GAME INFORMATION
GAME #7: Cornell vs. Binghamton
DATE: Friday, Sept. 26, 2008
TIME: 7:00 p.m.
SITE: Ithaca, N.Y. - Berman Field (1,000)
2008 RECORDS: Cornell - 1-5; Binghamton - 4-1-3
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 8-2-0
LAST MEETING: Binghamton won, 3-0, on Sept. 29, 2007, in Vestal, N.Y.
LIVE STATS: http://sidearmstats.com/cornell/msoc

Coming off its first victory of the season, the Cornell men's soccer team returns home for a Friday night contest against Binghamton at Berman Field.

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 61-90-16 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
After a slow start to the season, the Big Red picked up a 2-1 victory on Sept. 21 at Lafayette, the first victory of the season. Cornell's offense will look to get going against the Bearcats, as the Big Red has scored just three goals on the season, two of those coming from senior Joe Yonga and the other from junior Matt Bouraee. In goal, sophomore Scott Brody has emerged as the top option in front of the net, posting a 2.29 goals-against average and a .645 save percentage.

ABOUT BINGHAMTON
The Bearcats enter the weekend with a 4-1-3 mark on the season and are coming off a scoreless tie against Hartwick on Tuesday night in Vestal, N.Y. Binghamton has had a multi-faceted attack this season as four different players have scored two goals and another two have a single tally. Andy Tiedt leads the offense with six points on two goals and two assists, while Cameron Keith, Scott Zobre and Liam Carson each have two goals for four points. In goal, Jason Stenta has been solid, posting a 0.58 goals-against average and a .865 save percentage to go along with four shutouts this season.

THE SERIES WITH BINGHAMTON
Cornell leads the all-time series with the Bearcats, 8-2-0, but Binghamton took last year's meeting, 3-0, in Vestal, N.Y., at the opening of their new Bearcat Sports Complex. In that game, Cameron Keith had all three goals for the Bearcats, with two coming in the final 10 minutes. Cornell's last victory against Binghamton came on Nov. 17, 2001, a 3-1 victory at Berman Field.

SAVING THE BEST FOR LAST
Senior Joe Yonga entered his final season in a Big Red uniform without having scored a goal, but he has already struck for a pair of tallies this season to lead the Cornell offense. Yonga, who has played nearly every position on the field for Cornell during his time on East Hill, scored the season's first goal against New Hampshire and then tallied the game-winner against Lafayette.

COMING UP HUGE
In soccer, penalty kicks are sometimes considered something of a formality, but that has not been the case for Cornell's opponents over the last week. Sophomore goalkeeper Scott Brody saved a pair of kicks from the penalty spot last week, first recording a stop on Wednesday against Albany before making another save on a penalty kick against Lafayette on Sunday.

SHORT HANDED
Cornell was without the services of junior midfielder J.J. Bain for the victory over Lafayette on Sunday after the Columbus, Ohio, native received a pair of yellow cards in the loss to Albany on Sept. 17. After sitting out the required one match, Bain will be back in uniform for Friday night's contest against Binghamton.

AND THE AWARD GOES TO....
Senior Joe Yonga and junior J.J. Bain were both selected to the all-tournament team at the Days Inn Classic for their play against Bucknell and New Hampshire. Yonga scored the lone goal for the Big Red off a corner kick in the loss to New Hampshire, while Bain was solid in the midfield for the Big Red. For Yonga, this marks the second time in his career he has earned all-tournament team honors, as he was named to that spot as a junior when the Big Red won the UK Nike Soccer Classic in Lexington, Ky., to open the 2007 season.

BRODY IN GOAL
Sophomore Scott Brody has made a move to make himself the number one option in goal for the Big Red, as he has started in each of the last four games. Brody has a 2.29 goals-against average and a .645 save percentage in just over 431 minutes this season for the Big Red.

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.

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
The season opening trip to California was a homecoming for Cornell senior Ed Chang, who hails from Palo Alto. Chang has appeared in eight games for the Big Red over the past three seasons after missing the 2005 year due to injury, and has appeared in four contests so far this season.

MILESTONE WATCH
Cornell head coach Bryan Scales is now fourth among all coaches in Big Red men's soccer history with 61 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
Cornell has a week off before opening up Ivy League play on Oct. 4 with a 4:30 contest against Penn at Berman Field.