GAME INFORMATION
GAME #1: Cornell vs. Binghamton
DATE: Friday, Sept. 4, 2009
TIME: 7:00 p.m.
SITE: Ithaca, N.Y. - Berman Field (1,000)
2009 RECORDS: Cornell - 0-0-0 (0-0-0 Ivy League); Binghamton - 0-2-0 (0-0-0 America East)
SERIES HISTORY: Binghamton leads, 1-0-1
LAST MEETING: Tied, 0-0, on Sept. 14, 2004, in Ithaca, N.Y.
LIVE STATS: http://sidearmstats.com/cornell/wsoc

GAME #2: Cornell at Niagara
DATE: Sunday, Sept. 6, 2009
TIME: 3:00 p.m.
SITE: Lewiston, N.Y. - Niagara Field (1,200)
2009 RECORDS: Cornell - 0-0-0 (0-0-0 Ivy League); Niagara - 1-0-0 (0-0-0 Metro Atlantic)
SERIES HISTORY: Series tied, 1-1-0
LAST MEETING: Cornell won, 2-1, on Sept. 21, 2007, in Ithaca, N.Y.
LIVE STATS: http://www.purpleeagles.com/livestats/wsoc/xlive.htm

The Cornell women's soccer team opens the 2009 season on Friday with the first home event of the 2009-10 academic calendar, playing host to Binghamton in a 7 p.m. contest at Berman Field. The Big Red then takes to the road for the first time this season, heading to Niagara for a 3 p.m. matinee on Sunday.

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 6-24-1 entering the 2009 season. 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
Fielding a young squad with 19 freshmen and sophomores, the Big Red may be lacking in experience at the college level, but they make up for it with versatility and talent at every position. Juniors Lena Russomagno and Katie Hayes will serve as team captains for the 2009 season as the Big Red appears ready to make a charge up the Ivy League standings. Russomagno is the team's leading returning scorer after tallying nine points on two goals and five assists a year ago, while Cornell's next two leading scorers also return (Brook Chang - 4-0--8 and Eva Dixon - 2-1--5). In goal, the Big Red brings back a pair of sophomores who will share the goalkeeping duties in Kelly Murphy and Megan Bartlett. Murphy posted a .820 save percentage and a 2.03 goals-against average in six games last year, including one shutout, while Bartlett posted a 3.23 goals-against average and a .684 save percentage.

ABOUT BINGHAMTON
Binghamton opened its season last weekend on the road, dropping a pair of games at Delaware and Saint Joseph's. The Bearcats opened at Delaware, falling 3-0, before losing a 1-0 contest to the Hawks two days later. Binghamton was out-shot 39-16 in the two games, while goalkeepers Jen McEachron and Erin Iman shared the netminding duties. McEachron posted a .875 save percentage, stopping seven of the eight shots she faced. Iman, meanwhile, stopped 12 of 15 shots for a .800 save percentage.

THE SERIES WITH BINGHAMTON
Binghamton leads the all-time series with the Big Red, 1-0-1, though the two teams have not met since the 2004 season. The last meeting resulted in a scoreless tie at Berman Field, while the Bearcats claimed the first win in the series, a 2-0 victory on Oct. 3 in Vestal, N.Y.

ABOUT NIAGARA
Niagara, which will play at Robert Morris on Friday night before playing host to the Big Red, opened its season with a 2-1 victory at Colgate on Sunday in Hamilton, N.Y. Michaela DiFazio and Jamie Raepple scored goals for the Raiders, while Ashleigh Bowers picked up six saves in the victory.

THE SERIES WITH NIAGARA
The two teams have met twice on the soccer field, with each school claiming a victory on its home turf. Cornell won the last meeting, a 2-1 overtime victory on Sept. 21, 2007, in Ithaca, while Niagara won the first meeting of the series, a 2-1 win on Sept. 10, 2006, in Niagara, N.Y.

FAMILAR FACES
For both head coach Danielle LaRoche and assistant coach Elke Reisdorph, Friday night's opener will bring back memories of their past, as both coaches previously worked with the Bearcat program. LaRoche worked at Binghamton in 2004 and 2005, helping the program to an NCAA tournament appearance in 2004, and was an assistant when Binghamton and Cornell last met on the soccer field. Reisdorph, meanwhile, as a more acute knowledge of the Bearcat program, having served on the coaching staff last season before joining the Big Red earlier this summer.

FOR STARTERS
Cornell has had great success in the first 26 season openers in the program's history, picking up a 16-7-3 mark in the first game of the season. The Big Red is 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.

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
The Big Red takes to the road for the first time in 2009, heading to Lethigh on Friday, Sept. 11, for a 7:30 p.m. contest against the Mountain Hawks. Cornell returns to Berman Field for a 1 p.m. game against Manhattan on Sunday, Sept. 13, at 1 p.m.