GAME INFORMATION
GAME #8: Cornell vs. Long Island
DATE: Sunday, Sept. 27, 2009
TIME: 1 p.m.
SITE: Ithaca, N.Y. - Berman Field (1,000)
2009 RECORDS: Cornell - 3-3-1 (0-0-0 Ivy League); Long Island - 2-3-0 (0-0-0 Northeast)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 4-1-1
LAST MEETING: Cornell won, 1-0, in 1983 in Oneonta, N.Y.
LIVE STATS: http://sidearmstats.com/cornell/msoc/

The Cornell men's soccer team looks to get back to the winning ways on Sunday when it takes on Long Island in a 1 p.m. match at Berman Field. Sunday's game will also be Youth Soccer Day, with all youth players wearing a jersey admitted free of charge.

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 dropped a 2-0 contest to Binghamton in its last time out on Wednesday night at Berman Field. The shutout defeat marked the first time this season that the Big Red was held scoreless in a game. 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 1.39 goals-against average and a .792 save percentage and a pair of shutouts.

ABOUT LONG ISLAND
The Blackbirds entered the weekend with a 2-3 overall record and faced Manhattan on Friday night before Sunday's contest against Cornell. LIU is paced by Jakeem Johnson's seven points on three goals and an assist, while Adam Janssen has played every minute in goal, posting a 1.19 goals-against average and a .806 save percentage with one shutout.

THE SERIES WITH BINGHAMTON
Cornell leads the all-time series against Long Island, 4-1-1, though the two teams have not met since the 1983 season, a 1-0 Cornell win in Oneonta, N.Y. The two schools have never met in a game that was not part of a tournament, meeting three times in in-season tournaments and three times in the NCAA tournament. Cornell is 3-0 against LIU in NCAA tournament play, with the three meetings coming in 1971, 1972 and 1977.

MUST-SEE CU
With the Ivy League boasting a number of outstanding teams and players, including three teams ranked among the top 25 in the nation 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.

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 three 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 seven games this season.

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 Wednesday. 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.

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.

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 takes to the road to open up Ivy League play next weekend, traveling to Philadelphia for a 7:30 p.m. matchup against Penn.