GAME INFORMATION
GAME #7: Cornell at Columbia
GAMETIME: Saturday, Sept. 27, at 3:30 p.m.
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 11-1-0
LAST MEETING: Cornell won 2-1 (OT), on Sept. 8, 2007, at Ithaca, N.Y.
SITE: Johnson Field (New Haven, Conn.)
2008 RECORDS: Cornell (3-3, 1-0); Columbia (4-0, 1-0)
GAME #8: Cornell at Fairfield
GAMETIME: Sunday, Sept. 28, at 1:00 p.m.
SERIES RECORD: First Meeting
LAST MEETING: First Meeting
SITE: University Field (Fairfield, Conn.)
2008 RECORDS: Cornell (3-3); Cornell (2-6)
THE HEAD COACH: Cornell head coach Donna Hornibrook is in her fifth season at Cornell (33-39, .458) ... Hornibrook became the sixth coach in Cornell field hockey history in January 2004 ... She has a 204-86-10 (.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:Abbi Horn registered a career-high three goals as the Big Red defeated Georgetown, 4-0, on Sept. 21 at Marsha Dodson Field. Eva Olesky set up Horn's first goal when she slotted a pass towards the goal, where Horn tipped it past Georgetown goalie Deirdre Crovo. Cornell capitalized just over five minutes later when it was awarded a penalty corner. Belen Martinez's original shot was saved, but Horn collected the rebound and scored her second tally of the day. The Big Red stretched its lead to 3-0 at the 17:29 mark when Kate Thompson carried the ball down the left side of the goal before sending it back to the center of the field, where Katie Kirnan drove it into the cage for her first collegiate goal. Horn capped off her day in the 42nd minute when Kirnan sent a long pass up field to her teammate. Horn drove down the left side, beat her defender and slipped the ball past Crovo to give the Big Red the 4-0 victory. Cornell held the 26-5 advantage in shots and held a 12-4 edge in penalty corners. Melanie Jue stopped three shots in 57:13 before Alex Botte came on in relief to earn her first collegiate minutes in goal. Crovo registered nine saves in the loss.
THE MATCHUP WITH COLUMBIA: The series with the Lions began in 1991, six seasons before Columbia officially joined the Ivy League. Cornell is 11-1 all-time against the Lions, with its lone loss coming during the 2004 campaign.
SCOUTING THE LIONS: Columbia is off to the best sport in school history with a 4-0 record. The team has dominated opponents, scoring 2.00 goals per game, while allowing only 0.75 goals per game. The Lions have gotten goals from seven different players, with only Caitlin Mullins scoring more than once with a team-high two goals. Both Catherine Campbell and Christine Buszczak have one goal and two assists to tie with Mullins for a team-high four points. In goal, Gena Miller has played every minute for Columbia and has posted a 0.75 goals-against average, while stopping .842 percent of the shots she has faced.
THE LAST TIME VS. COLUMBIA: Alyssa DePaola's goal at the 4:26 mark of the first overtime period lifted Cornell to a 2-1 victory over Columbia in the Ivy League opener for both teams on Sept. 8, 2007 at Schoellkopf Field. In the 7-on-7 overtime session, DePaola took a pass from Stephanie Brownstein about 35 yards from the Columbia goal and broke in alone on Lions' goalie Gena Miller. DePaola then slotted a shot under the diving Miller and into the back of the open goal to give the Big Red the victory. After a scoreless first half, the Big Red drew first blood just three minutes after the break. Off a penalty corner, Kate Thompson fired a shot that was redirected by Helena Haas and into the right side of the goal. The Lions answered back in the 55th minute when Jacqui Munro took a shot off a corner that was initially stopped, but in the pileup in front of the goal, Lauren Hannah got a stick on the ball and made it a 1-1 game. Cornell goalie Shannon Prescott picked up five save, while Gena Miller made six stops in the loss. Cornell out-shot Columbia, 16-8, for the game, including a 2-0 margin in the decisive overtime session.
THE LIONS' LAST GAME: Columbia got off to the best start in program history when it defeated Brown, 1-0, in the Ivy League opener on September 20. With the win, Columbia improves to 4-0 overall, 1-0 Ivy League. The Lions dominated the Bears in the first half, out shooting Brown 10-2 and holding a 5-1 advantage in penalty corners, but were unable to capitalize as Brown goalkeeper, Lauren Kessler, made three key saves to keep the game scoreless entering halftime. The difference came at the 47:29 mark when an unassisted goal by Catherine Campbell to the lower right corner gave Columbia a 1-0 lead. The Lions defense had a stellar game, holding the Bears to just two shots in the entire game, and only one penalty corner. Senior goalkeeper Gena Miller recorded her second shutout this season, improving her saves percentage to .842.
