GAME INFORMATION
GAME #7: Cornell vs. Binghamton
DATE: Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2009
TIME: 7 p.m.
SITE: Ithaca, N.Y. - Berman Field (1,000)
2009 RECORDS: Cornell - 3-2-1 (0-0-0 Ivy League); Binghamton - 3-3-0 (0-0-0 America East)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 8-3-0
LAST MEETING: Binghamton won, 1-0, on Sept. 26, 2008, in Ithaca, N.Y.
LIVE STATS: http://sidearmstats.com/cornell/msoc/

The Cornell men's soccer team faces Binghamton on Wednesday night in a battle of central New York foes at Berman Field. Wednesday night's match has been designated as International Student Night, celebrating the six countries represented on the Cornell roster.

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 its two games over the weekend at the Princeton Invitational, falling to nationally ranked Monmouth, 4-1, on Friday night, before rebounding with a 1-0 win over Fairleigh Dickinson on Sunday. The Big Red offense is paced by Matt Bouraee's five points on a goal and team-best three assists, while six other players have scored a goal this season. Scott Brody has played all but five minutes in goal this season for the Big Red, posting a 1.30 goals-against average and a .810 save percentage and a pair of shutouts.

ABOUT BINGHAMTON
Binghamton snapped a three-game losing streak with a win against UC Davis on Sunday at the New Mexico Tournament to even its record at 3-3 on the year. The Bearcats have wins over central New York foes Syracuse and Colgate in addition to the win against UC Davis. Kyle Manscuk has a team-best two goals and four points, while Kyle Kucharski shares the team lead with four assists for four points. In goal, Jason Stenta has a 1.16 goals-against average and a .806 save percentage with two shutouts.

THE SERIES WITH BINGHAMTON
Cornell holds an 8-3 lead in the all-time series against the Bearcats, though Binghamton has won the last two meetings between the two schools. Last season, Binghamton claimed a 1-0 victory on Sept. 26 at Berman Field. Cornell's last win in the series came in 2001, a 3-1 Big Red victory.

IN THE RANKINGS
Cornell goalkeeper Scott Brody appears among the national leaders in both key statistical categories, ranking 59th in the nation with his .810 save percentage and 116th in the country with a 1.297 goals-against average.

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES
After the Big Red went just 1-15 last season, Cornell has already improved upon that mark in 2009. With two wins in the first two weeks of the season, the Big Red has tripled its total from last year. Additionally, the Cornell offense struggled to the tune of just eight goals a year ago - the Big Red has already found the back of the net seven times through six games this season.

DUCK DUCK GOOSE-EGG
The Cornell men's soccer team has also yet to be shut out this season, having scored at least once in every game. A year ago, Cornell couldn't avoid the shutout, as the Big Red was blanked 11 times. Even more impressive is the fact that Cornell has scored against two of the stingiest defenses in college soccer, scoring the only goal conceeded by Hartwick and one of three goals allowed by Monmouth this season.

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 seven goals scored after halftime. The only goal scored in the first half of a game this season was the first one, scored on Sept. 5 at Syracuse. In three of the last five 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.

NO PK? NO PROBLEM
When senior Matt Bouraee pushed his penalty kick wide left against Hartwick early in the second half with the score tied at zero, it didn't spell disaster for the Big Red. Despite missing the penalty, Cornell turned up the intensity on offense, and that paid off with Kyle Parsons' game-winner with just under eight minutes to play.

HELPING HANDS
Cornell players have tacked on two assists to both of the Big Red's goals this season, with Scott Caldwell and Ben Kenyon helping on Brett Sumpio's goal against Syracuse and Caldwell and Shane Merriman assisting on Kyle Parsons' goal against Hartwick. In contrast, of the two goals scored by the Big Red's opponents this season, only one assist has been recorded.

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.

INTERNATIONAL STUDENT DAY
The Big Red's Sept. 23 game against Binghamton has been designated as International Student Day, with a flair for the international that evening to celebrate the five countries comprising the Big Red roster in addition to Polish-Canadian head coach Jaro Zawislan.

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 closes out the brief two-game homestand on Sunday when it takes on Long Island in a 1 p.m. match at Berman Field.