GAME INFORMATION
GAME #3: Cornell vs. Siena
GAME TIME: Wednesday, Sept. 9, at 4 p.m.
GAME SITE: Marsha Dodson Field (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 4-0
LAST MEETING: Cornell won, 3-0 (Loudonville, N.Y.)
2009 RECORDS: Cornell (2-0); Siena (1-2)
LIVE VIDEO: None
GAME #4: Cornell vs. Lock Haven
GAME TIME: Saturday, Sept. 12, at Noon
GAME SITE: Marsha Dodson Field (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Lock Haven leads, 2-0
LAST MEETING: Lock Haven won, 3-2 (OT) (Lock Haven, Pa.)
2009 RECORDS: Cornell (2-0); Lock Haven (3-1)
LIVE VIDEO: None
THE MATCH-UPS: The Cornell field hockey team opens the home portion of the 2009 season against a pair of Northeast Conference foes, as it welcomes Siena (1-2) and Lock Haven (3-1) to Marsha Dodson Field. The game with the Saints is slated for Wednesday, Sept. 9 at 4 p.m., while the Big Red will face the Eagles on Saturday, Sept. 12 at noon.
VS. THE NEC: Cornell is 8-3 all-time vs. the current members of the Northeast Conference. The Big Red has a winning record vs. Siena (4-0) Rider (2-1), St. Francis (Pa.) (1-0) and Sacred Heart (1-0), and a losing record against Lock Haven (0-2), but has never faced Monmouth, Quinnipiac and Robert Morris.
THE SERIES WITH SIENA: The Big Red holds a 4-0 advantage in the series vs. Siena, including a 3-0 victory last season in Loudonville, N.Y. The closest game in the series came in 2007 when Cornell escaped Schoellkopf Field with the 4-3 victory. Every other contest with the Saints has been decided by three goals (1994 – Cornell won, 4-1; 1995 – Cornell won, 3-0).
SCOUTING THE SAINTS: Siena snapped an 11-game non-conference losing streak by defeating visiting UC Davis 2-1 in overtime on Monday to improve to 1-2 on the season. Andrea Caso and Lisa Heimerle both have one goal apiece, while Olivia Whelly has registered one assist. In goal, Renee Clavette has seen every minute of action, making 39 saves and allowing nine goals for a .812 save percentage and a 2.62 goals-against average.
LAST TIME VS. SIENA: Belen Martinez, Sara Sanders and Kelly Kantarian each scored a goal as Cornell evened its record with a 3-0 victory over Siena. Martinez's goal in the seventh minute would prove to be the game-winner as the Big Red improved to 1-1 on the year, while Siena fell to 0-3 on the season. Cornell dominated the score sheet in the contest, holding a 19-0 margin in penalty corners and a 30-2 advantage in shots. A day after being called on to make 19 saves in a 1-0 loss at No. 19 Albany, goalkeeper Melanie Jue had a much quieter game on Sunday, as she did not need to make a save for her first career shutout.
THE SERIES WITH LOCK HAVEN: The Eagles have won both contests vs. Cornell, as the former DII powerhouse defeated the Big Red, 3-1, in 2007, before needing overtime to escape with the 3-2 victory in 2008.
SCOUTING THE EAGLES: Lock Haven defeated Vermont, 3-0, on Saturday, to improve to 3-1 on the season. The Eagles lone loss came against No. 10 Penn State, which earned the 3-1 victory over its in-state rival. LHU is led by Suzann Hobart and Kristi Shepps with three goals and one assist apiece, while Amy Hordendorf has chipped in two goals. In the cage, Erin Terreson has made 21 saves and allowed seven goals for a .750 save percentage and a 2.25 goals-against average.
LAST TIME VS. LOCK HAVEN: On a rain-soaked McCollum Field the Big Red jumped out to an early lead, but couldn't hold on as it fell to Lock Haven, 3-2 in overtime. After a relatively quiet first half, the two teams combined to score four goals in the final 41:28 of action, including Blair Wynne's game-winner in the 77th minute. Senior Belen Martinez got the Big Red on the board in the fifth minute, blasting a penalty corner past Lock Haven goalie Erin Terreson. A penalty corner early in the second half by Wynne knotted the game at 1-1, but just over nine minutes later, Mattie Prodanovic scored off a pass from classmate Kate Thompson to give the lead back to the Big Red. With time winding down in regulation, Wynne struck again, scoring an unassisted goal to send the game into overtime, before scoring her third goal of the day to give the Lady Eagles the victory. LHU (3-2) held the advantage in shots, 13-8, while teams took six penalty corners apiece. In goal, Melanie Jue made six saves, three in each half, while Terreson stopped five.
THE BIG RED'S LAST GAME: For the second game in a row, the Big Red jumped out to a large halftime lead and never looked back as it defeated Georgetown, 5-1, on Sunday on the campus of American University. Cornell was led by Kelley Kantarian and Catie De Stio, who registered one goal and one assist apiece. Also scoring for the Big Red was Katie Kirnan, Mattie Prodanovic and Sara Sanders, while Elizabeth Schovee tallied her first collegiate point with one assist. Sophomore Alex Botte got her first start of the season and made three saves, while allowing just one goal, to earn her first career victory.
