0 advantage in the series history, defeating the Hoyas, 2-1 in 2004 and 3-0 in 2005.
SCOUTING THE HOYAS: Georgetown carries an 0-6 record into a contest with No. 13 Penn State on Friday evening. Kristen Volpe and Micaela O'Toole lead the Hoyas with two goals apiece, while Ashton Hospodar has added two assists. Georgetown, which is being outscored by 3.84 goals per game, has relied on Deirdre Crovo between the pipes. Crovo has played every minute for the Hoyas and has posted a .588 save percentage and a 6.00 goals-against average.
THE LAST TIME VS. GEORGETOWN: The Big Red set a school record with its 10th win of the season on Oct. 30, 2005, when it defeated Georgetown, 3-0 at Kehoe Field. Cornell opened the scoring at 16:29 when junior Lindsay Moyer scored the game-winner with an unassisted goal on a breakaway. The Big Red took the 1-0 lead into halftime and received two insurance goals in the second stanza. Freshman Mandy Malzberg scored of a pass from freshman Helena Haas at the 54:04 mark. With less than two minutes to play in the contest, freshman Belen Martinez scored off a penalty corner. Senior Blair Corcoran fed in the corner, while classmate Natalie Serle was the stick-stopper, giving both an assist on the goal. Cornell outshot Georgetown, 10-6, but the Hoyas doubled-up the Big Red in penalty corner opportunities, 8-4. Sophomore Lizzie Goldblatt posted two saves on the day to record the win. Deirdre Crovo stopped three for the Hoyas while the team recorded one save in the loss.
THE HOYAS' LAST GAME: The Hoyas dropped a 4-1 decision to Lehigh on Sept. 12 at the Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex in College Park, Md. The Mountain Hawks struck first as GU keeper, Deirdre Crovo saved a shot from the top of the circle, but the ball ricocheted back to Taryn Hartzell who fired it at the cage and Kelly Fox deflected it into the back of the net to make it 1-0 game. Lehigh pushed the lead to 3-0 early in the second half, with Fox registering two quick goals for the hat-trick. The Hoyas' Kristen Volpe connected on a penalty corner with 10 minutes left to play, but the Mountain Hawks came right back with a goal off of a penalty corner of their own to account for the 4-1 final. The Hoyas were outshout 16-13 but took two more penalty corners. Crovo had five saves in the cage for Georgetown.
VS. THE BIG EAST: Cornell is 8-31-1 all-time against the current members of the Big East, thanks mostly to the Big Red's 2-25-1 record vs. Syracuse. Cornell holds a winning record vs. Georgetown (2-0), and has played to an even record vs. Rutgers (3-3) and Villanova (1-1), while holding losing records against Connecticut (0-2) and Providence (0-1). The Big Red has never played Louisville in field hockey.
THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE (A NEW) HOME:This past summer, the Cornell University Department of Athletics made a major commitment to the Big Red field hockey program with the construction of Marsha Dodson Field, a new AstroTurf stadium. Besides the installation of the AstroTurf, the preferred surface for NCAA Division I play, a permanent scoreboard was installed, as well as a set of portable bleachers and a portable scorer's table. The stadium provides an intimate setting for fans of the Big Red, as it seats approximately 300 spectators. The stadium also features a state-of-the-art sprinkler and drainage system which allows the field to be watered for all training and competition.
ON THE BRINK: Belen Martinez needs just one goal and one point to move into the Big Red's top 10 rankings for career goals and career assists. The leading goal-scorer on the team, Martinez currently has 14 career goals and 36 career points. Senior Abbi Horn is also on the brink of moving into several career categories, including goals and assists. Horn currently has 11 career goals, needing four more to move into the top 10, and 11 career assists, needing just one more to move into the top 10.
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.
CLOSE CALLS: Cornell's 3-2 loss to Bucknell on Sept. 13 continued the Big Red's trend of playing in one-goal games. Since the start of the 2006 season, the Big Red has lost 19 games, with 13 of those coming by a single goal, including seven in overtime. During that same span, Cornell has won nine one-goal games. So far this season, all three of Cornell's losses have come in one-goal contests, including one in overtime.
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.
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).
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.
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 a 3-0 victory over Siena on Sept 7.
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 29-8 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.
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 will return to the road next weekend as it travels to Columbia and Fairfield on Saturday, Sept. 27 and Sunday, Sept. 28, respectively. Both contests are slated to begin at 1 p.m.
