GAME #8: Cornell at Yale
GAME TIME: Saturday, Oct. 3, at 12:00 p.m.
GAME SITE: Johnson Field (New Haven, Conn.)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 17-13-1
LAST MEETING: Cornell won, 2-1 in overtime (Ithaca, N.Y.)
2009 RECORDS: Cornell (7-0, 1-0 Ivy); Yale (5-3, 1-1 Ivy)
LIVE STATS: www.YaleBulldogs.com 
LIVE VIDEO: None 



THE MATCH-UP: The Cornell field hockey team looks to remain undefeated as it travels to New Haven, Conn., to take on Yale on Saturday, Oct. 3 on Johnson Field at noon. The Big Red, off to its best start in school history, will put its undefeated 7-0 record on the line against a Yale squad that boasts a 5-3 record.

THE SERIES WITH YALE: Cornell has won the past two meetings with the Bulldogs to improve to 17-13-1 in the all-time series with Yale.

SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS: Yale has won four of its last five games to improve to 5-3 on the season and 1-1 in the Ivy League. Senior forward Ashley McCauley leads the team with eight goals, while senior midfielder Katie Cantore is fourth in the country in assists per game (1.25 apg). In goal, Katie Bolling has seen the majority of minutes for the Bulldogs, posting a .615 save percentage and a 2.00 goals-against average.

LAST TIME VS. YALE: Catie De Stio scored in the 74th minute to give the Big Red an overtime victory against Yale on Oct. 4, 2008 on Marsha Dodson Field to remain undefeated in the Ivy League. The game-winner came as a result of a penalty corner when Sara Sanders ripped a shot on net that was stopped by Bulldog goalie Katie Bolling, but the rebound went to De Stio, who bounced it into the net. Cornell wasted no time jumping out to a 1-0 lead just 37 seconds into the game when Sara Sanders sent a long pass up field to De Stio. The sophomore attacker carried the ball along the right endline before sending a centering pass to Abbi Horn, who one-touched it into the back of the net. The early score was an indication of how well the Big Red would dominate the game offensively, outshooting Yale, 24-4, and putting 17 of those shots on goal. Cornell had at least six one-on-one opportunities to score, but was held off by Bolling, who made 13 saves. Yale defenders Taylor Sankovich and Vicki Gordon also added one defensive save apiece. The Cornell defense was equally impressive, allowing just one Bulldog penalty corner. Unfortunately, that one corner proved to be all Yale needed to tie the game, 1-1, in the 63rd minute when Julie Weisner beat Cornell goalie Melanie Jue to the lower left hand corner. Jue ended the game with three saves, including an impressive pad save just nine minutes into the contest to preserve the Big Red's early lead.

THE BIG RED'S LAST GAME: With all zeros showing on the scoreboard, Olivia Boyd redirected a shot by Kate Thompson into the goal to give the Big Red the 2-1 victory over Columbia in double overtime on Sept. 26. Catie De Stio also scored for the Big Red, while senior Mel Jue had her best performance of the season with 10 saves. Defender Sarah Sanders also registered a defensive save. Cornell outshot the visitors, 27-17, and held the overwhelming edge in penalty corners, 21-6. The Big Red completely dominated the two overtime periods, holding a 14-1 advantage in shots, and an 11-1 edge in penalty corners, despite the fact that the team had to play down a player for five minutes due to a penalty. Despite dominating play in the first half and the overtime periods, Columbia responded to De Stio's goal in the 55th minute by turning up the offensive pressure, outshooting Cornell, 13-7, in the half and forcing Jue to make nine saves. Still, it took a penalty stroke for the Lions to get on the board, as Katie DeSandis scored at the 63:58 mark to make it a 1-1 game.

THE HEAD COACH: Cornell head coach Donna Hornibrook is in her sixth season at Cornell (48-41, .539) ... Hornibrook became the sixth coach in Cornell field hockey history in January 2004 ... She has a 219-88-10 (.707) record as a head coach, including a 111-39-4 mark at Houghton and a 60-8-6 record at New Brunswick.