THE HEAD COACH: Cornell head coach Donna Hornibrook is in her sixth season at Cornell (43-41, .512) ... Hornibrook became the sixth coach in Cornell field hockey history in January 2004 ... She has a 214-88-10 (.702) record as a head coach, including a 111-39-4 mark at Houghton and a 60-8-6 record at New Brunswick.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK – Kelley Kantarian was named the Ivy League Player of the Week on Sept. 8, as she helped the Big Red get off to a 2-0 start to the season. Kantarian registered seven points in victories over Davidson and Georgetown. She opened the season with a two-goal effort in the 3-1 victory over the Wildcats and followed that up with one goal and one assist in the 5-1 win against the Hoyas. She registered her three goals on just six shots.
FIRST ACTION: Several rookies saw their first collegiate action during the opening weekend of play, as Genevieve Collins, Kat DiPastina, Paige Mollineaux and Alex Robson all saw playing time. Collins made a pair of starts vs. Davidson and Georgetown, while DiPastina scored against the Wildcats.
BOMBARDING BOTTE: Senior Mel Jue got the start in Cornell's first game of the season against Davidson but after not facing a shot on goal in the first half of play, gave way to sophomore Alex Botte following the intermission. Botte went on to make four saves and allow one goal in the final 35 minutes of action.
FIRST WIN: Alex Botte followed up her stellar play vs. Davidson by getting her first collegiate win as she made three saves and allowed one goal vs. Georgetown.
FOR OPENERS: With its victory over Davidson on Sept. 5, the Big Red improved to 22-12-4 (.636) all-time in season-openers … The loss to No. 19 Albany during the 2008 season was Coach Hornibrook's only defeat in season-openers during her time with Cornell (5-1).
MOVING ON UP: Several Big Red players are on the verge of moving into the Cornell career records lists. Junior Catie De Stio needs just one more goal, two more assists and nine more points to move into the top-10. Senior Natalie Appleton's next assist will rank her 10th all-time on the career list, while junior Kate Thompson needs four more assists and 19 points to move into the top-10.
KNOCK THREE TIMES: When the Big Red fell to Syracuse during the 2006 season, 4-3, in overtime, it marked the only time in Coach Hornibrook's career with Cornell that the team scored three goals and lost the contest. Under Coach Hornibrook, the Big Red improved to 27-1 in games in which it scores at least three goals after a 5-1 victory over Georgetown on Sept. 6, 2009.
THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE (A NEW) HOME: The Big Red was 6-1 last season on the newly constructed Marsha Dodson Field. Collectively, the team outscored its opponents by an impressive margin of 23-12 and took nearly three times as many shots (142-55) as its opponents. The defense was equally solid in the circle, allowing just 35 penalty corners (5.0 per game), including giving up just one penalty corner in back-to-back games against Yale and Lehigh.
CIRCLE OF TRUST: So far this season, the Big Red defensive unit has allowed just 3.0 penalty corners per game, the best school average since the stat began to be recorded in 1998. Since taking over the program, Coach Hornibrook's teams have allowed just 6.3 penalty corners per game. That is significantly down from the 8.4 average prior to her arrival.
CLOSE CALLS: Cornell's 1-0 victory over Harvard on Oct. 18 continued the Big Red's trend of playing in one-goal games. Since the start of the 2006 season, the Big Red has lost 20 games, with 14 of those coming by a single goal, including seven in overtime. During that same span, Cornell has won 12 one-goal games. During the 2008 season, four of Cornell's five losses came in one-goal contests, including one in overtime.
COMING AT YOU FROM ALL SIDES: Since taking over the Cornell program in 2004, Coach Hornibrook has had a dozen or more players register at least one point in four-of-five seasons, with a high of 14 in 2005. Just two games into the 2009 season, the Big Red already has six different players in the scoring column.
FAST STARTS: Scoring first has been a big part of the Big Red's success in recent years. Since Coach Hornibrook has taken over the program, Cornell has posted an impressive 40-8 record in games in which they have scored first. Conversely, the team has won only three games in which they have had to come back from an early deficit to win. The first was Coach Hornibrook's very first victory with the team, a 6-3 win over Lehigh in 2004, with the latest coming on Oct. 9, 2008 as Cornell defeated Colgate, 6-4.
RECAPPING 2008: The Big Red completed the 2008 season with an 11-5 record overall and 6-1 mark in the conference to finish in second place in the league rankings for the third straight year. Cornell also posted a winning conference record for the fourth straight year, marking the first time in program history that the Big Red has had four straight winning seasons in Ivy play. The team set the school mark for overall victories (11) and conference victories (6) in a season as well as setting the school record for goals (45), assists (38) and points (128) in a season.
UP NEXT: The Big Red opens Ivy League play next weekend as it travels to Penn to take on the Quakers on Friday, Sept. 18 at 5 p.m.