THE MATCHUP WITH FAIRFIELD: Cornell will face Fairfield for the first time in the history of the field hockey program.
SCOUTING THE STAGS: Fairfield ended a five-game skid last weekend with a 5-1 victory over Siena and enter a Friday evening contest against Columbia with a 2-6 record. Marit Westenberg leads the Stags with four goals and nine points overall, while Emily Janis has registered three tallies on the season. Jennifer Utz has played every minute for the Stags and has posted a .604 save percentage and a 3.33 goals-against average.
THE STAGS' LAST GAME: Emily Janis scored two goals while Marit Westenberg netted a goal and two assists as Fairfield posted a 5-1 win over Siena College. The game ended Fairfield's five-game losing streak, and improved the team's home record to 2-1. The Stags jumped out to a 1-0 lead when Justine LeBlanc sent a pass to the left side of the circle, setting up Janis for her first goal of the game. The senior made the score 2-0 when Westenberg came wide and threaded a pass to the center of the circle, giving Janis an open shot to the center of the cage. Siena cut the lead in half with less than two minutes to go in the first half as Sarah Szewczyk scored. The Stags put the game out of reach with three goals in a 19-minute span of the second half. Fairfield goalkeeper Jennifer Utz made three saves to register the win, while her counterpart Renee Clavette recorded six saves.
VS. THE AMERICA EAST: Cornell is 3-8 all-time vs. the current members of the America East Conference, with all three victories coming vs. Albany (3-3). The Big Red has a losing record against Boston University (0-1), Vermont (0-2) and Maine (0-2). Cornell has never faced Fairfield or New Hampshire ...Cornell is 0-5 vs. the America East Conference during Coach Hornibrook's tenure with two losses to Vermont and Albany and one loss to Maine.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Abbi Horn was named the Ivy League Player of the Week on Sept. 23, following an outstanding weekend against Penn and Georgetown. It is the second Player of the Week award bestowed upon Horn during her career with the Big Red. 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. The three goals was the best single-game performance by a Cornell player since Gina Testa tallied four scores at Rutgers on Oct. 31, 2004.
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. Martinez moved into 10th place in both career goals and points, while Horn moved into 10th place in career assists and sits one-point shy of moving into the top 10 in career points.
Goals, Career
1. Linda Miller 40 1980-83
2. Cari Hills 30 1994-97
3. Emily Robb 29 1995-98
4. Joanne Powell 28 1976-79
5. Kelley Boutin 27 1996-99
6. Beth Paciello 26 1985-88
10. Beth Chagrasulis 15 1977-79
Assists, Career
1. Cari Hills 33 1994-97
2. Emily Robb 26 1995-98
5. Ellen Graap 15 1985-88
6. Heather McCormick 15 1993-96
Linda Miller 12 1980-83
Points, Career
1. Cari Hills 93 1994-97
2. Linda Miller 92 1980-83
3. Emily Robb 84 1995-98
4. Joanne Powell 67 1976-79
5. Kelley Boutin 60 1996-99
6. Beth Paciello 58 1985-88
STRONG STOPPER: In her first year with the Big Red field hockey team, junior goalkeeper Melanie Jue has been solid, ranking among the best nation in save percentage (.818 – eighth), goals-against average (1.35 – 18th) and saves per game (6.00 – 20th). 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 first in points (9), sixth in points per game (1.33) and sixth in goals per game (0.67). Abbi Horn ranks fifth in assists (2) and sixth in both goals (3) and points (8). Kate Thompson is first in assists (3) and third in assists per game (.50). Goalie Melanie Jue is third in saves (36), goals-against average (1.35) and save percentage (.818) and ranks fourth overall in saves per game (6.00).
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. 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 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 20-1 in games in which it scores at least three goals after a 4-0 victory over Georgetown on Sept 21.
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 31-8 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.
THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE (A NEW) HOME: The Big Red is 2-0 on its new field, Marsha Dodson Field. Built this past summer and christened against Penn on Sept. 20, the field features AstroTurf, the preferred surface for NCAA Division I play, a permanent scoreboard, 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.
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.
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.
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 its new facility, Marsha Dodson Field, for a weekend slate against Yale and Lehigh on Saturday, Oct. 4 and Sunday, Oct. 5, respectively. Both contests are scheduled to begin at noon.