THAT'S A FIRST: The Big Red is off to a 7-0 start on the season, the best start in program history.

WHERE WE RANK: Senior goalie Mel Jue is off to a great start, ranking third in the nation in save percentage (.880) and fifth in goals-against average (0.55). Catie De Stio ranks 20th in goals per game (1.0) and 43rd in assists per game (0.67). As a team, Cornell ranks first in win percentage (1.000), fourth in save percentage (.824), fifth in GAA (0.81), fifth in penalty corners per game (10.29), 13th in scoring margin (1.88), 24th in goals per game (2.86), 30th in scoring average (2.68), 26th points per game (7.57) and 36th in assists per game (1.86).

FREE FIELD HOCKEY: So far this season, the Big Red has played in three overtime games, the most since the beginning of the 2007 season, when Cornell played four straight overtime contests. The Big Red is 3-0 in OT games this season, while the 2007 squad went 1-3 in its overtime games.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: The Big Red has had two Ivy League Player of the Week selections on the young season, with Kelley Kantarian taking the honors on Sept. 8 and Catie De Stio winning on Sept. 22. Kantarian helped the Big Red get off to a 2-0 start to the season, registering seven points in victories over Davidson and Georgetown. She opened the season with a two-goal effort in the 3-1 victory over the Wildcats and followed that up with one goal and one assist in the 5-1 win against the Hoyas. She registered her three goals on just six shots. De Stio provided all of the Big Red's offense Cornell picked up a pair of wins over Penn and Lehigh. Against the Quakers, De Stio scored all three goals, on just five total shots, including the game-winner, just 22 seconds into overtime to give Cornell the 3-2 victory. Against the Mountain Hawks, she led the Big Red to a 1-0 win with the lone goal of the game.

HATS OFF: After going three seasons without seeing a Cornell player score three goals in a single game, the Big Red has had four players register hat tricks since the start of the 2008 season – Catie De Stio (Penn, Sept. 18, 2009), Abbi Horn (Georgetown, Sept. 21, 2008), Kelley Kantarian (Colgate, Oct. 9, 2008) and Catie De Stio (Bryant, Oct. 11, 2008). The three hat tricks during the 2008 season was the most by the Big Red since having four during the 1995 season. That year, Cari Hills scored three goals vs. Colgate and four goals against Holy Cross, while Emily Robb tallied three against both Lehigh and Brown. Until the 2008 season, Cornell had never had three different players register hat tricks in the same season.

IVY OPENERS: Cornell opened its 31st season of play in the Ivy League with a thrilling 3-2 overtime victory against Penn on Sept. 19. The Big Red is 13-15-3 all-time in conference season openers, thanks mostly to a 10-3 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 nine times in its conference opener, posting a 3-5-1 record against the Quakers. All but two of those games came prior to the 1989 season, with the 2002, 2008 and 2009 meetings providing the three Big Red victories.

CIRCLE OF TRUST: So far this season, the Big Red defensive unit has allowed just 2.71 penalty corners per game, the best school average since the stat began to be recorded in 1998. Since taking over the program, Coach Hornibrook's teams have allowed just 6.2 penalty corners per game. That is significantly down from the 8.4 average prior to her arrival.

MOVING ON UP: With her hot start to the season, junior Catie De Stio has jumped into Cornell's top-10 in career goals (7th – 21), career points (7th – 55) and career assists (t-9th – 13). Likewise, senior Natalie Appleton's next assist will rank her 10th all-time on the career list, while junior Kate Thompson needs three more assists and 15 points to move into the top-10.

KNOCK THREE TIMES: When the Big Red fell to Syracuse during the 2006 season, 4-3, in overtime, it marked the only time in Coach Hornibrook's career with Cornell that the team scored three goals and lost the contest. Under Coach Hornibrook, the Big Red improved to 29-1 in games in which it scores at least three goals after a 3-2 victory over Penn on Sept.19, 2009.

