GAME INFORMATION
GAME #9: Cornell at Penn
DATE: Saturday, Oct. 3, 2009
TIME: 7:30 p.m.
SITE: Philadelphia, Pa. - Rhodes Field (1,000)
2009 RECORDS: Cornell - 4-3-1 (0-0-0 Ivy League); Penn - 3-3-2 (0-0-0 Ivy League)
SERIES RECORD: Penn leads, 58-28-12
LAST MEETING: Penn won, 3-2, on Oct. 4, 2008, in Ithaca, N.Y.
LIVE STATS: http://pennathletics.com

The Cornell men's soccer team opens up Ivy League play on Saturday, traveling to Philadelphia for a 7:30 p.m. matchup against the Penn Quakers. The Big Red will be seeking its first win over the Quakers since the 2005 season.

HEAD COACH JARO ZAWISLAN
Jaro Zawislan is in his first season directing the Cornell men's soccer program, becoming the 11th head coach in Cornell history. Zawislan, who spent the last seven seasons as an assistant coach at Syracuse, made his collegiate head coaching debut against the Orange, a 2-1 Cornell loss, but picked up his first career win two days later at Hartwick. His coaching career also includes stops at Stanford and Creighton following a decorated playing career at Clemson. A 1993 graduate of Clemson, Zawislan played professionally in both the United States and his native Poland before turning to coaching. He is assisted by Joe Schneck, in his fourth season with the Big Red.

ABOUT THE BIG RED
Cornell split a pair of contests last week, dropping a 2-0 decision to Binghamton on Sept. 23 before picking up a 2-1 win on Sept. 26 against Long Island. Matt Bouraee and Brett Sumpio both had a goal and an assist in the win over the Blackbirds, with Scott Brody picking up three saves in the victory. For the season, Bouraee leads the Big Red in points (eight) and assists (four) while sharing the team goal-scoring lead with Sumpio (two). Brody has seen all but five minutes in goal for the Big Red, posting a 1.35 goals-against average and a .784 save percentage with two shutouts.

ABOUT PENN
The Quakers enter the weekend with a 3-3-2 mark on the year and are coming off a 5-0 loss at Penn State on Wednesday night. Penn is paced offensively by a trio of players with eight points, as Alex Takakuwa has four goals and Christian Barreiro and Tobi Olopade have three goals and two assists apiece. In goal, Ben Berg has played every minute for the Quakers, posting a 1.62 goals-against average and a .650 save percentage.

THE SERIES WITH PENN
Penn leads the all-time series by a 58-28-12 margin, and has won each of the last three meetings, including a 3-2 victory last season in Ithaca. Cornell's last win came in 2005, a 2-1 Big Red victory in Philadelphia.

MUST-SEE CU
With the Ivy League boasting a number of outstanding teams and players, including two teams ranked among the top 25 in the nation and another receiving votes in the latest NSCAA poll, it's a bit surprising to see the Big Red ranking second among all Ivy League teams in average attendance. Cornell trails only Dartmouth, which has drawn an average of 906 people per match. The Big Red is averaging 736 people per game, helped out by a road average of nearly 1200 people per game. Cornell is the only school among the eight Ivy League teams to average more than 800 spectators per road game.

DUCK DUCK GOOSE-EGG
A year ago, Cornell couldn't avoid the shutout, as the Big Red was blanked 11 times - this season, that number stands at just one after being shut out against Binghamton on Sept. 23. Even more impressive is the fact that Cornell has scored against two of the stingiest defenses in college soccer, scoring one of the three goals conceeded by Hartwick, the second-ranked team in the country in goals-against average, and one of three goals allowed by Monmouth, ranked sixth in goals-against average, this season.

HE SHOOTS, HE SCORES!
Just halfway through the 2009 season, the Big Red has already scored more goals than throughout the entire 2008 campaign. With two goals on Sept. 27 against Long Island, the Big Red has now scored nine goals this year, surpassing the eight scored all of last year when the Big Red was shut out 11 times.

CLIMBING THE LIST
Senior Matt Bouraee is quickly approaching the all-time top-10 list for career points, as the Manasquan, N.J., native is just five points shy of tying Chris Agoliati for 10th place. Bouraee entered the season with 32 career points and has added eight so far this year. Bouraee's 40 points currently have him ranked 16th all-time at Cornell. Meanwhile, his 16 career goals have him ranked tied with Agoliati for 12th all-time, four goals shy of moving into the top 10.

THE WINNER
Scott Brody is approaching the all-time top-10 in career wins, currently standing in a three-way tie for 11th with Dave Weed and Stephen Bott. Brody has a career record of 7-10-1, and would tie Hugh O'Gorman and David Weed with his next win.

COMEBACK KIDS
Twice already this season, the Big Red rallied late to get a positive result. On Sept. 11 at Canisius, the Big Red fell behind in the 75th minute, only to tie the game six minutes later to force overtime. Two days later, Cornell rallied from another second half deficit to first tie, then go ahead against St. Bonaventure for the second victory of the year.

SECOND HALF TEAM
The Big Red has excelled in the second half of games this season, scoring six of the nine goals after halftime. In three of the last seven matches, the Big Red has scored a goal in the final 10 minutes of the game to give the Big Red a needed result. The trend began on Sept. 7 at Hartwick when Kyle Parsons scored with just under eight minutes left for the 1-0 victory. Four days later, Matt Bouraee scored his first goal of the season in the 81st minute to give the Big Red a 1-1 tie at Canisius. Then, on Sept. 13 against St. Bonaventure, Scott Caldwell scored his first goal of the year with five and a half minutes left for a 2-1 win over the Bonnies.

LOVING HARTWICK
Junior goalkeeper Scott Brody likely couldn't be blamed if he wanted to play Hartwick every week. In two career games against the Hawks, Brody has a pair of shutouts against Hartwick. The first came in his first career start as a freshman in 2007, with the second coming on Sept. 7 in Oneonta. Brody added his third career clean sheet on Sept. 20 against Fairleigh Dickinson.

FOR STARTERS
Cornell is 33-23-8 in season openers dating back to the 1946 season. The 2009 season marked the third time that Cornell opened a season against Syracuse, with Cornell now holding a 2-1 lead against the Orange in season openers.

FOREIGN INFLUENCE
Five different countries are represented on the 2009 Cornell men's soccer roster, with the United States (24), Canada (2), Brazil (1), Bulgaria (1) and China (1) claiming team members.

NATIONAL APPEAL
Among the 24 players on the Cornell roster from the United States, the Big Red has drawn heavily from New York and New Jersey to fill out the roster. The Garden State leads all states with seven players calling New Jersey home, while six players reside in New York. Illinois, Ohio and Massachusetts each have two players, while Arizona, California, Connecticut, Indiana and Michigan have a single player on the Cornell roster.

UP NEXT
Cornell returns to Berman Field for its toughest contest to date, facing eighth-ranked Harvard in a 7 p.m. match on Saturday, Oct. 10.