GAME INFORMATION
GAME #11: Harvard at Cornell
DATE: Saturday, Oct. 10, 2009
TIME: 4:30 p.m.
SITE: Ithaca, N.Y. - Berman Field (1,000)
2009 RECORDS: Cornell - 1-8-1 (0-2-0 Ivy League); Harvard - 4-5-1 (1-0-0 Ivy League)
SERIES RECORD: Harvard leads, 18-3-6
LAST MEETING: Harvard won, 3-0, on Oct. 11, 2008, in Cambridge, Mass.
LIVE STATS: http://sidearmstats.com/cornell/wsoc

The Cornell women's soccer team returns to action on Saturday as the Big Red takes on Harvard as part of a doubleheader with the Cornell men's team. The Big Red will be seeking its first Ivy League win of the 2009 season, and will be trying to snap a five-game losing skid at the hands of the Crimson.

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 7-32-2. 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
The Big Red dropped a heartbreaking contest last week at Penn, falling by a 2-1 margin in Philadelphia. Junior Lena Russomagno scored her first goal of the year on a penalty kick in the first half, but Penn got the game-winner in the 62nd minute. Maneesha Chitanvis, Hannah Labadie and Sidra Bonner each have four points on a pair of goals to lead the Big Red in scoring. In goal, Kelly Murphy has seen the majority of time, posting a 1.49 goals-against average and a .698 save percentage with two shutouts. 

ABOUT HARVARD
Harvard enters the weekend with a 4-5-1 mark overall and a 1-0 record in Ivy League play. The Crimson have won three straight matches, kicking off that stretch with a 3-2 win over Penn on Sept. 26. Most recently, the Crimson has a 4-1 win against Fairfield on Oct. 6. Katherine Sheeleigh has four goals and three assists for 11 points to lead the Harvard offense, while three others have a pair of goals on the year. In goal, Lauren Mann has seen the vast majority of time this season, posting a 1.67 goals-against average and a .712 save percentage with two shutouts.

THE SERIES WITH HARVARD
Harvard has controlled the all-time series with the Big Red, claiming a 18-3-6 lead in the series. Harvard has won the last five contests, including a 3-0 win last year in Cambridge, Mass. Cornell's last win against the Crimson came in 1993, a 1-0 overtime victory in Ithaca.

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.

ON THE CUSP
A quick look at the scores of the Ivy League games shows the incremental progress the Cornell women's soccer team has made, with the next step being getting over that last hurdle. Last season, the Big Red lost six Ivy League games, five of them by two or more goals. This season, the Big Red has dropped a pair of games by one goal, falling to Columbia, 1-0, and to Penn, 2-1. Last season, Columbia downed the Big Red by a 3-1 score, while Penn scored a 6-0 victory over Cornell.

TIGHTENING UP THE DEFENSE
Last year, Cornell allowed 22 goals in Ivy League play on the way to allowing 36 goals for the year. Both of those numbers have been cut drastically in 2009. Through the first two games of league play, Cornell has allowed three goals and has allowed 18 goals on the year with five matches remaining.

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 and could crack several career lists with a strong season in 2009. 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
Cornell takes to the road to continue Ivy League play, heading to New Haven, Conn., on Sat., Oct. 17, for a 4:30 p.m. matchup against Yale.