GAME INFORMATION
GAME #8: Columbia at Cornell
DATE: Friday, Sept. 25, 2009
TIME: 7 p.m.
SITE: Ithaca, N.Y. - Berman Field (1,000)
2009 RECORDS: Cornell - 1-5-1 (0-0-0 Ivy League); Columbia - 3-3-1 (0-0-0 Ivy League)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 17-6-0
LAST MEETING: Columbia won, 3-1, on Sept. 26, 2008, in New York, N.Y.
LIVE STATS: http://sidearmstats.com/cornell/wsoc/

GAME #9: Cornell vs. Bucknell
DATE: Sunday, Sept. 27, 2009
TIME: 3 p.m.
SITE: Ithaca, N.Y. - Berman Field (1,000)
2009 RECORDS: Cornell - 1-5-1 (0-0-0 Ivy League); Bucknell - 4-5-0 (0-0-0 Patriot)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 9-4-1
LAST MEETING: Bucknell won, 1-0, on Sept. 27, 2007, in Lewisburg, Pa.
LIVE STATS: http://sidearmstats.com/cornell/wsoc/

The Cornell women's soccer team closes out the non-conference portion of the season and begins Ivy League play this week in a pair of games at Berman Field. The Big Red will take on Columbia to start conference action at 7 p.m. on Friday before closing out the non-league slate on Sunday with a 3 p.m. match against Bucknell.

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 7-29-2. 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
Cornell picked up its first win of the 2009 season on Sept. 16 with a 2-0 victory over Colgate at Berman Field before taking to the road for last weekend's George Mason Tournament. The Big Red played well in both games but came out on the losing side in each, falling to William & Mary, 1-0, and losing to the host Patriots by a 2-0 margin. For the season, the Big Red has fired off more shots than their opponents (89-84), but has been outscored by an 11-4 margin. Sidra Bonner has two of the Big Red's goals this season, with freshmen Maneesha Chitanvis and Hannah Labadie adding a single tally in the win over Colgate on Sept. 16. In goal, sophomore Kelly Murphy has played all but one game in net, posting a 1.29 goals-against average and a .742 save percentage with two shutouts.

ABOUT COLUMBIA
Columbia opens Ivy League play with a 3-3-1 mark overall, owning wins against Manhattan, Iona and Central Connecticut State, though falling to St. John's, Portland and Washington. The Lions feature the league's reigning Player of the Week in Ashlin Yahr, who, with four goals and an assist, is second only to Sophie Reiser with four goals and two assists for 10 points. In goal, Lillian Klein has played the vast majority of time, posting a 1.70 goals-against average and a .694 save percentage with one shutout.

THE SERIES WITH COLUMBIA
Cornell holds a 17-6 lead in the all-time series against the Lions, though Columbia has claimed victory in each of the last three meetings, including a 3-1 win last season in New York City. The Big Red's last victory over the Lions came in 2005, a 1-0 victory in Ithaca.

ABOUT BUCKNELL
The Bison are coming off a scoreless tie against Penn State on Wednesday night, moving to 4-5-1 on the year with the draw. Nine different players have scored a goal this season for the Bison, accounting for the nine total goals scored, with four players sharing the team point lead with a goal and one assist for three points. In goal, Kathryn Sutton has seen the majority of time of the three goalkeepers used, posting a 1.51 goals-against average and a .750 save percentage.

THE SERIES WITH BUCKNELL
Cornell leads the all-time series against the Bison, 9-4-1, with Bucknell riding a four-game win streak in the series, including a 1-0 overtime win in 2007 in Lewisburg, Pa. The Big Red's last win over the Bison came in 2002, a 2-0 win on Oct. 9 in Ithaca.

IVY OPENERS
Cornell begins the Ivy League season with Friday night's game against Columbia, with the Big Red posting a 15-10-1 mark in Ivy League openers.

ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
Freshman Maneesha Chitanvis earned Ivy League Rookie of the Week honors on Monday after her play during the Big Red's three games last week. 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 six players who have recorded a point this year, all 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 enters the season with eight goals and seven assists for 23 points and is seven goals, four assists and 17 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 for the first time in Ivy League play, heading to Philadelphia for an Oct. 2 meeting against Penn at 7 p.m.