GAME INFORMATION
GAME #13: Cornell vs. Brown
DATE: Sunday, Oct. 25, 2009
TIME: 12:00 p.m.
SITE: Ithaca, N.Y. - Berman Field (1,000)
2009 RECORDS: Cornell - 1-10-1 (0-4 Ivy League); Brown - 4-7-1 (1-3 Ivy League)
SERIES RECORD: Brown leads, 17-7-3
LAST MEETING: Cornell won, 2-0, on Oct. 26, 2008, in Providence, R.I.
LIVE STATS: http://sidearmstats.com/cornell/wsoc

The Cornell women's soccer team closes out the home slate of games for the 2009 season on Sunday, taking on Brown in an Ivy League contest at noon at Berman Field. The game will be preceeded by Senior Day ceremonies honoring the four Cornell seniors - Eva Dixon, Rebecca Flewelling, Kala Neilson and Elizabeth Scully.

HEAD COACH DANIELLE LAROCHE
Danielle LaRoche is in her third season directing the Cornell women's soccer program. The fourth coach in Cornell women's soccer history, LaRoche picked up her first collegiate head coaching victory on Sept. 7, 2007, when the Big Red knocked off Hartford, 1-0, in double overtime in Ithaca, N.Y. She has a career coaching mark of 7-34-2. Prior to her arrival at Cornell, LaRoche had stops as an assistant coach at George Mason, Binghamton and Howard. A 1995 graduate of Maryland, LaRoche played two seasons for the Terrapins under April Heinrichs, who would later go on to serve as the head coach of the U.S. Women's National Team. LaRoche is assisted by Elke Reisdorph, in her first season with the Big Red.

ABOUT THE BIG RED
In a recurring theme over the course of the season, the Big Red dropped its last game in heartbreaking fashion, falling in overtime by a 2-1 score on Oct. 17 at Yale. Sophomore Sidra Bonner nodded home the game-tying goal with 1:10 to play in regulation to force overtime, but Yale scored just 2:07 into the first extra session to claim the victory. Megan Bartlett made six saves in taking the loss for the Big Red. Bonner leads the Big Red offensively, scoring six points on three goals, all on corner kicks, while both Maneesha Chitanvis and Hannah Labadie have a pair of goals on the year. Kelly Murphy has seen the majority of time in goal, posting a 1.49 goals-against average witha  .698 save percentage and two shutouts, while Bartlett has gotten the start in each of the last three games. For the season, Bartlett has a 2.55 goals-against average and a .625 save percentage.

ABOUT BROWN
The Bears are coming off a 2-2 tie with Holy Cross on Tuesday after dropping a 1-0 contest to Harvard last weekend. The Bears are paced offensively by Joyce Chun, who has eight points on four goals. The Bears have tallied 12 goals on the year, with eight players contributing to that tally. In goal, Brenna Hogue has seen the majority of minutes, posting a 1.69 goals-against average and a .793 save percentage, while Steffi Yellin has a 1.52 goals-against average and a .724 save percentage. 

THE SERIES WITH BROWN
Brown leads the all-time series, 17-7-3, though Cornell took last year's meeting, 2-0, in Providence, R.I. Cornell is 1-1-1 in its last three meetings with the Bears, earning a tie in 2005. The Big Red's last victory over Brown in Ithaca came in 1998, a 2-1 Cornell victory.

USING YOUR HEAD
Sophomore Sidra Bonner has done just that in scoring each of her three goals this season. The team leader in that category, Bonner has scored all three of her goals in heading home a corner kick. Bonner entered the season with just one point on an assist last season and has added six points this year.

HEARTBREAKERS
How heart-wrenching has been the Big Red's season in 2009? Of Cornell's 10 losses, five have come by one goal with another four by two goals. When Cornell dropped 12 games a year ago, it fell by one goal four times and by two goals three times, but losing by three goals or more on five different occasions.

TIGHTENING UP
Another area of improvement this season for the Big Red is in its defense. With three games remaining this year, Cornell has allowed 22 goals, well off last year's total of 36 goals against. Additionally, Cornell has allowed fewer than half the total number of shots for its opponent this year (325 in 2008, 150 so far in 2009). The numbers in league play are even more telling, as last season, the Big Red allowed 22 goals in Ivy League games. This year, with three games left, that total stands at seven goals allowed.

BARTLETT'S BACK
Sophomore goalkeeper Megan Bartlett made her first appearance since Sept. 6 against Niagara when she got the start on Oct. 10 against Harvard. Bartlett picked up a season-best six saves in the loss to the Crimson, and made a stellar diving reaction save on a point-blank shot by Harvard's Katherine Sheeleigh, the league's fifth-leading scorer.

IVY OPENERS
Cornell dropped its Ivy League opener on Sept. 26 against Columbia, 1-0. The Big Red is now 15-11-1 all-time in conference openers.

ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
Freshman Maneesha Chitanvis earned Ivy League Rookie of the Week honors on Sept. 21 after her play during the week of Sept. 14-20. Chitanvis scored her first career goal on Sept. 16 against Colgate in a 2-0 victory, then earned a spot on the George Mason Tournament All-Tournament Team with her play against William & Mary and the host Patrots.

EVEN-STEVEN
Cornell's win against Colgate on Sept. 16 knotted the all-time series against the Raiders, 14-14-3. The win was also the first for head coach Danielle LaRoche over the Central New York rivals.

A LOOK TO THE FUTURE
A quick glance at the scoring column for the Big Red this season shows a reason to be optimistic about this season the the future. Of the seven players who have recorded a point this year, six are either a freshman or a sophomore.

INTO THE SCORING COLUMN
Sophomore Sidra Bonner scored her first career goal in the Big Red's loss to Niagara on Sept. 6, adding to the one assist she recorded last season. Classmate Samantha Wright tallied an assist on Bonner's goal for her first career point.

NO GOALS
When Cornell opened with a scoreless tie against Binghamton on Sept. 4, it marked the first time Cornell had posted a shutout in the season opener since a 2-0 win over St. Bonaventure in 2005. The scoreless tie to begin the season was the first since the 2004 season when Cornell drew with Stony Brook.

FOR STARTERS
Cornell has had great success in the 27 season openers in the program's history, picking up a 16-7-4 mark in the first game of the season. The Big Red is 1-1-1 in season openers under Danielle LaRoche, losing the first game of her tenure with the Big Red at Hofstra in 2007, but scoring a win over Oakland last year in Rochester, N.Y., and tying this year's opener against Binghamton.

CLIMBING THE CHARTS
Junior Lena Russomagno is quietly approaching the all-time top 10 in several offensive categories. Russomagno entered the season with eight goals and seven assists for 23 points. With two points on the year, she is now six goals, four assists and 15 points shy of reaching the top 10 in each of those categories. Russomagno is capable of posting those types of numbers, as she tallied six goals as a freshman and five assists last season, with the five assists coming just shy of tying the all-time mark in a single season.

NATIONAL APPEAL
When Danielle LaRoche explains the recruiting efforts to bring together the 2009 team as searching far and wide, she's not kidding. The Big Red has 16 states and one Canadian province represented on the 2009 roster, with no state having more than three players who call that location home. California and Virginia both have three players on the Cornell roster, while Florida, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey and Ohio each have two representatives. Other states claiming an interest in the Big Red roster are Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Mexico, New York and Texas.

UP NEXT
The Big Red closes out the season with its next two games on the road. Cornell will travel to Princeton for a 4 p.m. game against the Tigers on Sat., Oct. 31, before finishing the season with a 6:30 p.m. contest at Dartmouth on Sat., Nov. 7.