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE (A NEW) HOME: The Big Red is 9-1 all-time on the newly constructed Marsha Dodson Field. Collectively, the team has outscored its opponents by an impressive margin of 21-14 and has taken more than three times as many shots (230-78) as its opponents. The defense is equally solid in the circle, allowing just 44 penalty corners (4.4 per game).

CLOSE CALLS: Cornell's 2-1 victory in double overtime against Columbia on Sept. 26 continued the Big Red's trend of playing in one-goal games. Since the start of the 2006 season, the Big Red has lost 20 games, with 14 of those coming by a single goal, including seven in overtime. During that same span, Cornell has won 16 one-goal games.

A VOTE OF CONFIDENCE: The Big Red earned nine votes in Sept. 28 NFHCA Division I National Coaches Poll. The nine votes are the most earned by Cornell during Coach Hornibrook's tenure.

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 four-of-five seasons, with a high of 14 in 2005. Just seven games into the 2009 season, the Big Red already has 11 different players in the scoring column.

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 44-8 record in games in which they have scored first. Conversely, the team has won only four 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 on Sept. 12, 2009 as Cornell defeated Lock Haven, 2-1, in overtime.

WINS 3, SAVES 1: Senior goalkeeper Mel Jue earned three wins in the first four games of the season, despite the fact that she was called on to make just one save. Alex Botte, however, has had to work much harder for her win during that stretch, posting six saves on the season.

A GAME FOR THE AGES: In its game vs. Siena, the Big Red took 43 shots, forcing the Saints goalie to make 22 saves, while limiting the visitors to just one shot. The last time Cornell took that many shots in a game was when the Big Red took 49 vs. Yale on Oct. 3, 1987. The last time an opposing goalie made more than 22 saves also came against Siena, as the Saints' goalie stopped 25 shots on Sept. 16, 1994. The last opponent to only take one shot against Cornell was C.W. Post on Sept. 29, 1982.

FIRST ACTION: Several rookies saw their first collegiate action during the opening weekend of play, as Genevieve Collins, Kat DiPastina, Paige Mollineaux and Alex Robson all saw playing time. Collins made a pair of starts vs. Davidson and Georgetown, while DiPastina scored against the Wildcats. In the third game of the season vs. Seina, Cornell's other three rookies, Molly Casey, Lauren Neal and Katie Laventure, all saw action.

BOMBARDING BOTTE: Senior Mel Jue got the start in Cornell's first game of the season against Davidson but after not facing a shot on goal in the first half of play, gave way to sophomore Alex Botte following the intermission. Botte went on to make four saves and allow one goal in the final 35 minutes of action.

FIRST WIN: Alex Botte followed up her stellar play vs. Davidson by getting her first collegiate win as she made three saves and allowed one goal vs. Georgetown.

FOR OPENERS: With its victory over Davidson on Sept. 5, the Big Red improved to 22-12-4 (.636) all-time in season-openers … The loss to No. 19 Albany during the 2008 season was Coach Hornibrook's only defeat in season-openers during her time with Cornell (5-1).

OH CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN: Seniors Natalie Appleton, Kelley Kantarian and Katie Kirnan have been named captains for the 2009 season.

RECAPPING 2008: The Big Red completed the 2008 season with an 11-5 record overall and 6-1 mark in the conference to finish in second place in the league rankings for the third straight year. Cornell also posted a winning conference record for the fourth straight year, marking the first time in program history that the Big Red has had four straight winning seasons in Ivy play. The team set the school mark for overall victories (11) and conference victories (6) in a season as well as setting the school record for goals (45), assists (38) and points (128) in a season.

UP NEXT: The Big Red is back in action this week as it welcomes in-state rival Colgate to Marsha Dodson Field on Tuesday, Oct. 6 at 4 p.m.